A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

While The Film Geek family trekked toward the Cinemark theater to see A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood our discussion centered on the theme song of the old show. 

TFG: You know, the Mandela Effect changed the . . .

Mrs. Film Geek: The what effect?

TFG:  The Mandela Effect. We remember things one way, but they really are another way. I think it has to do with false memories. Or parallel universes. Or a rip in our time space continuum. But anyway, the lyrics to Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood -- sing it with me: "It's a beautiful day   -- 

Kids In The Back: . . . in the neighborhood!

TFG: Nope. It's "in this neighborhood." "This." It was never "the." This. But we all remember it as "the."

Mrs. Film Geek: False memories. 

TFG: Parallel universes!

We bought our tickets, sat down and readied ourselves to find out once and for all what havoc this Mandela Effect had on our beloved Mr. Rogers. 

Tom Hanks entered the first scene and sang in a perfect Mr. Rogers voice " . . . in this neighborhood," and I started to weep. Suddenly, I didn't give a damn about the Mandela Effect. I was focused solely on this beloved character from my childhood. 

Tom Hanks was Fred Rogers. And I was 7 years old again. 

The magic of Fred Rogers is that his show was never about him. The show was about the audience, and Mr. Rogers was just the conduit that connected the audience to the message. Fred Rogers was never a celebrity no matter how famous he became. He had equal status with the viewer; in fact, he often stood in the periphery after he introduced you to King Friday or one of the other many characters. 

Fred Rogers didn't seek out the spotlight. He shined that spotlight on you. 

And that's the beauty of the 2019 film. Tom Hanks' Mr. Rogers is not the central character of A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood. That role belongs to Matthew Ryes, who plays reporter Lloyd Vogel. Mr. Rogers is simply the MacGuffin that helps Lloyd recognize, then ultimately heal, his fractured life. 

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood reminds us that it takes courage and conviction to be selfless. And because it's hard to be selfless, so many people today are not. Fred Rogers teaches us that if we stay focused we can choose to be selfless. We can choose to connect with others. We can choose how we respond to conflict and crisis. 

We can choose to make our neighborhood a better place.