Today, we were talking about adult subject matter, and for reasons that are but perhaps should not be related, the subject of Fraggle Rock came up. I started singing the theme song, which for those of you who don't get songs stick in your heads like I do, begins: "Dance your cares away/work is for another day..." implying that the Fraggles are more about fun than industry. The truth of this varies as we get to know our Fraggle friends, certainly, but by and large, I'd say it's an accurate description of Fraggle life - it's more about fun than work.
Now, before you think that this is a rant on teaching the value of work over play to children, I want you to consider the other inhabitants of Fraggle Rock, the Doozers. The Doozers are not only given screen time on the show, but the whole next verse of the theme song. "Work your cares away/dancing's for another day..." These miniscule, hardworking creatures slave away at elaborate constructions all the time while the Fraggles dance.
Now, if they're all happy with their lifestyles, so what? You ask. Well, maybe. But then, in addition to their steady diet of radishes, the Fraggles love to snack on the Doozers' buildings! Yes, "Doozer sticks" are among the carefree Fraggles' favorite foods, and the Fraggles are willing to snap them out of buildings as carelessly as we might tear the corner from a gingerbread house on Christmas.
Now suddenly what we have looks more like the story of the grasshopper and the ant as retold in "A Bug's Life." Of course the Fraggles are carefree and don't work. They take radishes from the Gorg garden and Doozer sticks from the Doozers. Meanwhile, everyone else around them works, from the trash heap to the Doozers to the Gorg.
Come to think of it, maybe the lessons Fraggle Rock taught are on the money. Work is a sucker's bet; be the one taking advantage of the worker and not the one slaving away, and you'll have a better time in life.
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