Fraggle Rock is one of those shows we all remember vaguely, but fondly. When asked if you liked it, most of you would probably emphatically pledge your love for the series, but if asked for specific details, you’d most likely falter (unless, of course, you own the DVDs). For most of our generation, all that actively remains of Fraggle Rock is the edict to “dance your cares away” and leave “worries for another day.”
Fraggle Rock may, however, have left a more lasting impression on our generation than it first appears. What lessons could we possibly have learned from a group of singing Muppets that didn’t reside on Sesame Street? Fraggle Rock may well have shaped our generation’s (that’s Generation Y, by the way) view on the environment, helped us embrace our nontraditional spirituality and encouraged us to be more open-minded toward different social groups.
Let’s begin with the most studied and intentional of Fraggle Rock’s effects on our generation: environmentalism. Jim Henson, in conceiving Fraggle Rock, supposedly set out to create a show that would bring peace to the world (don’t laugh yet – he kind of succeeded). The world of Fraggle Rock is a precise and structured ecosystem with interdependent parts—the Fraggles depend on the Doozers for Doozer Structure nourishment and the Gorgs for their radishes; meanwhile, the Doozers need the Fraggles to eat their structures or they’ll have no room to build and thus no purpose in life. The Gorgs depend on the pool at the center of Fraggle Rock for their well water (a pool which the Fraggles keep replenished by banging on the pipes of Doc and Sprocket’s workshop). If any piece of the puzzle were to disappear or stop doing its job (and they do, for a short time in several episodes), all would suffer.
In this way, Fraggle Rock made us keenly, innately and unconsciously aware of our place in the world and of our duty to perform our task within the systems in which we live. In line with the Fraggles’ lessons of both ecology and idealism, an astounding 61 percent of our generation feels a “responsibility to make the world a better place,” according to a 2006 study by Cone and AMP Insights. Now who’s laughing at Henson’s dream to bring peace to the world through children’s television?
In addition to a deep-seated concern for the environment and a wonderful idealism, the Fraggles instilled in our generation an instinct to be spiritual, if not exactly religious. Only 44 percent of Generation Y considers itself to be “religious,” while another 35 percent claim to be “spiritual,” according to a Brookings Institution study entitled “OMG! How Generation Y is Redefining Faith in the iPod Era.”
How did the Fraggles influence our generation’s spirituality, you ask? The Fraggles, as you may or may not remember, were not a specifically religious people. There was, however, one notable figure to whom the Fraggles went in seek of life advice: the Trash Heap. Every so often, especially throughout the first season (I suppose before execs went, “Wait a second, the sage old character is a pile of garbage? Come on, Henson, write that out.”), the Fraggles, faced with a particularly daunting dilemma, would make pilgrimage to the Trash Heap in hopes of guidance. Though the Fraggles looked to the Trash Heap (Marjory) for guidance and generally followed her advice, they did not worship her; she seemed to merely be the one through whom they knew wisdom was channeled.
Similarly, many in Generation Y no longer feel connected to a specific religion or solidified sense of “God” and rather choose to allow their faith to manifest as a more abstract spirituality, much like that of our old friends down at Fraggle Rock.
Finally, the Fraggles, with their multi-colored felt skin and sexual ambiguity, encouraged us to embrace the plurality of our generation and to be more open-minded toward and accepting of the differentness around us than generations before us.
Generation Y is indeed more pluralistic than prior generations, according to statistics published by the Learning Work Connection of Ohio State University. In fact, one-third of Generation Y consists of non-white minorities, many of whom are immigrants. As a result, our generation tends to be more tolerant of race and sexuality (82 percent of our generation report having at least one gay or lesbian friend).
The Fraggles themselves were pluralistic in appearance and, beyond that, befriended many outside of their species (notably a few specific Doozers, Sprocket the dog, and the Last of the Lily Creatures and even the Gorgs, from time to time). Though all children’s shows encourage this kind of friendliness, the Fraggles embodied the ideals of acceptance on a level not often seen in children’s shows as the cast consisted of groups that clearly functioned on different levels of society, as opposed to the usual utopian equal playing field usually depicted in the genre.
Though we may not distinctly remember the Fraggles and their Rock, the wisdom they imparted on us has resonated to adulthood. We grew up with the Fraggles and, in many ways, Gobo (who, along with his Uncle Traveling Matt should now give you film kids a chuckle), Red, Mokey, Wembley and Boober, grew up with us. Fittingly, in 2009, the Fraggles will return to us in a big screen adventure in which they will, reportedly, leave Fraggle Rock for the unknown world of outer space at around the same time as the audience that knew and loved them graduates college and ventures into the unknown “real world.”