"Watching red balls take shape, pretzel dough go into the oven, the Crayola factory come to life, and a cloud of cotton getting brushed into a towel with Fred Rogers' calm, interested voiceover makes for good television, sure, but it does so much more. These segments show the magic of work - that an object is the sum of its parts plus labor, and this process is a sight to behold. Rogers wanted to show kids that our chaotic world is an orderly place with meaning, if we just take time to look below the surface."
"As an adult looking back at these segments, it's clear to me the world just isn't that simple anymore. Sure, the adult viewpoint complicates things ("Who's their manager?"; "I wonder what overtime pay is like?"), But so does the world economy. Companies don't just make a single thing anymore. For better and worse, the world just doesn't work like that."
Mister Rogers' factory-tour segments present slow, methodical views of production, from red balls and pretzels to crayons and towels, accompanied by Rogers' calm narration. The segments portray manufacture as a revealing sequence of parts and labor that imbues objects with meaning and order. Adult reflection complicates the simplicity by raising questions about management, labor conditions, and modern economic realities. The Crayola factory visit illustrates vivid, tactile processes that remain mesmerizing while highlighting that contemporary industry often defies the notion of single-purpose, isolated production.
Read at Fatherly
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