Elmo’s Dad Goes to War
The world used to be fine and dandy for Elmo; totally carefree as he simply played with his friends, sang songs, got tickled and occasionally crapped himself. Then he met Laura Bush and Elmo’s world turned upside down.
Not really, but Wal-Mart decided to sponsor this episode of Sesame Street where Elmo’s dad goes off to war. This of course makes Elmo sad and since Elmo is so egocentric as to refer to himself in the third person constantly, everything is immediately focused on Elmo and not Elmo’s daddy who could get blown to smithereens in the coming 15 months.
Of course, daddy getting blown up would make Elmo sad too, but this wasn’t discussed. Instead the focus shifts to how Elmo kills the time while his daddy is away-mostly the same stuff Elmo was doing when his southern drawled daddy was around; except Elmo gets a trumpet and learns to use web cam. Also, many real kids who are not pretend conceded monsters are shown facing the real issues of their daddy’s being away at war.
Being that I don’t have kids, I hadn’t seen any of Sesame Street in well, a very long time. Among other things I did find this episode to be somewhat amusing (as well as disturbing). To watch it, go to Sesame Street’s website. On a side note, if your child has difficulty remembering Elmo’s name, please get them on Ritalin immediately. And speaking of drugs, if Elmo stopped thinking about himself for a moment, Elmo might realize that daddy needs anti-depressants for post traumatic stress disorder.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
3 Comments
That’s… creepy. I didn’t even know that Elmo had a dad. I know kids need a way to cope; this just seems like a weird way of doing it.
Yeah I had no idea either. I don’t know if they made him up just for this role or not. And you add the fact that he has a southern accent and it makes it even weirder. Elmo doesn’t have a southern drawl!!
Actually Alex and I were talking about this last night and Elmo’s dad seems too old to be going to Iraq, well unless he is a high ranked army person. And why does it look like his dad is staying in a Hilton rather then the barracks when he talks to Elmo on webcam? And what on earth is he wearing, is that the monster’s army uniform?? questions, questions!!