Why do I hate Elmo? Okay, hate is too strong a word, but it works in casual conversation. The Dudeling is a bit over a year and a half and knows his alphabet/colors/numbers, so we’re thinking of letting him watch a bit of television from time to time (that’s a whole other thread). But every time Elmo is on the screen, or shows up on a toy or book, I want to cringe. There’s also some Brundlefly creature that’s fairly annoying too (one of the electronic books screeches “I’m ready! I’m ready!”), for similarly vague reasons.
I can’t imagine finding Grover or Cookie Monster so repugnant, so it’s not an anti-muppet thing. Could it be that all the other muppets are ‘people’, yet Elmo is some hyper-infantilized monstrosity? But I vaguely recall other ‘kid’ muppets out there. Is it that Elmo is new? But I’m not that territorial with other things, and Elmo has been around for years. I don’t get it.
Parents with more experience—what is it about Elmo that grates so much? Why does the Dudeling find him so compelling? Oh, and why was it so hard to find Deaf/Mute Elmo in the stores?
(Mods, if I’m not alone in this and it devolves into a Pit thread, I’m fine with moving it rather than reining in posters. Unless, of course, it turns into a Pit of me, then you should break out the banstick.)
I think it’s like you said, that Elmo is infantile. The other muppets…Grover, Bert, Ernie, Cookie Monster, etc., are all adults. Big Bird isn’t an adult, but he’s also not an infant. Elmo and Zoe are. So, the rest of the muppets generally act and talk like older people. That’s not true for Elmo or Zoe, who act and talk like toddlers.
I think that’s a large part of the reason you find him annoying but that your kid finds him so engaging.
I adore Kermit. (But I wish someone would turn Miss Piggy into sausages.)
I love Ernie and Bert. (FWIW, ever since I was little kid I thought they were married. It seems many people hint they are more than roommates.)
I have a love-hate relationship with Barney.
The Teletubbies creep me out. (Are they still on, BTW?)
I am indifferent to Elmo.
I think it’s good for the Dudeling to watch. He teaches nice toddler things like how to take a bath, or take care of your teeth, eat your veggies, and how to not be afraid of thunder. I’m pretty sure it’s designed to be compelling to toddlers, with the simplistic bold lines and bright colors, and even that annoying voice.
It could be worse, he could like the Wonder Pets, with that lisping duck.
His voice is fine. It’s just the third person thing. And kids will pick up on it. Sure, they’ll learn it’s wrong, but it’s annoying to have to deal with the regression. And I say that as someone who only dealt with them in a co-babysitting fashion (where I wasn’t even the disciplinarian).
I really warmed up to Elmo after I found what else was out there. His voice is annoying, but he’s an upbeat, positive character who teaches worthwhile lessons. Although, it should be pointed out, valuable lessons on how trap and eat guys from the Wiggles are conspicuously absent. Otherwise he’s OK in my book.
But yes, he’s infantile, as as been noted, and my guess is that’s a big part of the problem. I seem to recall reading somewhere that he was introduced at a time when there was a conscientious decision by the makers of Sesame Street to change their target audience from the kindergarten-early elementary school set to the toddler segment. Hence Elmo, Abby, and their ilk- all definitely infantile characters designed to appeal to a 2-year-old.
For the record, the first TV or video of any kind that our first child watched was Sesame Street when he was around a year old, and his knowledge of letters and numbers showed up early and strongly. Possibly only correlation instead of causation, but still. He hasn’t learned a thing from the goddamned Wiggles, that’s for sure.
I’d only glanced at the Wiggles before (my nephew was what, a Wiggle-head?), and they kind of creeped me out in a ‘please stop with that vapid smile’ sort of way. Then a short while ago I dropped them into Rhapsody to hear what’s in store, and I must admit to being surprised at the caliber of composition. Not quite Pink Floyd for young’uns, but much better than I expected. I suppose after hearing the same song a thousand times I might feel differently, but for now I’m letting my guard down. A bit.
The Dudeling has seen and heard very little of Elmo–our main hang-out is the parlour, which has music but no video to speak of. His Elmo-fixation is pretty much solely based on the handful of items his face (Elmo’s, not the Dudeling’s) is plastered on. A couple books, his deaf/mute Elmo doll, and, now that I think of it, probably the largest impact: his diapers.
Yeah, maybe that whole Seinfeld episode with ‘The Jimmy’ or whatever was tapping into the third-person annoyance. The cloyingly sweet toddler-like persona is pretty grating. Fucker. Oops. I never thought of Grover as an adult per se, or even an older kid. There were some old muppets (Sam the Eagle, Statler and Waldorf), but most were self-identifiable people.
The Gervais skit is pretty cool. Anyone know if Elmo has done Colbert?
The most annoying thing about Elmo is that he’s overexposed. A little Elmo goes a long way. The vibrating maniacal laughing Elmo doll creeps a lot of kids out, too. We have an ancient one that just won’t die.
I hate this fucking show. The premise is stupid beyond belief even for a kids show. But that stupid lisping duck irks my drawers. It’s a kids show and characters should speak properly.
My Sesame Street watching began around 1972, so my antipathy to Elmo (when I found out about him) was based around how much he seemed like a debasement of Grover.
My daughter loves Elmo, though - and after getting used to him I can’t really find anything about him that is objectively more annoying than Grover, who I’m sure my parents found* incredibly* irritating.
