These troubled and indefatigably inscrutable times have injected a heavy dose of nostalgia in our everyday situations. Life, per se, never seems devoid of complications of diverse kinds as an adult and a year like this has only compounded our anxieties about our place in the world. But you know something: as we look at the children around us as they too embrace the 'new normal', we keep heading to the past, the nostalgic portal opens up and we yearn to become kids all over again, back to the glory days where innocence reigned supreme quite literally.
Our popular culture fixtures in the form of animation and live-action shows were there to guide us through trails of mischief and bonding, the beauty and ugliness of the world at large. But quintessentially, they knew the pulse of childhood and kinship among friends, knowing that we all shared our interests and the characters on the televised pantheon were our lifelines. From exchanging WWE cards to Pokemon tazos, passing the parcel to Name Place Animal Thing sharpening our mental capabilities, those were the days. In all senses. Truly unforgettable.
It makes me think about the kind of content that children receive in terms of cartoons now and a lack of substance and changing mores, whether they be guardians relying on tutors or refusing to acknowledge the problems of technology within a predominantly 'smartphone generation' for their kids. Innocence can never be truly lost so I take this trip down memory lane to resurrect some eternal favourites that children around the globe recognise as cultural totems and wish that this collective power of imagination is never lost on the current generation.
In short, these are the popular culture fixtures of our childhood that made us.
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SMALL WONDER
In naming this essay after this timeless show, I have tried to take back its sway over a whole generation of Indians who loved it equally as their international counterparts. In the 1990s and 2000s, there wasn't a single child who didn't know about this American classic airing at 5.30 in the evenings. We discussed about it at recess in school and while playtime was on in the evenings.
The theme song, the music, the characters, namely parents Ted and Joan, siblings Jamie and Vicky, Jamie's best friend Reggie and the overbearing but cute as hell neighbour Harriet or even her mother's refrain of 'no no no no no', the novel concept of an 'actual new normal' in the family dynamics was all thanks to SMALL WONDER. You see, Vicky was a pre-AI model of a robot and that's all the fun that this premise occasioned.
It all made us merry and united; there was no boundary to consider where the show aired or where it originally aired from or was created. It was the shorthand for childhood. Period. To be honest, I think it last aired here around 2002 and I cried when I realized it wasn't on the screens. But the fact that every beat and laugh track is fresh in our minds is enough to tell us of its irrepressible place in our hearts. New kids on the block, you better start with this one. It's a technically simple but unforgettable family experience, full of laughs and emotional connect, reeking of a time when these were not oversimplified emojis. (You can watch SMALL WONDER on YouTube)
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TOM AND JERRY
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