How Did VeggieTales Get Away With It?
Maybe I was a dumb child but it wasn’t until I was in my early teens that I realized that VeggieTales was Christian media. I didn’t even figure it out on my own, in a conversation with friends reminiscing on what shows and movies we liked as kids my friend pointed out that vegetables told Christian stories. I was struck with the realization and wondered how I hadn’t noticed it before. Was the church trying to trick me into believing in God through singing cucumbers? While I don’t think it is something as nefarious as that, it is interesting to think about their marketing and how they were able to appeal to wider audiences. If you’re of a certain age you probably have seen or are at least familiar with the concept of VeggieTales, but if you aren’t allow me to briefly explain what I’m on about. VeggieTales was a series of direct-to-VHS and later DVD episodes that were about half an hour long. They follow the general formula of two stories: one typically depicting a story from the bible and another parodying a movie and other pop culture media or a second bible story and an unrelated segment, either a sketch or an edition of Silly Songs With Larry. The hosts of the program are Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato, and each story is acted by a recurring cast of fruits and vegetables that play different characters in each episode.
The first VeggieTales tape was released in December of 1993 and is titled “Where’s God When I’m S-Scared?” That one is pretty obviously about God in some respect and the next release in 1994 also had “God” in the title, but after that none of the VeggieTales titles contain the word “God” and some editions have changed the titles to “Tales From The Crisper” and “The Grapes of Wrath” respectively. Further titles incorporate wordplay to describe what biblical story they will be telling such as “Dave and the Giant Pickle” (David and Goliath) and “Moe and the Big Exit” (Moses) which appeal to both Christian parents and those that don’t mind their kids watching vegetables doing biblical stories but don’t want a sermon. The thing that made VeggieTales big, however, was the silly songs. During the period that the VeggieTales Reddit page considers the Golden Era (1993-2001) before the release of the first feature-length theatrically released movie “Jonah, A VeggieTales Movie” (I guess that’s when they sold out), they released three compilation videos of only Silly Songs With Larry segments. This is how I was introduced to the ‘Tales.
Knowing how music is often used as an entertainment and educational tool for children is important in understanding the franchise’s success. Kids love music, they love singing and dancing especially if it is accompanied by a little bouncing ball that lands on the words at the bottom of the screen. The importance of the ball cannot be understated. It goes along in time with the song and lands on the words as they are sung so this can create a recognition to the child that this is how the word is spelled and this is what it sounds like. Disney incorporated this method with their singalong series of videos. I owned one called “Disney Sing Along Songs: Disneyland Fun” which took the viewer around the park showing the different areas and rides with the costumed actors singing and dancing around. A great way to get children to incessantly ask their parents to go on a trip to Disneyland. I owned one VeggieTales VHS, “Silly Sing-Along 2: The End of Silliness?” it featured some beloved songs such as “The Song of the Cebu” and “His Cheeseburger” which have nothing whatsoever to do with faith and a few other songs from previous episodes that were related to bible stories. There was a song from “Josh and the Big Wall” which depicts, in song, the Israelites walking around the Walls of Jericho until it falls. I didn’t know that story but I was entertained because one main aspect that the creators stole from Monty Python. A guard on a wall with an outrageous French accent. Including songs from other episodes is a good way to get children to recognize the characters and ask their parents for the tape when they’re walking through a store and see the same characters from the song on the cover.
The second theatrically released VeggieTales movie was “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” which was an idea derived from a silly song that was an original on the compilation “Very Silly Songs.” There is a sense among the Veggiers that over time they gradually got away from being as overtly religious as they were in the beginning so I imagine the revelation that it is religious wouldn’t make you feel like such a fool for not noticing these days. The internet is also a thing now so I don’t think anyone seeing VeggieTales for the first time today wouldn’t know the Christian overtones and undertones so they probably can’t get away with it now. But how did they get away with it for so long before then? Well, they set the prerequisite for watching the show themselves with their own theme song. Larry, brandishing a tuba, would begin to play a simple tune accompanied by Bob singing that you merely need to like talking to tomatoes, waltzing with potatoes up and down the produce aisle and that a squash can make you smile to enjoy the show. While I’ve never done or liked any of those things and don’t know anyone who has, a squash can make me smile. That’s all they needed to get me hooked. I don’t think they were trying to brainwash children into being Christian, they were just trying to get them to make their parents buy more of their tapes and their toys just like any other children’s media company does.
Which is way worse.
