| Devin Warner |
The Muppet Movie plays in stunning 4K at the Trylon Cinema from Sunday, August 2nd, through Tuesday, August 4th. For tickets, showtimes, and other series information, visit trylon.org.
Note: There are many links to Muppet related material that I am referencing. You do not need to see them to understand this piece but should watch them because they are all delightful.
The Muppet Movie starts with the camera descending into the swamp as we hear Kermit the Frog sing Rainbow Connection. This iconic song, written by Paul Williams, starts off pondering the nature of rainbows and that rainbows are visions, but only illusions and rainbows have nothing to hide, stating a very cut and dry scientific fact that there’s nothing special about rainbows apart from them being reflected light on water droplets. Kermit rejects this notion through the rest of the song as he sings about the sense of adventure and hope for the future. Kermit remains hopeful and upbeat that there is magic in the world, despite how wrong things might be going for him at that moment. This call to adventure and optimism puts him on the path of chasing Hollywood fame; it also allows Kermit to find his group of friends that would eventually become The Muppets. It serves as the foundation not only for this movie, but for the identity of the Muppets as a whole. A group of stargazing friends who form a found family to bring joy to countless people over the last 50 years.
“Rainbow Connection” is also the song that returns again and again throughout Muppet projects. I may be wrong about this—so if someone needs to correct me in the comments, so be it—but with the exception of live performances such as at the Oscars or amusement park events, I do not believe this song has ever been officially performed solely by Kermit, except at the beginning of The Muppet Movie. When the song is refrained in that film, it is all the Muppets directing the need to follow your dreams to the audience. In subsequent shows and films, it is always someone else singing it with Kermit. It serves not only as the Muppet anthem but reinforces that the Muppets are all about unity and community.
Some of the main characters for the Muppets, such as Kermit, had been around since 1955 but the cast that is known today came together in 1976 for The Muppet Show, a variety show that featured many celebrity guests and made the Muppets a household name. Since then they have spawned countless projects, ranging from film, television, musical albums, amusement park rides, and worked with countless other entertainers. Special plug here for their best collaboration, which is with Weezer for their 2004 music video Keep Fishin’. What’s great about the Muppets is that they are for everyone and attract such a diverse range of audiences and guest collaborators. Very few people can brag about the fact that they worked with Weezer, Richard Pryor, and Vincent Price throughout their careers.
One of the things that’s so great about this cast is that it is all built on this sense of community, which is something I think we all want more of right now. The Muppets have incredibly different personalities, ideas, and ways of thinking but at the end of the day, they all have each other’s backs and are the ideal found family. They support and believe in each other. Most TV show runners would put a stop to Fozzie’s jokes or allow Gonzo to commit about a million OSHA infractions, but Kermit embraces all of his friends’ unique qualities as the loving friend that he is. Over the years, the cast has added new characters who were embraced and accepted by the Muppet gang. As the opening song from The Muppets (2011) states, “Life’s a happy song, when there’s someone by your side to sing along.”
One of the beautiful things about these wonderful puppets is what they are able to teach us without talking down to us. Sesame Street—shoutout to Big Bird for his brief The Muppet Movie cameo—was Jim Henson’s way of creating an entertaining show for children that was also incredibly educational. Henson and the Sesame Street gang did more than just teach us standard concepts like the letter of the day, or Count von Count teaching us numbers—they could teach us about emotions and empathy. It’s hard to imagine a group of characters that could deliver a segment like Andrew Garfield having a very deep and emotionally intelligent conversation with Elmo about grief and the loss of loved ones. It’s emotionally devastating but also therapeutic for anyone who has gone through it and for children who may not know how to process these feelings. There is something magical about the Muppets, and how they can make you feel. Danny Trejo, a man known for being a tough and stonefaced guy, revealed in his memoir and in interviews that his Mom passed while working on Muppets Most Wanted and he shut down and told everyone he was fine, but Kermit puppeteer Steve Whitmire approached him and had Kermit tell him he was sorry to hear about his Mom, which prompted the emotionally reserved actor to run for the bathroom to sob. We treat the Muppets as real people, which gives them this magical otherworldly power over us in a way that nothing else has been able to do, as far as I know.
The optimism of the Muppets continues in the face of all adversity and when things can seem their bleakest. In the 90s, Disney was in the midst of its renaissance, delivering countless animated musicals that frequently had romantic songs during particularly romantic and happier moments for their respective characters. During this time the Muppets released a rendition of Treasure Island, and while it has a major romantic song it does not follow what other kids movies at the time were doing. The big romantic song between Kermit and Miss Piggy takes place as the two lovers are reunited for the first time in years, while being dangled over a cliff held up only by burning pieces of rope. Kermit calms Miss Piggy before they deliver their song Love Led Us Here, with lyrics like “we followed a star and here we are now heaven seems so near”, encapsulating the same type of stargazing and dreams that Rainbow Connection did 17 years prior. The song concludes with the lyrics “so take my hand, and have no fear, we’ll be all right, love led us here” as Kermit and Miss Piggy accept that they are probably going to die but it was all worth it because they were able to reunite one last time.
The Muppets also aren’t afraid to deal with the concept of failure. Multiple moments in The Muppet Movie when the gang gets delayed and may not make it to Hollywood, Kermit resigns himself to this, attempting to keep a realistic expectation of his efforts. In The Muppets (2011) *SPOILER* they fail to save their studio from being bought out, but Kermit reassures everyone that at least they tried and they tried together, which makes it not a failure at all and that all of the Muppets should hold their head high because they came together as a family and gave it their best shot and that’s all they can hope for. *END SPOILER*
One of the big questions that the Muppets have found themselves asking frequently in the last 15 years is whether they are still relevant. Is there still a place for good natured and kind characters in what feels like darker and bleaker times? Chris Cooper’s Tex Richman in The Muppets (2011) even introduces his own The Moopets—a knock off Muppets group that are mean and tough. As Cooper puts it, “the Moopets are a hard cynical act, for a hard and cynical world” as he berates Kermit’s goody goodiness. That film ends with the idea that yes, the Muppets are still needed. However, after a string of failed projects and the recent closure of the Muppets section of Disney World, including MuppetVision 3D (the last Muppets project that Jim Henson worked on before his untimely passing) it seemed like Disney and the world were kind of ready to move on from them. This past February, however, we were treated to a special one-off of The Muppet Show in honor of its 50th Anniversary. After what was an incredibly brutal and painful January for us here in Minnesota there was something extra wonderful about the return of the Muppets. They didn’t try to fit into what was popular like some of the recently failed series, like Muppets Now; they made an episode very much in the same vein as Jim Henson with Sabrina Carpenter being the main giveaway that this was taking place today. Seeing the whole gang back together again was heartwarming and exactly what I and many others needed at the time as a brief reprieve from the outside world. As the Muppet Walter says, “In a world where there are Muppets there’s still hope.” And I do truly believe that.
Edited by Olga Tchepikova-Treon