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When I went to elementary and middle school between 2002 and 2010, they were still using VHS sets to show educational movies. Sometimes, we’d see adaptations of books we were happening to be reading, or you know, educational films. Not really modern ones, though, but films from the 50’s, by my estimation, right up until the 90’s (The 1984 PBS series Voyage of the Mimi and its 1988 sequel was a big one for us in 5th Grade, as was, of course, the classic Bill Nye, the Science Guy.) As such, whilst they technically taught the information we were meant to learn, they also reflected the attitudes or culture of whatever era they were produced in.
Case in point, this segment, as it was for so many other schoolchildren since 1976, was a perennial favorite:
Airing originally on ABC from 1973 to 1984, with a revival from 1993–1996 and later some direct-to-video segments in 2009, Schoolhouse Rock is probably a very familiar cultural touchstone to many of you, whether it be on television or the educational shorts that were repackaged for schools. The series used original songs with lyrics…
