Posted on 05/29/2012 7:55:04 AM PDT by Gamecock
Full Title: Did Veggie Tales prove that you can teach kids to behave Christianly without teaching them Christianity?
A very interesting article here. Remember those veggies that sung like helium intoxicated chip munks and told stories from the bible almost similar to bible stories? Now there seems to be a hint of regret. You see…
VeggieTales “convinced kids to behave Christianly without actually teaching them Christianity.” So says founder Phil Vischer in a new interview.
VeggieTales was a rags-to-riches entrepreneurial success story. Vischer and his counterpart, Mike Nawrocki, left college to pursue their dream of making wildly creative children’s videos. At the height of their success in the late 1990s, VeggieTales videos sold 7 million copies in a single year and generated $40 million in revenue. Though primarily aimed at a Christian market, VeggieTales had a broader cultural influence, pushing forward the boundaries of computer animation and children’s programming
But success brought failure. Though Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber are still around, they aren’t the same. Big Idea Productions went bankrupt in 2003 and Vischer lost ownership and creative control of the whole enterprise. VeggieTales is no longer VeggieTales. The characters still exist – and in some cases are even voiced by Nawrocki and Vischer as hired talent – but the decisions are now made by studio execs who don’t share the vision or worldview of the original founders.
In a recent issue of WORLD magazine, Vischer acknowledged to interviewer Megan Basham that the bankruptcy and subsequent trials have given him perspective. His words reveal a man who’s beginning to see the difference between moralism and the gospel. And a man humble enough to acknowledge his role in confusing the two:
I looked back at the previous 10 years and realized I had spent 10 years trying to convince kids to behave Christianly without actually teaching them Christianity. And that was a pretty serious conviction. You can say, ‘Hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so,’ or, ‘Hey kids, be more kind because the Bible says so!’ But that isn’t Christianity, it’s morality.
American Christian[s]… are drinking a cocktail that’s a mix of the Protestant work ethic, the American dream, and the gospel. And we’ve intertwined them so completely that we can’t tell them apart anymore. Our gospel has become a gospel of following your dreams and being good so God will make all your dreams come true. It’s the Oprah god… We’ve completely taken this Disney notion of ‘when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true’ and melded that with faith and come up with something completely different. There’s something wrong in a culture that preaches nothing is more sacred than your dream. I mean, we walk away from marriages to follow our dreams. We abandon children to follow our dreams. We hurt people in the name of our dreams, which as a Christian is just preposterous.
["It's Not About the Dream," WORLD magazine, Sep 24, 2011, 57-58]
I’ve been strongly critical of the Christian subculture over the years because I believe it does more to distort and discredit the gospel than almost any external threat or influence. It’s good to see one of the former saints of that subculture putting his finger on the same weaknesses. It’s even better to see “gospel awakening” in a man with such deep wells of creativity and talent.
And now, it’s that time for Silly Songs with Larry.
When Veggie Tales was all the craze in the 90’s my pastor was skeptical. He pointed out that the characters never mentioned Jesus as the way to be more patient, forgiving, loving, etc. I’m sure that if there had been a heavy evangelical message in the VT stories then it would not have been so readily received by the public - especially unbelievers. Believing parents were just happy to have a well done production that their little ones could watch that was entertaining, had a positive message and mentioned God.
Personally, I think the stories are pretty funny and entertaining, even for adults. I love the Pirates That Don't Do Anything.
I agree with your assessment. Use it as a tool, it does very well for that purpose.
Christianity is centered around the death and resurrection of Christ (as well as the purpose behind those events). To my knowledge, Veggie Tales has never approached that topic. They have related many other Bible stories, but not that one.
We treated Veggie Tales and the spinoffs not as teaching Christianity, or even about teaching moral principles or good manners, but simply as clever, inoffensive entertainment.
Even today, I tell my hipster 18-year-old, “Get up, Captain Zidgel, or you won’t have time to do your hair before you leave for work!” And I sing, “The baby, the baby, ooooh, I love the baby! I don’t love the dog, or the fish, just the baby ...”
That's the key point. Veggie Tales were, in my opinion, a fabulous supplement to other religious and moral guidance, one that I was happy to see my kids watching. Anyone who thought, "I've got a talking tomato and asparagus to take care of this so I don't have to mention Jesus in front of my kids or read the Bible with them," was making a silly mistake and should have known better.
You’re getting a little personal there buddy.
I may be bald, but that’s still my kids favorite son to taunt me with.
I noticed this about Veggie Tales also. But we still use it. Why? Because it is something my daughter can watch that is safe and free of the PC crap that is creeping into other cartoons.
The mistake is that some assume you can JUST use VeggieTales for teaching about God. You can't. You also can't just use “Church”. You have to do it yourself, at home. Which most people don't do.
He says that like its a bad thing.
It isn't. You don't expect any one thing to do everything. It is a piece of a puzzle. He presented an entertainment product that reinforced what parents were trying to do, and did not undercut what parents are trying to do like 90% of what passes for entertainment.
It doesn't have to stand alone, it exists within a context in which parents are teaching their kids the faith, kids are in church, and things like "Veggie Tales" are one of multple things that help to teach kids the basics of morality.
If he didn't teach some kind of full-blown Christian message, thats not a defect because that wasn't the goal he set for himself. Everything doesn't have to do everything. Set a limited goal and meet it, then set another goal with perhaps another product, another series, that attacks a different piece of the whole. By themselves, none of them do it all. Together in a context, you may find its all there. Or if not, they are nonetheless a support to what parents and others are doing.
As for his comment about Christianity stripped of Christ, he is right. People have a sense of who God is without being rooted in morality, and without actually having a working ongoing relationship with God. The result is people with no morals and no sense of sin, who can't figure out why their lives are in chaos. I see this even in the church.
So, again, a cartoon that teaches kids basic morality is not a bad thing. Some other cartoon or series can build on that, or take it to another level. Being successful at one level doesn't make you a failure because you didn't do more. When you find you've taken something as far as you can, its time to step up to the next level. That doesn't make the previous one a failure. Just, you're ready to grow and hopefully your audience is too.
As an aside, every bit of Christian media does not have to be an evangelism tool. The sheep need food, too, and some things are just for fun. Having a little right instuction tossed in is a bonus, not a failing.
I don’t think it is. I think ‘behave like a Christian’ would be the proper term. The only reason I read the article was because that word made me ask: What kind of lousy writing is this”?
Like everything else, Veggie-Tales was, and is, a tool.
I would no sooner base my K-5 Sunday School curriculum on Veggie-Tale movies as I would try to explain to a 5 year old they are going to Hell unless they accept Christ.
Adults have a tough time wrapping their mind around that one, but K-3? Third grade is about the time where we start talking about WHY Christ’s sacrifice was necessary. Before that time, Christ’s sacrifice happened, and that was that, really.
Veggie-Tales is an incredibly well crafted way of introducing kids to Bible stories that actually happened, and the lessons we need to take from those stories.
Jonah and the fish slappers is a pretty good one. I’m not sure what old Phil’s vision was for Veggie-Tales, but did he really think he could cram the old Catholic ‘mysteries of faith’ into a seven minute cartoon with Bob and Larry?
He’s got nothing to apologize for. I don’t snake my drains with garden rakes either. I use the right tool for that job.
“I’m a cucumber, I’m not a pickle.”
“That’s the key point. Veggie Tales were, in my opinion, a fabulous supplement to other religious and moral guidance...”
Yes. As Christian parents, my wife and I were happy that there were entertainment options that reinforced the principals we were bringing our children out to church to hear. We did not look to Veggie Tales to “save” our kids (other than from the harmful effects of secularized TV). We fully knew our job was to raise our kids up for Christ (to give them back to him as Hannah did with Samuel.) Veggie Tales was fun entertainment, maybe even bringing along with it the hint that a decision to follow Christ does not mean you surrender your sense of humor.
To those who have groaned here at the idea of having “religion” crammed down their throats by parents, you’ve simply missed it. As the spiritual overseers of children’s souls, parents are charged to bring their children up under the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.” That word “nurture” is the Greek word, ‘paedeia,’ which suggests a process of total enculturation. One of the greatest challenges to confront Christian parents in contemporary society is the endless assault that the world now brings to bear on their children. Entertainment like Veggie Tales, assists parents in this battle. Public school, entertainment, indeed every aspect of popular culture is saturated with messages contradictory to the Christian call. Parents are responsible for getting their children off to a good beginning, which, for the Lord, means coming under the sound of His word. What a child does after that (when grown and fully entered into the age of accountability) is their responsibility. Parents should never apologize for “dragging” their kids out to a church meeting (unless the meeting is peddling “another gospel.” And children having grown up hearing the Word should be careful, given the ominous warning found in Hebrews 6:
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”
First thought? “Oh, where is my hairbrush?”
Second thought: we used Veggie Tales to teach moral lessons, but were intentional about then reading the Bible story to our girls to show them what God’s word says. Christ has always come first, they love the Veggies, and I can’t see a single bit of harm it’s done to our family or my children’s grounding in faith.
Okay, I am LOVIN’ that everybody’s thought went the same place! God bless Larry and Bob!
It is a good thing that Phil Vischer has seen the light on this. Teaching morality without the reality of Jesus on the cross is a limited thing. WHY should I be kind to my neighbor? WHY should I refrain from stealing, killing, promiscuity etc...
We love because God loved us and gave us his son. That answers the WHY questions. We love because the reality of sin, in that we were dead in our sins, but he saved us. This reality is the solid ground under our feet. There is no other.
You can get morality teaching from all kinds of sources including islam, scientology, Hollywood, and Oprah. But there is only one source of truth worth listening to - one story that unfolds and reveals the mystery of the universe. And that is when God sent his son into a cursed world to redeem it and offer himself as a sacrifice.
“See me dance! Like butter on a bald monkey.”
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