For over 50 years, "Sesame Street" has been broaching complex topics with kids: Divorce, death and disability, for three, if the letter of the day was D.
But at some point, between in-show parodies like 鈥淐olambo鈥 and 鈥淯pside Downton Abbey鈥 and Elmo and Cookie Monster using social media to weigh in on mental health and inflation, the beloved cast of 鈥淪esame Street鈥 started talking directly to adults.
Maybe it鈥檚 nostalgia, maybe it鈥檚 the trust they鈥檝e built with us since we were small, or maybe it鈥檚 just the innocence of a blue googly-eyed cookie fiend earnestly giving his opinion on rising grocery store prices, but when the furry residents of 鈥淪esame Street鈥 talk, adults tend to take them seriously.
That鈥檚 because so many of us who stopped watching still trust our furry friends on TV and the lessons they鈥檝e imparted, said Abby Whitaker, a Ph.D. candidate at Temple University whose dissertation examines 鈥淪esame Street鈥檚鈥 wider cultural and political impact.
鈥淲e still believe in the vision of Sesame Street,鈥 Whitaker said. 鈥淲e want to live in a sunnier world where people get along, where everyone has equal opportunities, where there is no discrimination and no hate. Sesame Street created and has preserved a vision for the world that we crave.鈥
鈥楽esame Street鈥 has built half a century of trust with viewers
With 54 seasons and counting, 鈥淪esame Street鈥 is the longest-running children鈥檚 series on TV. Like the similarly historic 鈥淭he Simpsons鈥 or 鈥淪aturday Night Live,鈥 it鈥檚 built a fervent fan base that spans generations.
The difference between those shows and 鈥淪esame,鈥 though, is that Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Elmo were introduced to us as living entities with whom we can interact and rely on. Cast members on 鈥淪NL鈥 come and go; Bart Simpson isn鈥檛 interacting with fans on X, because he doesn鈥檛 exist beyond Springfield. 鈥淪esame Street鈥 is a world inside our own; Larry David can meet Elmo on 鈥淭oday鈥 and suddenly sock him just as the canonically 6-year-old Big Bird can ask his X followers for help when he unexpectedly shrinks to the size of a house spider. (He has since recovered his 8鈥2鈥 stature.)
鈥淎s kids, we believed that they were our friends,鈥 said Krystine Batcho, a psychologist and La Moyne College professor who studies nostalgia. 鈥淲e believed that they understood us and that we could trust them. Then, we could temporarily suspend reality in order to share the fanciful world where they lived.鈥
Once they established their trustworthiness, the 鈥淪esame鈥 Muppets became reliable sources who could break down dense or thorny subjects with candor, poignance and humor. Elmo appeared in a CNN town hall in 2020 about Covid-19, and another about racism in the wake of George Floyd鈥檚 murder and the nationwide protests that followed. Big Bird received his Covid-19 vaccine as soon as he was eligible 鈥 again, he is forever 6. In both of those specials, serious journalists like Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Erica Hill spoke to the Muppets like they would any other interviewee.
Earlier this year, when Elmo innocuously asked his followers (in the third-person, naturally) how they were doing, the responses were overwhelmingly bleak. 鈥淓lmo each day the abyss we stare into grows a unique horror.鈥 鈥淓lmo I鈥檓 depressed and broke.鈥 鈥淚鈥檓 at my lowest, thanks for asking.鈥 Even President Joe Biden chimed in, reminding Elmo fans that they鈥檙e not alone.
Users were breaking down before a three-and-a-half-year-old monster on a public forum. Shortly after his replies were flooded with laments from adult followers, the red Muppet posted: 鈥淓lmo is glad he asked!鈥
Cookie Monster, meanwhile, posted about 鈥渟hrinkflation鈥 from his unique perspective: 鈥淢e cookies are getting smaller. Guess me going to have to eat double da cookies!鈥 Countless X users concurred and appreciated the googly eyed monster for putting a complex economic phenomenon into terms anyone can understand 鈥 that of cookies.
We feel comfortable sharing our fears with or affirming the opinion of 鈥淪esame Street鈥 Muppets online because of the relationship they鈥檝e carefully developed with so many of us since we were children, Batcho said.
鈥淎s adults we know the Muppets are not real and never were, but we still need who we once thought they were,鈥 Batcho said.
We seek out childhood nostalgia like 鈥楽esame鈥
Though the creative team behind 鈥淪esame Street鈥 are adept at bringing the show into the present and keeping material topical, its environment maintains the same sense of wonder and possibility, with an emphasis on kindness, as it did in 1969.
鈥淚ts neighborhood feels like a real place that you can return to,鈥 Whitaker said. 鈥淚t might not look quite the same. But it feels the same. That kind of nostalgia is powerful.鈥
It鈥檚 comforting to return to the apartment where Ernie innocently ribs roommate Bert, and Bert can hardly muffle his annoyance. Elmo and Big Bird are still naive, and they still ask probing questions about what it means to be a good person (or monster, or bird). Cookie Monster is eating more veggies these days, but he鈥檚 never far from his most cherished dessert. And though they learn something new in nearly every episode, they鈥檙e still, at their foam cores, the same as when they arrived on 123 Sesame Street.
鈥淲hen you grow up, and the characters are still around and still relevant, it鈥檚 like seeing an old friend or your old, favorite stuffed animal,鈥 Whitaker said.
Engaging with the 鈥淪esame鈥 gang whisks us back to our childhoods 鈥 a 鈥渟pecial time in life鈥 where dreams are limitless, promises are kept and imagination runs free, Batcho said.
鈥淐ommunicating with characters we loved as children offers a temporary escape from our problems, stress, and the things that make us sad,鈥 she said. 鈥淣ostalgia motivates us to relive the childhood interactions with them and lets us reconnect with the time in life we felt safe and happy.鈥
The 鈥淪esame Street鈥 worldview is still that of a child, but that鈥檚 part of why we鈥檙e still so drawn to it years after we stopped watching, said Anissa Graham, a senior lecturer in English at the University of North Alabama who has co-edited two books of Muppet scholarship.
鈥溾楽esame Street鈥 Muppets see the world as a place of potential, and that can be very reassuring to a grown-up inundated with news focused on endings,鈥 she said.
The show has always tried to engage adults
鈥淪esame Street鈥 was built for kids, but since its very first season, it鈥檚 strived to engage adults in the audience.
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind the show 鈥 originally called the Children鈥檚 Television Workshop 鈥 found in its research that children gleaned more from the series if their parents watched alongside them and reinforced what they鈥檇 learned, Whitaker said. The series held parents鈥 gaze by parodying zeitgeist-y pieces of pop culture and hosting celebrity guests.
鈥溾楽esame Street鈥 puts in the effort to remain culturally connected,鈥 Graham said.
Early examples include 鈥淟etter B,鈥 a parody of the Beatles鈥 鈥淟et It Be,鈥 or the 1978 disco album 鈥淪esame Street Fever,鈥 which borrows heavily from the similarly titled John Travolta film.
Graham鈥檚 personal favorite aired in 2015, at the height of 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥-mania: A Grover-starring parody called 鈥淕ame of Chairs.鈥 The short featured Muppet lookalikes of the HBO series鈥 human cast members competing in musical chairs to decide who will rule 鈥淛esteros.鈥 (Grover ends up the accidental king.)
The average kindergartener likely wasn鈥檛 tuning into the ultra-violent fantasy drama, but their parents might have been. Hearing puppet Tyrion and Ned Stark quip about the coming of winter and rolling heads is a delight reserved for caregivers in the audience, Graham said.
鈥溾楽esame Street鈥 doesn鈥檛 just get kids,鈥 Graham said. 鈥淚t gets adults, too.鈥
That the Muppets are now posting on X, where their youngest active fans are unlikely to find them, is in keeping with its mission of speaking to adults 鈥 and now, former 鈥淪esame鈥 viewers don鈥檛 need to have a child to stay in touch with Elmo and his neighbors.
鈥淵oung adults who have not yet had children can indulge their nostalgia by interacting with their imaginary friends on social media,鈥 Batcho said.
Imaginary, perhaps, but no less fundamental to the growth of countless viewers who are just as fond of their former 鈥淪esame Street鈥 neighbors now as they were in their youth. For so many grown-ups, they鈥檙e less characters than lifelong companions who still have wisdom to share and solace to offer.
