The Muppets as Furry Faces of the Fight Against Corporate Greed
They've been in the battle since day one, but now they might become martyrs.
Now that “Steamboat Willie” is in the public domain, I can do whatever I want with it. I can pass it off as my own thing if I wanted to.
Like this.
This is the official maritime rat of Brendan Menapace’s Snakes and Sparklers newsletter.
Fun right?
When something is in the public domain, their creators can’t say shit about you using it for whatever you want. You can use it to get any message you want across. You can use it as a symbol for something, even if that something is a message that has been watered down by generations using that very symbol until it ceases to be a person completely and is just a logo, no more revolutionary than a cartoon mouse.
And eventually, you have to start looking for new ways to signal to others what you believe, what you stand for, because there’s certainly no shortage of The Man’s to rebel against.
I had never been to Disneyworld. Or Disneyland, or any Disney property for that matter, until last week at the age of 32, well past what I thought was the target age for the magic (especially as a fairly Disney-indifferent child). But a trip to Orlando for work meant I could parlay it into some business with the Mouse.
It was crowded, as to be expected. The crowd was enthusiastic, as to be expected. I was at various moments overwhelmed, underwhelmed and whelmed. What was thoroughly undeniable was the attention to detail throughout. To quote my favorite movie, coincidentally also about an immersive amusement park: They spared no expense.
With the post-holiday crowds dominating some of the bigger-name attractions, we got in line for the things that didn’t have too much of a ridiculous wait since we only had one day there – the shortest wait, tied with the bathroom, was Muppet Vision 3-D, a 3-D movie featuring the Muppets, where you’re first brought backstage at the Muppets’ theater, full of old junk and half-finished props and clutter – not totally unlike the purposeful “used galaxy” look for the much more crowded Star Wars area. While you wait to go into the theater, you watch the Muppets crew hurriedly fix any AV issues and get everyone into place.
I love the Muppets, man. Like virtually everyone else alive right now, I grew up with the Muppets. I’ve told friends that it’s a dream of mine to work with the Muppets. By that, I don’t mean write a Muppets movie or work for the company or anything like that (though it would be fun). I mean I would like to work with the Muppets themselves – because to me and so many others they do feel real, even though I’ve seen countless behind-the-scenes movies and shows where you see exactly how the felt sausage is made. Like the lucky humans in Muppet movies, I want to work alongside Kermit and co.
After the movie ended and I ditched my 3D glasses, I texted a friend who has been to Disney many times.
“Honestly, shout out to Muppet Vision 3-D,” I said.
He agreed that it was timeless, but told me that its days are numbered. I looked it up, and apparently they’re getting rid of it in favor of a new Monsters, Inc. area.
“Bummer,” I responded. “Though it does seem very on-brand for the Muppets. They seem to always be making do on their shoestring budget, constantly on the chopping block of some evil corporate overlords, relying on each other and their shared talents and what little tangible assets they can cull together."
Outside of Disney properties, the Greater Muppets Ecosystem is in similar danger. This time it’s Sesame Street, which always seemed bulletproof. More an institution than a show you could just cancel. Even when the facade of “Sesame Street is supposed to be easily accessed by every family in the country/world” faded when it went to HBO, it still felt immune to the future, where beloved IP’s are unceremoniously erased with the tap of a button by the clueless ghouls who buy these platforms and companies.
But it’s not bulletproof.
For those out of the loop, HBO’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t picking up its contract with Sesame Workshop to make new episodes going forward.
The very fact that we’re using the words “Sesame Street” and “cancelation” in the same sentence seems absurd. Like getting rid of the Department of Education oh wait. These ghouls could really just let the most beloved educational children’s show of all time sputter to a halt before they cancel student loan debt or medical debt.
I don’t have to explain who Luigi Mangione is if you’re reading this, because it means you have the internet. We all know who he is, what he did, and why he did it. I can’t use his image like the others, because it’s not in the public domain yet, but he’s still well on his way of becoming less of a human man and more of a symbol — at a rate that would’ve made Che Guevara’s hat spin.
Mangione is the latest example of a person who did something radical against the perceived ruling class and ended up as an icon, a meme, a logo, for those who agree with his motives to use as tacit signifiers of their own principals (even if they don’t agree with his actions necessarily).
In the age before memes, you had Che Guevara posters hanging on the walls or T-shirts in the closets of certain types of young people who wanted to convey a certain thing: Anti-establishment.
Having plenty of time to think as I waited for the Star Wars rides, whose lines looped through the Muppet area and I enjoyed some of the fine details of their fake movie posters, I got to a conclusion that the Muppets could be seen as a similar icon against the capitalist greed and “fuck them kids” mindset of today, especially one could argue the anti-free-learning aspect of the right wing, especially if it teaches community and acceptance of those who look different, or that a group united together can stand against the evils of corporate greed.
Look at the history.
The original TV show was about a little troupe that could, putting together the best damn show they could week in and week out despite not having the capital or clout to be as polished as other programs.
And here are the plots of their movies and how they depict greed as the enemy (all from Wikipedia, obviously).
Here’s The Muppet Movie (1979):
Produced during the third season of The Muppet Show, the film tells the origin story of the Muppets, as Kermit the Frog embarks on a cross-country trip to Los Angeles, encountering several of the Muppets—who all share the same ambition of finding success in professional show business—along the way while being pursued by Doc Hopper, a greedy restaurateur with intentions of employing Kermit as a spokesperson for his frog legs business.
Here’s The Great Muppet Caper (1981):
With only $12 for the trip, they are forced to travel in an airplane baggage hold and are literally thrown out of the plane as it passes over Britain. They stay at the dilapidated (but free) Happiness Hotel, which is populated by other Muppets.
Muppets Take Manhattan (1984):
Arriving in Manhattan, the group meet producer Martin Price, but are interrupted by the police, who have arrived to arrest him as a wanted con artist, whose real name is Murray Plotsky. The Muppets try other producers to no avail, depleting both their morale and their finances.
Muppet Christmas Carol (1992):
Scrooge
Muppet Treasure Island (1996):
Orphans vs. greedy pirates
The Muppets (2011):
The trio tour the rundown Muppet Studios, where Walter sneaks into Kermit the Frog's office. There, he overhears oil magnate Tex Richman and his henchmen, Uncle Deadly and Bobo the Bear, intending to buy the Muppet Theatre from Statler and Waldorf. The old men state that the Muppets could repurchase the theatre if they raised $10 million before their original contract expires. However, in private, Richman reveals he intends to destroy the theatre to drill for oil. Walter informs Gary and Mary, and they visit Kermit in his mansion, who realizes the Muppets would have to reunite and throw a telethon to raise the money.
Over and over and over again, the Muppets are up against it financially, and facing off against the powers of greed and oppression as a scrappy, united force. The only movie I didn’t include here was Muppets from Space, where the enemy was the government using Gonzo for experiments and shit at some secret black site. Still bad and fits my narrative!
Sesame Street is less overt with this messaging, but they teach plenty of more nuanced and subtle lessons like “Sometimes people in your neighborhood look different than you, and that’s cool.” Hell, there was an episode where a character had an incarcerated parent, so there’s a lesson about the prison industrial complex.
After all of the times the Muppets have been placed in fictional battles against greed, they and their human associates are in a real one now. There’s a chance they become metaphorical “martyrs” in the fight against the corporate machine.
And maybe that makes them just as powerful of icons as the guys who have literally given their lives or freedoms for certain causes, or any number of martyrs throughout history.
I found a quote from Che Guevara’s daughter about the whole phenomenon of her dad’s face being used as merchandise.
I don't want people to use my father's face unthinkingly. I don't like to see him stitched on the backside of a pair of mass-produced jeans. But look at the people who wear Che T-shirts. They tend to be those who don't conform, who want more from society, who are wondering if they can be better human beings. That, I think he would have liked.
In the future, there could be a time where a Kermit the Frog shirt or Big Bird pin serves as a reminder of standing in the face of and intolerance, once they’re just memories and eventually symbols. I hope not, because I do still very much dream of one day working with those Muppets in some capacity, of posing provocatively with Grover on the cover of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s TV Week.
But, if it goes the other way, the next strong-eyebrowed face of anti-capitalist revolution and martyrdom may be this guy:
Today’s Snakes and Sparklers musical guest is PUP.