Skip to content
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Derek
    • Gary
    • Halley/Celeste
    • Paul
    • Ricky
    • Vik
  • Concerts
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Venue
    • Movies
    • Year End Reviews
  • Festivals
    • Canadian Music Week
    • Hot Docs
    • North By Northeast
    • Planet in Focus
    • Primavera
    • South By Southwest
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Derek
    • Gary
    • Halley/Celeste
    • Paul
    • Ricky
    • Vik
  • Concerts
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Venue
    • Movies
    • Year End Reviews
  • Festivals
    • Canadian Music Week
    • Hot Docs
    • North By Northeast
    • Planet in Focus
    • Primavera
    • South By Southwest
  • Contact Us

Hot Docs Review – Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street (Marilyn Agrelo, 2021)

Posted on
13 May 2021
by
Ricky

street gang

Sesame Street is one of those institutions that we take for granted. It is on every day, it has a stable of characters most of us grew up with and it’s a great way to grab a child’s attention during the day.

But how did Sesame Street become an institution? And more importantly, how did it actually change television? These are some questions that Marilyn Agrelo answers with her heartwarming documentary Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street.

Make no mistake, this film is exactly what you think it is – a well produced documentary featuring all things good (and some bad – it is a documentary after all) behind the tale of Sesame Street. Featuring amazing archival footage and access to all the key individuals, this film perfectly encapsulates Sesame Street and celebrates how it came to be – and boy, what a story it is.

I, like most viewers, know Sesame Street for its lovable characters and quirky educational methods, but I was completely caught by surprise in discovering all the subtle agendas that the Sesame Street team (including writers and educators) had with this program. As the film reveals, the team behind the show wanted to not only educate in the academic sense but also wanted to address race, class, diversity and other difficult issues for children. In the world of documentary, you often see corporations painted in a negative light, but this film takes the opposite approach. Maybe that was deliberate on HBO’s behalf, but the child in me wants to believe that there are good people in the world, and this film really does do that.

In 2021, you can call that a relative triumph.

PrevPreviousHot Docs Review: Bangla Surf Girls (Elizabeth D. Costa, 2021)
NextSong Of The Day: Haus Band – She Belongs To MeNext

SEARCH

FOLLOW US

Facebook Twitter Flickr Foursquare Rss Inbox

THE PAST

Archives

TAGS

Tags
British Music Embassy (10) Canadian Music Fest (11) canadian music week (18) cmf (10) cmw (40) concert (9) el mocambo (9) fringe (26) Great Lake Swimmers (10) guelph (9) horseshoe tavern (23) hot docs (103) jazz (12) Joel Plaskett (10) jukebox the ghost (15) lee's palace (27) marina and the diamonds (10) Massive Attack (10) mod club (12) NXNE (94) of monsters and men (11) Phoenix (15) play reviews (11) Pulp (11) Roskilde Festival (16) rural alberta advantage (10) sharon van etten (10) suede (12) summerworks (34) SXSW (479) SXSW 2022 (11) SXSW 2024 (11) SXSW Online (18) the antlers (11) the cure (9) the national (10) the xx (11) Tokyo Police Club (9) Toronto (25) toronto fringe (14) Toronto Jazz Festival (55) turf (13) tweeview (10) Video (9) zeus (10)
The Panic Manual

We are a collective of individuals bringing you the latest in concert reviews, indie, britpop, Canadian, twee and all sorts of other music, movies, tv and everything else you like. Follow the manual to live a pleasant and fulfilling life.

All rights reserved