So I think I figured it out. What is it about the Muppets that inspired my childhood? Two words: Personality and Diversity.
PERSONALITY
Let's face it. The Muppets have wild personalities. From Kermit to Gonzo to Beaker to Bert to Oscar to Animal to the Fraggles, such incredibly wild personalities exist inside each one of them. They're not cookie cutter characters like we get in most fiction these days. I could name any number of rather flat, unimaginative character archetypes that have been used and are still being used in most fiction these days. Especially in Disney movies, with their never-ending catering to children with the same stories told again and again and again. Seriously, how many variations on a princess theme can you have? A wizard theme? Seriously. No, the Muppets certainly weren't flat characters. And I think that more than anything has influenced my creative enterprises.
DIVERSITY
A second point about the Muppets is the incredible variation amongst them. They are an incredibly eclectic group. Not one of them is like any other. We have talking animals, aliens, "people" with impossible skin tones, monsters, random furry creatures with bugles on their heads that can make noise by squeezing their noses (?), et cetera. How many movies are there where the protagonists are all of a kind, except for the token minority or alien--if even that? No, there is beauty in diversity. I appreciate this about the Muppets, and the shows they are featured on.
So that is my final analysis, which I had not even planned on making really. I hope you have enjoyed this random walk through the mind of a rather odd college student.
By the way, which title would make you more likely to read: "Master Puppeteer"? Or "Puppet Master"?
~ Tommy
No comments:
Post a Comment