Now I want to make one thing perfectly clear: I never really got into Barney the Dinosaur growing up. I was more of a “Thomas the Tank Engine” kind of kid in the 1990s, but I did watch plenty of PBS Kids shows such as “Arthur,” “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” and “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
However, when it came to Barney, I found him both strange and didn’t really feel like connecting to him as a kid. However, when this documentary came out this past fall, it didn’t take me until Christmas to watch it because my folks have Peacock streaming service. Upon watching “I Love You, You Hate Me,” I couldn’t help but take notice of how society treated Barney and the people who brought him to the screen.
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Now watching this documentary opened my eyes to the fact that Barney was one of the first cult children’s shows to come out of popular culture. Sure there was “Sesame Street” and a few others, but what is it about Barney that drew children to him? Was it the fact that he was warming and loving in general? Was it the fact that he promoted Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in preschool form? Was it even something else about him that we don’t even know about?
Part of the answer comes from the fact that Barney represents neurodiversity in terms of how he behaves and speaks. He is always positive, never negative just like how some neurodiverse individuals want to be.
To me, Barney represents a routine that a neurodiverse child may find fascinating in him: he comes to life, teaches the lesson of the day with the help of the Barney Kids and his friends, sings “I Love You, You Love Me” and turns back into a doll at the end. There is a good part of the neurodiverse population that wish they would probably just do that on a daily basis.
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However, watching “I Love You, You Hate Me” also made me think of something else…the Brony Fandom. For six years, I devoted my time and effort to this fandom because there was nothing positive that came out of popular culture that people could connect with. Sure, there were comic book characters like Marvel and DC, Disney and a good many others.
But it was because the fandom even existed were there individuals that want to cause harm to the fandom and everyone in it. Seeing Barney being beaten, tortured and everything else in between got me thinking that neurodiverse individuals who love Barney or My Little Pony are at greatest risk of being bullied just for something that they love.
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Case in point? Michael Morones, a young boy who was big into “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” and got bullied to the point where he tried to commit suicide. As a result, he ended up being brain damaged for the rest of his life after that.
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When it came to the people that worked on Barney, they were either bullied, ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, or got so obsessed that they ended up losing touch with reality.
The sad truth is that we see both sides of the coin in all fandoms and the Brony Fandom, like the Barney fandom, was no exception. We have seen “loyal” fans or Bronies or any other children’s show fandom like Barney end up getting involved in some pretty sick trouble and most of them weren’t on the spectrum to begin with.
I believe that if anyone who is neurodiverse or neurotypical that is interested in something like Barney and ends up watching this documentary, it’s important to focus on the positive aspects of the documentary such as how a father who formed an Anti-Barney group ended up embracing Barney as the main reason for staying sober for over 30 years.
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And that’s the other point I want to make…people connect with Barney or any other cultural phenomenon had credited that particular phenomenon with saving their lives. But sometimes we have to go through the bad before we get to the good. Some phenomena can be lifesaving, but plenty refuse to believe that.
So, if you love “Barney and Friends,” good for you! Embrace something that makes you happy, but if you are someone who resorts to violence to show hate towards something like Barney, you’ve missed the whole point and I’m sorry for you.
“I Love You, You Hate Me” teaches that violence towards a cultural phenomenon only makes something stronger with each blow. Even though it’s been off the air for over 10 years, Barney still gets a loyal following and there’s nothing wrong with that!!
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Catch you all later!!
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