Big Bird Halloween Costumes — The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Yellow

Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:00 am

Mitt Romney’s comment about cutting funding for PBS at the first Presidential debate has made Big Bird one of the most popular costumes for Halloween this year.  But that’s not all good news.  The Children’s Television Workshop, producers of “Sesame Street,” sent a cease-and-desist letter to the company behind a “sexy big bird” costume.  It’s not just a matter of licensing revenues and copyright protection.  The characters who are important to children should not be trashed by being sexualized.

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Follow that Bird

Posted on December 26, 2010 at 8:00 am

B+
Lowest Recommended Age: All Ages
MPAA Rating: G
Profanity: None
Alcohol/ Drugs: None
Violence/ Scariness: None
Diversity Issues: Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters: 1985
Date Released to DVD: 2009
Amazon.com ASIN: B001MYIQMW

Celebrate the birthday of Caroll Spinney, the man behind (or, I should say, inside) Big Bird. 1985’s “Follow That Bird,” features all of the show’s favorite characters and an array of guest stars but focuses more on gentle humor and lessons of tolerance than letters and numbers.

A well-meaning social worker decides that Big Bird needs to be with “his own kind’ and packs him off to live with the Dodo family. But while they may have feathers and wings, they are not really “his own kind,” and he feels lost and alone. He decides to go back home where he can be with the friends who are his real family and has adventures along the way, including an encounter with the Sleaze Brothers, who want to paint him blue and put him on stage as the “Blue Bird of Happiness.” But all ends happily as he is reunited with the people who love him, who are truly “his own kind.”

Families who see this movie will want to talk about the many ways that families are created and about how we decide what “our own kind” really means.

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