Today I wanted to go back in time and relive some of the memories I have of nostalgic Christian shows and movies I used to watch. Now, as I stated in a previous post, I was not brought up in a very religious household. So, my interactions with any kind of children’s shows or movies associated with Christian content came from my grandparents. I had forgotten about many of these and I am sure most of what I watched has been repressed. As a child I remember only certain faces and songs, but the biblical messages were not quite as memorable. I have gone back and rewatched these shows and movies with fresh and more skeptical eyes.
As a kid growing up in the 90’s, I have to start this list with a beloved favorite of mine, Veggie Tales. As I went back and watched some of my favorite episodes, I realized that most of what I liked were the silly and less religious concepts of the show. And as a child many of the biblical references that were meant to be taken more seriously, made no sense to me and honestly still don’t. Almost all of the Veggie Tales I remember had to do with the Silly Songs with Larry skits. The songs were so ridiculous and typically had little or nothing to do with religion. Larry was a cucumber and was such a memorable character in the show and made it so funny and enjoyable to watch. If the show had focused more on the funny and silly aspects of their characters and less on the creepy and morbid biblical stories, it would have made for a better program.
Three of my favorite Silly Songs with Larry are, ‘I Love my Lips’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZLbzERPUAA), ‘The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaWU1CmrJNc), and my all time favorite, ‘Hairbrush Song’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtHr7gluh08). I would definitely recommend checking them out as a nostalgia trip if you watched them as a kid and want to remember the best parts of the show.
One episode from the show that I always remembered was, ‘Joshua and the Jericho Wall’. At the time I didn’t realize that it was depicting a gory and morbid biblical story, but rewatching it made that all the more apparent. They definitely try to gloss over many of the gruesome parts of this story to make it kid friendly, but much of it is still uncomfortable to watch. This clip was one of my favorites, but knowing how it relates to the biblical story makes that much creepier now (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXM2o_Hb9Ls). I remember the purple slushies fondly and thought it was such a catchy and silly song as a kid. I watched this numerous times at my grandparents house growing up and never realized the significance of why they would only let me watch certain shows like this one.
The next show I re discovered was one that I had completely forgotten about. My partner and I were watching random videos and happened to find a clip that had part of this show in it. It was so weird to see a show I hadn’t watched since childhood and to also find out how blatantly religious it is. The Donut Man is a show for younger audiences equating God’s love with filling holes in doughnuts (yes, really). The program uses doughnuts, puppets, and children to talk about different stories and messages from the Bible (many of which make no sense or are uncomfortable to watch). Many of the puppets are of either doughnuts or bread and were creepy to watch as a child and are even creepier now as an adult. The songs are longer than necessary and many seem to have little to no lyrics as the chorus ends up being repeated to any obnoxious level. And the biblical stories they attempt to talk about or explain end up muddled and confused with the metaphors of baked goods. These are the clips I remember watching from the show the most, view at your own discretion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEt9y5grJ0g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHiM1cWt2D8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvxHqY2FK4g
While my memories of the Donut Man don’t hold as much fondness, the one Christian movie I loved as a kid was The Prince of Egypt. I remember watching this movie many times and enjoying it each time I did. Even re watching it now I found that it held up nicely and was well animated, well cast, and overall a captivating movie. The Prince of Egypt follows the story of the Book of Exodus. Moses decides to free the Jewish slaves, hate his brother (the pharaoh), and encourage a series of horrific plagues upon the town. The songs are memorable and enticing, but the story and message are just upsetting and cruel. Moses is supposed to be the hero, but his motives are questionable. Upon learning he was adopted, Moses decides to listen to a magic man in the sky and free the slaves while turning against his loyal brother. Rather than working through their issues reasonably, Moses tells his brother that a series of plagues will torment everyone unless he frees the slaves. This ultimately leads to the final plague of killing off every firstborn, which kills the pharaoh’s son. The Book of Exodus should not be retold into the realm of a children’s animated movie. I want to like this movie, but the story and message are gruesome (much like some of the Veggie Tales episodes). Here are a few clips of some of the memorable songs I enjoyed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gur8ccqrQ9c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biVEtQQ_9mo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG0a9WFkgzU
Here is a bonus clip of the song they use to describe the horrific plagues in a children’s movie… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tVTEyuCKn4
I know there are many other Christian movies and shows out there that many of you have likely seen that did not make my list. Look for future posts on the Not Your Martyr Movies series where I watch bad Christian cinema and discuss it with others (http://artfullyatheist.com/2017/07/23/not-your-martyr-movies-i-am-gabriel/). There is still plenty of cringey children’s Christian media out there to talk about.