Today's post is about the show Imagination Movers. Don't let the title of the post fool you; it is my favorite show on Playhouse Disney right now. For those of you who don't know or have never seen the show, it is about four guys who run their own business, which is solving problems. They have a friend, Nina, who did work for her boring uncle Knit-Knot, but now would seem to be photographer for the local newspaper. There is also a mouse, Warehouse Mouse, who lives in the Idea Warehouse and also helps the Movers solve problems. But they are also a band, influenced by pop-rock, pop-funk and pop-folk music. Obviously, there is a lot of pop involved because, well, it's a kids show.
The band itself is a great story; they started off in order to provide young kids strong male figures, like Mister Rogers or Captain Kangaroo. Ironically, Mover Scott is the mastermind behind the band. Ironic, because on the show, he is the resident "idiot." They formed in New Orleans and had a show on the local PBS station. They made a number of successful independent CDs and one DVD, which caught the attention of Disney. But then, Hurricane Katrina wiped out their business office and most of the members homes. The Imagination Movers started last year, just as we started getting the channel.
My son, who loves music, loves this show. His face lights up and he starts to dance whenever the theme song starts playing. And I have to say, it is the most unique kids show on TV right now. Most kids shows are about kids. The main characters are kids. If there are adults (as there are in shows like Sesame Street), their job is to teach and assist the children/muppets featured. There are no children anywhere on Imagination Movers. Everyone is firmly in adult roles. Everyone has a job, no matter how cool (the Movers) or mundane (Uncle Knit Knot, whose job it is is to develop as many boring products as possible). The people who come in for the Mover's help are also adults, or at least older than the target audience (high school football player and marching band wannabe are the two examples). This is a show for kids about being adults.
But back to the depressing songs. One of things that I have always loved about the music and songs in this show are that they reminded me of the music I listened to when I was a teen: Barenaked Ladies, Moxy Fruvous, Blue Rodeo, as well as Me, Mom and Morgentaller (yes, that's the name of the band). These were angsty, yet jokesy, folky bands (Me, Mom was all these things with horns). But a lot of the best songs (or at least the songs I remember) by any of these bands were about growing up and remembering what it was like to be younger (in this case, teens). Blue Rodeo was always writing about former loves now far away who represent a lost time in their lives:
Funny how we stayed that way/For those five days in May/Made all the stars around us shine. (Five Days in May, Blue Rodeo)
Even when they were being their funniest (I'm looking at you, Barenaked Ladies), there was a longing for something that had been lost, and the jokes seemed to be, in part, an attempt to recreate a "simpler" time when you could just simply laugh away whatever was bothering you. Or at least try. If I had a million dollars/I'd buy your love. When you're young, there are limitless possibilities; you could have a million dollars, have a tree fort in your yard, and Dijon ketchup, and love. It was the simplest and at the same time, the most complex things that would make you happy. Then.
The Imagination Movers sing songs about childhood, from the perspective of adults, for kids. Following me? Not all the songs have this double layer of meaning, but I would argue that the best ones (and the most depressing ones) do. Take, for example, the song that was the catalyst for this whole thesis concerning the Movers and their music, "Take a Picture." I can't find the lyrics online, and I wasn't recording it, so it won't be exact. And to top it all off, it started off in such a way that I was quick to dismiss it. Mover Dave is having a bad hair day, but they want to take a picture so they can advertise for business in the local paper. The song is about smiling and getting a great picture, etc. I tuned out when Dave started spelling "cheese" over and over. But then, I heard something about getting pictures of all your best friends because hours turn into days. Wait, what? This song started as a song to encourage children not to worry about what they look like and to smile to a song about recording memories because those moments don't last.
The songs may all be written in the present tense, but they are backward looking, in that the songs are about childhood remembered and childhood lost. "Today's parade" is another example. It's a wonderful day for a parade, but it's an exception, not the rule, so let's make the most of it (I'm paraphrasing). Or, a song that I could see Blue Rodeo doing, "Let the Sun Shine in:" "Let the sun shine in/make us warm again/ let the sun shine in/are you ready? Let the sun shine through/over me and over you/ let the sun shine through/make it better." Now, the song literally talks about being snowed in (which they are), but it also talks more generally about having a bad day, but also that you have to be ready and willing to let the sun in and make it better. You might be rolling your eyes at this point, but I defy you to listen to any of their songs (save for the theme song and the brainstorming one) and not be pulled back into childhood and then jarred by reminders that childhood is over for you and soon will be for the kids.
Think of how transcendent songs like "It's not easy being green," "Rainbow Connection," or "I'm going to go back there someday" are, and how they move kids and adults (at least this adult). That's the kind of songs the Movers hae managed to write. They're not all like that, but the best ones, I think, are beginning to approach the best songs the Muppets ever produced.
There really is nothing like it on TV for kids, and there are no songs out there like them anymore. To recap, it's a show that is about adults, who sing songs that are about childhood, looking back. But it's also a show about having your dream job. Much like the men who play them, the Movers are doing what they love and prove that there really isn't a problem that can't be figured out with a little brainstorming and teamwork.
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