Sesame Street is turning the corner and skidding its deformed mass across the 40th year of television. Throughout the last 40 years, it has experienced as many transformations as Optimus Prime and with the arrival of Big Bird’s 40th birthday, Troy Patterson, of Slate Magazine has shined a flash light of fact past Big Bird and into the googly eyes of his big blue friend.
Patterson asks, “Could we also devote a moment to his blobbiestblue colleague?” A commonly over-looked hardship on the street named Sesame is Cookie Monster’s painful conversion. Like a snake sheds its skin, Cookie Monster is kicking his addiction and that blue fluffy coat is turning greener every day.
Patterson highlights Cookie’s infamous past by uprooting the alcohol related origins of “C is for Cookie,” commenting, “C is for Cookie, is a pub song invested with rousing grandeur, an anthem to monomania.” If generating sentence structure were important to our cookie-destroying friend, Sesame Street would lose statements like, “Ah, who cares about the other things?” His grammar remains subpar, but his diet is turning hippie, minus magical mushrooms. Stephen Colbert’s Peabody Award switched the channel to morning television and awarded its veggie-consuming recipient. The evolution of this undetermined creature has morphed throughout the years, from a junkie lifestyle to a positive future; Cookie Monster has shown us how to devour.
This roller coaster was given its initial kick in 1966 with cookie’s first concept doodle conceived by Jim Henson and gained momentum. This early sketch was created for General Foods as one of the ravenous eaters featured in a series ofsnack commercials. Cookies first love was not soft, chewy or chocolate-spotted. Wheels were the only things that Cookie Monster wanted to eat. Although appealing to him, little kids were not accustomed to a wheel eating beast. When his first cookie was consumed with good intentions, children loved it and were fascinated by his theme song “C is for Cookie”.
The addiction was inevitable; Cookie developed a grotesque habit and with the increase of this dependence, spawned a direct correlation to American lifestyles. “The average weight for a 10 year-old-boy in 1963 was 74.2 pounds; by 2002 the average weight was nearly 85 pounds.” says Robert Longley of About.com. Can we rightfully blame American entertainment? No. A TV is not a dictatorship and cannot control an individual. Children, although susceptible to media miscommunications, have parents who provide healthy lifestyles. Cookie Monster is not the cause of obesity in the American youth, uninformed parents are.
According to an American Journal of Public Health study, an adult who watches three hours of TV a day is far more likely to be obese than an adult who watches less than one hour(California State University, Northridge). TV and a sedentary lifestyle increase mass, similar to water and sunlight. If obesity is the adult result of watching any type of television program, the outcome of childhoodtelevision viewing could be morbid. Although a television role model like Cookie could inspire hefty eating habits, a parental role model can be just as inspirational. About 60 million Americans are over weight and obesity will exponentially increase in future generations. This super-sized statistic can’t be swallowed and forgotten like a store bought chocolate chip cookie. Mothers can riot and wince at our beloved blue, but ultimately they pay the grocery bill.
Appreciate perseverance. Like a rock, Cookie Monster has remained after 4,180 plus episodes of Sesame Street. The adaptation of Cookie only confirms that Charles Darwin knew what he was talking about when he discovered his theory of evolution. From blue to green, the media pressed its persuasion upon the beast and not once did Cookie Monster oppress his path of redemption. Every bite of nose pinching veggies, tells us he cares about the fans. So when Troy Patterson asks, “Could we also devote a moment to his blobbiest blue colleague?” Undoubtedly the answer is a monstrous yes.