I grew up in the 1970s.
In those days we didn’t have many TV channels (just three in fact, BBC1, BBC2 and ITV). But we had some really cool superheroes on the telly. The Hulk. And Superman. And Spidey. And, best of all, Wonder Woman (what an outfit!).
The thing is that 1970s superheroes actually looked like superheroes. Turning green or wearing your undies on the outside was de rigeur for 1970s superheroes.
Fast forward to the late 90s. I’ve grown up and have kids of my own. My youngest got addicted to Bob the Builder. And I used to have a downer about Bob because he isn’t a superhero. He’s just a builder. He fixes stuff. What’s the point of watching DVDs about a builder? There’s nothing special about Bob. It’s not even as if he’d had an accident with a rivet gun when he was six and became the “contractor of choice”. He’s just a builder!
Until one day I sat down and watched an episode of Bob the Builder. It blew me away. Bob (bearing in mind all the builders you know) never turns up at a job and grimaces, shakes his head and complains, “Who did your plumbing love? I don’t like the look of that.” No siree. Bob always approaches his work with a positive mental attitude. And he doesn’t turn up on his tod. Oh no. He turns up with a high performance team (Scoop, Muck, Dizzy, Wendy, Roly, Spud and Lofty) and they sing and dance while they work. And, of course, when the challenge seems insurmountable Bob always shouts to his team, “can we fix it?” and his team always shouts back, “yes we can!”
Know what? I think Bob’s got himself an empowered team. He’s not a bad role model. He’s certainly ‘not just a builder’. His extra-ordinarily positive attitude marks him out as being the best builder in the world.
Maybe Bob’s a superhero for the modern times?