In between the sweats and chills I am dealing with from COVID, I decided to stream “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” I was pleasantly surprised and impacted by this film.
The movie depicts Fred Rogers, but to my surprise, Mister Rogers isn’t the main character. Instead, this 2019 film is about Lloyd Vogel, an investigative journalist for Esquire magazine who is assigned to write a 400-word piece on Rogers. Vogel was insulted by the assignment but reluctantly did as he was told. The film prodded into the troubles of Vogel’s life through subtle questions from Rogers, resulting in lessons about relationships, love, forgiveness and death.
The story is based on the life of Tom Junod, who wrote for Esquire and other magazines. He wrote critical pieces on high-profile celebrities like R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe and actor Kevin Spacey. These mean-spirited stories stalled Junod’s career, until the assignment on Fred Rogers, which ended up as a 10,000-word feature that changed his perspective on life.
Back to the movie, Lloyd Vogel was Hell-bent on destroying Fred Rogers, and Rogers was equally determined to help this troubled man. I was likely attracted to the movie because of my recent experiences with family issues, death and illness. The journalist angle also hit home.
The message in the movie reminded me of these comments from Michael Gartner: “When I was in college, the basketball coach had lost a job at a Big Ten university because a reporter had written something about him that he alleged wasn’t true. He used to walk across campus with me, and he’d say, ‘Just remember this. It’s OK to write bad things about people, but put it in your drawer and let it sit there overnight before you put it in your newspaper. If the next morning you still want to put it in your newspaper, go ahead and do it.’ I always thought that was pretty good advice. Whether it’s a cheap shot or an investigative piece, think about it for a day.”
In my early years with CITYVIEW, we published mean-spirited features and columns like our annual “Get Out Of Town” issue and our “Jackass of the Week.” Looking back, they were arrogant, condescending and immature. In recent years, I have found more satisfaction in building people up rather than tearing them down. We still call out criminals and hold people accountable for their actions, but we take Mr. Gartner’s advice and sleep on it first.
“As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has or ever will have — something inside that is unique to all time. It’s our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.” – Fred Rogers
Now, go watch the film, have a beautiful Thursday, and thank you for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305