For over 20 years now, the beloved PBS series Arthur has been introducing viewers of all ages to the world of Elwood City’s many lovable residents. Primarily following the life of third grade student, the aardvark Arthur Read, the animated series offers important life lessons in every episode, as is typical for most PBS Kids fare.
But through Arthur’s relationships with his family, his friends including best friend Buster Baxter, and his many classmates and teachers, the series has also gone above and beyond the typical imparting of important morals and messages for kids. The show has been groundbreaking in many ways, even since its earliest episode. We’ve recapped ten of its most impressively forward thinking storylines here.
Discussing divorce
Divorce isn’t exactly an easy subject to discuss with children of any age, regardless of whether their parents are going through one. For comparison, even Sesame Street’s valiant efforts at producing an episode about divorce regarding Snuffy’s parents resulted in the episode being pulled from circulation after children were left feeling hurt and confused.
But Arthur has never shied away from the topic of divorce, featuring single mother Bitzi raising her son Buster and openly discussing her divorce with her ex-husband. The third season episode “Mom and Dad Have a Great Big Fight” even finds Arthur and little sister D.W. worrying that their parents might get divorced after they have an argument.
Binky defies gender conventions
Binky Barnes may have started the series off as a member of the Tough Customers bully gang, but he has had one of the most impressive characters arcs of any character in the entire series - which is impressive, considering they’ve all been third graders for over two decades.
Early on, the series establishes that Binky, an otherwise seemingly macho bully, has a real love of and talent for ballet. He also enjoys clarinet and classical music, butterflies, and proudly holds his mom’s hand in public, even though he briefly worries what it will look like.
Immigrant narratives
It’s hard to know exactly where Elwood City is, even though some confusing hints have been dropped along the way regarding the real cities it could be analogous to. But regardless of its actual geographic location, Elwood City has always been an extremely diverse and accepting one, particularly when it comes to immigrants.
Arthur and Sue Ellen both strike up long distance pen pal relationships with boys from Asian countries named Adil and Tenzin, and Tenzin even comes to visit Elwood City. In Season 14, the series introduced Brain’s Senegalese cousin Cheikh, who moved to Elwood City with his parents and, in season 23, became an American citizen.
Redemption for bullies
Binky isn’t the only member of the Tough Customers gang who’s gotten quite a little bit of a redemption arc over the course of the series. In recent years, Molly, the lone female member of the bully group, has come to be seen in a much softer light. This is mostly due to her relationship with her little brother, James, and her bond with Arthur.
Likewise, Rattles, who’s easily recognized by his signature backwards red baseball cap, has also been shown to have quite the soft side and natural gifts for chess, knitting, dance, and puppetry.
Introducing a character with autism
Characters with autism have become increasingly prominent in media aimed at both children and adults thanks to characters like Julia on Sesame Street, Dr. Shaun Murphy on The Good Doctor, and Sam Gardner on the Netflix series Atypical. But before any of these series were making waves in terms of neurodiversity and acceptance, Arthur was doing all of that and more.
Back in 2010, Arthur introduced George’s new friend, Carl, a young rabbit boy with Asperger’s syndrome. Carl loves trains, puzzles, space, science fiction, and baseball, and has provided valuable input to the group’s many adventures on multiple occasions due to his impeccable memory and attention to detail.
Introducing a character with dyslexia
Autism wasn’t the first example of neurodiversity representation that Arthur provided, however. All the way back in 2001, in the series’ sixth season, Arthur expanded the backstory of everyone’s favorite puppet-loving moose, George Lundgren, by revealing that he had a diagnosis of dyslexia.
The episode goes to great lengths to show how important it is for a community to come together and help provide the necessary supports for people like George. Mr. Haney in particular takes a major role in George’s story, as the beloved principal reveals that he too has dyslexia.
Introducing a blind character
In case it isn’t already clear by now, we’ll come right out and say it: the world of Elwood City and its residents might just be one of the most inclusive places you could live. Neurological and cognitive disabilities and differences have been wonderfully represented in the series, but so, too, have physical disabilities, as in the case of Prunella’s good friend, Marina.
Introduced in the series’ sixth season, Marina Datillo is a young rabbit who happens to be blind. She also has absolutely no time for anyone who tries to treat her as lesser than because of her disability, and has no qualms about calling people out on their ableism. She is an excellent soccer player and yogi, and she loves the Henry Skreever book series with a passion that rivals the rest of the gang’s.
Introducing a character with dementia
Just as Arthur didn’t shy away from discussing the difficult subject that is divorce, the series also dove in head first with a discussion of the heartbreaking matter of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Grandpa Dave has been a beloved member of the series’ cast since its earliest episodes.
In the Season 15 episode “Grandpa Dave’s Memory Album,” the series revealed the fact that Grandpa Dave had been struggling with memory as of late, even forgetting the last time he had seen his grandchildren and Arthur’s own name. The episode featured D.W. and Arthur both proactively deciding to put together a book of cherished memories for him, so he would have an easier time remembering things.
April 9th
In 2001, after the September 11 attacks occurred, children everywhere were left with plenty of questions and fears. In 2002, in their seventh season, Arthur offered an attempt at explaining tragedy and loss to children and, in particular, the many ways people can express their emotions during times of crisis with the episode “April 9th.”
After a fire at the school causes Lakewood Eleemntary School to be closed for the foreseeable future, the students are left to face their own emotions and learn from their parents as to what these feelings are and how to deal with them. Arthur in particular has a very difficult storyline in the episode, as his father had been working a catering job at the school, but thankfully made it out safely.
Mr. Ratburn marries a man
The representation of members of the LGBTQ community has vastly improved in television and film in recent years, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that this isn’t exactly the case in media aimed at children in particular. However, with its groundbreaking 22nd season premiere, Arthur decided to change that once and for all.
Mr. Ratburn had never been shown in any romantic relationships throughout the series, and though there had been fan speculation online regarding his sexuality, the premiere episode “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone” finally settled things once and for all by having Nigel Ratburn marry a man, Patrick, at a wedding which all the kids attend.
