Free to Be... You and Me

I'm finding it interesting that everyone keeps calling this a "movie". I guess that is because we just don't have variety shows, and "specials" on television like we used to.

This wasn't a movie. It was a television special, with numerous guest stars, which gave a wonderful message that we could all still use today. Girls don't HAVE to be stuck in a house, dependent on a husband, or they CAN be in a home, dependent on a husband, but enjoying that role. Boys don't HAVE to never cry, or always play with war toys.

There is a reason this special, aired one time in 1974, is still remembered so well today. I was 17 when it aired, and while a little old for it, it was still a good show.

Although I myself did not get to experience the seventies, being born too late, I still got a little taste through this movie. My parents showed it to me first on laser disc (how many of you remember that phase?) and I must have watched it dozens of times. It's really a fantastic film for children to watch to get the message that it's okay to be different, to not do what everyone else is doing. I always loved the "William Wants a Doll" vignette, and of course who could forget Marlo Thomas and Harry Belafonte singing "Parents are People"? I have a copy of this on DVD, because I fully intend for it to be a part of my children's lives. Really, it's very sad that there aren't as many children's movies like this anymore. Let's all have a moment of silence to commemorate the death of the seventies.

Can I be the ONLY person to see this? Haven't we learned yet that there is no such thing as a "value-free" education? This product of the post hippy-flower-child 60's crap-a-thon (that I lived through) is a perfect example of that impossible goal. It is simply the replacement of one set of values and judgements with another.

Tradition, gender roles honored and functioning for thousands of years are now to be mocked and abandoned. We are not just to tolerate differences but to celebrate them, even the deviant and previously anti-social ones. "It's all cool!" we shouted. "You gotta do your own thang!" we cried. Until we found out that we were lonely, lost, and needed money. Then, suddenly we realized how wise previous generations were.

Please spare your child this vapid tripe of political correctness. They'll learn more and better values by watching old Frank Capra films or any of the old Warner Cartoons.

I remember seeing Free To Be... several times as a child. It was the kind of movie they would play when it was too rainy to go outside for recess. Unfortunately, the last time I saw it was around 1982, but it made an indelible and everlasting impression. Even my little brother (born a couple of years after the movie was made) remembers the sketches and songs, and we still make reference to them with fondness.

I wish they made more movies of this caliber for children today. If anyone has a suggestion as to how to find a copy - I see that Amazon does not carry it - I would be forever grateful.

Wow-Talk about going back,I have not seen this movie in over 20 years.I would love to get my hands on a copy of it.The theme song rings the strongest in my memory.Thinking about it brings me back to growing up as a kid in the 70s-seemed like a different time.You would never see anything like this nowadays.