Barney’s View of Our World

Barney’s (2007) shows on visiting the zoo as well as play reading were fantastic in that they revealed an extremely peaceful view of our world. As a matter of fact, the message of both of these shows was founded on the principle of friendship. Barney’s song in both shows, “I love you/ You love me/ We’re a happy family/ With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you/ Won’t you say you love me too? ” is sensational not only because it focuses on family and love, but also for the reason that it does not leave any room for negativity in human relations.

The children on Barney’s shows did not fight at all, neither did they try to beat others in various competitions. Rather, each child’s individuality was recognized and valued. Barney’s show on visiting the zoo expressed the child’s sense of curiosity in a wonderful way. The children had gone to the zoo for a trip of exploration. Moreover, the children were divided by age. Nevertheless, each child knew what was relevant for his or her age group. The younger children did not envy the older children because the latter were more knowledgeable; neither did the older children envy the cuteness of the younger.

Rather, they all showed respect for the knowledge given them; and they cherished their togetherness. The show on play reading undoubtedly described reading as fun. Barney sang a song with the children: “Books are fun/ Books are great/ Let’s sit down with a book today. ” All children danced and then sat with books through the song. The show also had a segment on art work. In this, all children drew and painted, without anybody trying to best the others through superior art.

The theme of both shows was friendship with respect to learning. The message was: We learn best when we are with friends, when we are positive and happy rather than negative and BARNEY’S VIEW OF OUR WORLD Page # 2 sad. Furthermore, there is no tension of competition among Barney and his friends. He is a great group leader for the children, who follow him and love him absolutely.

Although our culture is defined by competition, and violence rather than peace is on the news channel, Barney’s television shows remind us about our true universal values. Jesus comes to mind at this point, because he had said that adults must become like children before they can find their way to Heaven. In this way, Barney’s theme and message are totally applicable in our culture, seeing that most of us believe in Jesus’ words. Many children learn about competition very early in life. This competition is often sibling-related.

In school, children may start competing for higher ranks. All the same, every individual would like the sense of humaneness whereby everybody is recognized for his or her own talents and skills. Such is the message of Barney, taking us back to perhaps the newborn stage of life when it really did not matter how better or worse we were with respect to others. It may very well be that Jesus was talking about this newborn stage of life when he mentioned that we must become like children in order to find our way.

It is obvious that Barney is not depicting our actual culture in the conditions we live through today. Rather, the show is reminding us about our true universal values – values that everybody forming a part of our culture believes in, unconsciously or consciously. BARNEY’S VIEW OF OUR WORLD Page # 3 References 1. Barney. (2007, March 5-6). Television. Nick Junior.