Written by: Molly Sharfstein, Staff Writer
It’s time to play the music
It’s time to light the lights
It’s time to meet the Muppets…
Muppet Consciousness Instances: It’s Alive!
Muppets are not alive or conscious. Yet, people who meet the Muppets perceive them as living, conscious beings. I sought to figure out why, sewing together accounts from their live TV appearances, their role in movies, and their pervasive online presence. Muppets live in a fabricated reality. Because they toe the line between biological life and felt; behind the scenes and onscreen; and actor and character, every aspect is carefully constructed to feel alive— Muppets function as a performance of consciousness.
Miss Piggy-Kermit Breakup Scandal (2015)
The Muppets’ appearances on live TV and web shows to promote their movies suggest that they have an active life offscreen. Muppets mimic the day-to-day mundanity of an average Hollywood actor—they’re performed as actors in films embodying characters, rather than as characters themselves. The Muppet Show was initially conceived for an adult audience (branching from Sesame Street’s child-oriented content), satirizing film, television, and theatre; The second Muppet Show pilot was titled The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, which parodied the increasing sex and violence featured in 1970’s TV through Muppet embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins. Jim Henson’s self-referentiality has transformed into a modern Muppet romance conflict.
Kermit and Miss Piggy’s tumultuous relationship demonstrates how adult audiences are led to believe Muppets do things viewers don’t see. When the couple separated in 2015, Kermit tweeted a statement reminiscent of notes app apologies and legitimate celebrity breakup announcements; The Kermit-Piggy split was reported on extensively, including pieces by but not limited to: BBC, CNN, People Magazine, and Time Magazine. Though the media circus was just promotion for the premiere of their new show, the Muppets smoothly permeated the celebrity gossip sphere because they are “real” enough for parasocial relationships and behind-the-scenes speculation. A parasocial relationship suggests a genuine relationship is possible. In Ginger Stelle’s essay, “Starring Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit: Muppets as Actors” from Kermit Culture: Critical Perspectives on Jim Henson’s Muppets, she notes, “The Muppet Show’s mix of onstage and backstage further complicates the picture because the Muppets exist simultaneously as characters and performers.” By allowing the audience to peek behind the curtain, we recognize that the Muppets are acting when we see them—we unconsciously fill in the gaps and erroneously conclude that their lives include an aspect of unconstructed truth, a time when they stop acting. People cared about the Piggy-Kermit breakup because The Muppet Show established a world of consciousness and “realness” around the Muppets equivalent to that of a human actor.
Comments on a Queen Latifah interview with Kermit and Miss Piggy prior to their breakup.
Talk Shows
Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy have made regular talk show appearances since the Muppet Show’s 1976 premiere. Kermit has extended past typical TV illusion to appear fully conscious to not only viewers but hosts themselves. He made an appearance on Josh Wigler’s web show, Talk Nerdy to Me, in 2012. Wigler recalled,
Even though his eyes do not blink, there is something about looking straight into them that absolutely captures you instantly. Every now and then, he swallows or clears his throat, suppressing an innate ribbit. There is something magically alive about looking Kermit right in the face and having a conversation [...] watching Kermit talk is so awesome and natural that it fills you with irresistible childlike wonder. If you ever find yourself in the situation, you'll recognize the sensation immediately. You will forget that Kermit is not real.
Though Wigler was involved in preparing Kermit’s puppeteer and crew for filming and could see the person controlling him, he viewed Kermit as conscious and real. Small living mannerisms have been applied to Kermit to imply a biological internal system other than a human hand. Muppets are actually made out of flexible foam covered in a soft material (for expressivity) and controlled with either two Muppeteer’s hands (one handles the right hand, one the head and left hand), a combination of metal rods and one person’s hand, or solely rods and wires. Muppet faces follow the “Magic Triangle”—the ratio of eyes to face that “give the Muppets focus and character.” Muppets and Muppet-adjacent puppets can (appear to) improvise, communicate, and have ‘unconscious’ mannerisms like real people, without using post-production special effects—unlike animated or stop-motion characters, their real-time, 3D forms create the illusion of active life and consciousness.
Muppet Casting
Muppets’ perception as performers rather than performed is evident in the Muppet casting community, which assigns Muppets to pre-existing film, TV, and theatre roles. Muppet Shakespeare is particularly popular. One site describes how “Juliet’s balcony pining for Romeo is the sort of sad wistfulness Kermit can do so well.” Muppets are distinctly real enough to mimic/embody/act as distinctly “unreal” characters, like Romeo. By using Kermit’s ability to portray sad wistfulness to justify their casting choice—rather than how Kermit is portrayed as sad and wistful—they signify that he is consciously acting and has innate personality traits which could lead to a compelling Romeo. He could’ve been next in line to read after Leonardo DiCaprio (with as much romantic controversy). Stelle explains that “the Muppet-as-actor duality makes itself felt. The cast list of The Muppet Christmas Carol…] further re-emphasizes their existence as Muppets. The opening credits do not list the Muppet performers; the screen does not say ‘Steve Whitmire as Bob Cratchit.’ The Kermit puppet is not simply being used as Bob Cratchit.” Because the Muppet movies portray the Muppets as actors rather than characters, Muppet casting communities follow the same formula to align Muppet traits with “fictional” characters. We are shown that Kermit can and does act and he acts in a specific way, so he can be cast. Muppets are placed into roles even though they ARE roles, creating an odd distinction between real performer and fictional performed where the Muppets are categorically real performers.
How Can We Use This?
Muppets are perceived as conscious because they repeat living mannerisms; appear as actors playing characters rather than characters themselves on live TV and in their own shows and movies; and languish in implications of offscreen life and romantic drama. They are an effective performance of consciousness. As theatre artists, we can use the Muppets as a reference for essentially creating life in a vessel that can move, look, and sound different from a real living person. What is possible when we break out of human physical limitations? When we develop an entire psychological and social existence from scratch? I encourage you to find your bubble of unreality and form it into a reality.
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