On the Fourth Day of Christmas....

ON THE FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME...THE MUPPETS

Stuck in the bottomless rabbit hole that is YouTube the other day, I came across a clip from the 1979 film, The Muppet Movie.  Old enough to have seen this film (and every subsequent Muppet movie) actually in a movie theater—and the first run of “The Muppet Show” and “Muppets Tonight” and "The Muppets" on television besides—I’ve always appreciated the comedic, plucky nature of the characters, the cheesy yet cheeky sense(s) of humour and the often ridiculous storylines.

Although Kermit (with his easy going can-do spirit), Rowlf the Dog (sweet and laid back) and Gonzo (delightfully clueless) hold special places in my heart, it is impulsive, tempestuous and feisty Miss Piggy with whom I most closely identify.  I think at some point I even wanted to be her.  Always ready with a karate chop (or “pork chop” as was the running joke) or a sassy quip, she wasn’t always very nice or particularly generous, but there was something about her.  Maybe it was her fabulous wardrobe, her bouncy blonde hair or just the fact she was voiced by the same person who voiced Yoda, but she was a gal with which to be reckoned. 

And yet she has often left a wake of (emotional) destruction in her path, time and time again.  We first see evidence of this in the scene in The Muppet Movie where Rowlf and Kermit bemoan the fact she has just left Kermit in the middle of a date…and then in almost every single movie thereafter!  Of course, that isn’t a path I would choose to follow, (hey, dates are hard to come by!), but sometimes shit happens…sometimes in such a way that a relationship can’t be repaired.  While it is true, however, that sometimes the “destructor” is also destroyed or at least admonished (remember Piggy dangling from the cliff in Muppet Treasure Island because Long John Silver was mad at her?  Ha ha.), I still think Piggy and her selfish behaviour could well serve as a reminder that we still need our friends and loved ones.  I know I’ve said it before, but a lack of appreciation or compassion is really so detrimental to any human (or Muppet) connection one would hope to have.  True to theory, Piggy’s lack of awareness bites her in the pork butt almost every single time. 

But let’s not spend too much analyzing the mating rituals of the somewhat ill-fated Piggy and Kermit.  There are so many other lessons to drawn from the Muppets.  After all:  Life’s like a movie.  Write your own ending. 

I leave you now with a clip of the Muppets performing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”.  Mostly because it also features my favorite “new” Muppet, Pepe (the King Prawn!!!) and Janice (fer sure, like totally) from the Electric Mayhem.  And, well, Muppets. 

Until next time, Lovelies….