One of the great observations about the Muppets Christmas carol is that Michael Caine treats the Muppets as if they were other humans. It just drives home the point that the Muppets are bearers of a more human world, and this may be why we love them so much.
Related: "Counting Crows, Blues Traveler, Hootie and the Blowfish, bands of that nature. I don’t think the vibe they were expressing exists anywhere in the world anymore. Not sure how I’d explain it to my kids if I had to."
Yes! I just watched my favorite 90's movie—Joe vs. The Volcano—with my kids this week. Also a fairy tale, it perfectly embodies this silly/earnest dichotomy. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. I love them all!
One of my best friends was Jerry Nelson, who was a Muppet. I’m just really sorry Jerry isn’t around to have read your observations. Jerry loved being a muppet.
You probably don't have access to BBC iPlayer, but the 60th anniversary celebration episodes of Top of the Pops - currently watching 1990 - something perfectly in sync with this piece.
I think it's also Hollywood at the height of its powers with utmost confidence in its economic viability, the goodness of its values, and immortality of its stars. Hollywood made movies that made us feel good about ourselves and our society because it never felt better about itself (and it never would again).
It certainly does seem that there was a special period right before the turn of the millennium where, as you describe, the optimism was in the ascendancy. Although I hope that we are seeing the small glimmerings of an awakening to the excesses of technological dependence, and starting to feel (rightly, I would argue) that the online world just isn't delivering on its promises.
I love this: "We are all messy, self-destructive human beings, who in our desire to communicate something of ourselves to one another might be able to lift ourselves out of our solitude." Makes me wonder why people are so enamored with AI image generators.
And might I suggest, as two recent movies which dwell on the "human interpersonal messiness" you mention, Noah Baumbach's "While We're Young" and Nicole Holofcener's "You Hurt my Feelings"?
One of the great observations about the Muppets Christmas carol is that Michael Caine treats the Muppets as if they were other humans. It just drives home the point that the Muppets are bearers of a more human world, and this may be why we love them so much.
Related: "Counting Crows, Blues Traveler, Hootie and the Blowfish, bands of that nature. I don’t think the vibe they were expressing exists anywhere in the world anymore. Not sure how I’d explain it to my kids if I had to."
https://twitter.com/Bernstein/status/1599528856498491393?t=cJE5W-JN37BNEM0J9zuYLA&s=19
Yes! I just watched my favorite 90's movie—Joe vs. The Volcano—with my kids this week. Also a fairy tale, it perfectly embodies this silly/earnest dichotomy. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. I love them all!
One of my best friends was Jerry Nelson, who was a Muppet. I’m just really sorry Jerry isn’t around to have read your observations. Jerry loved being a muppet.
Mike Booth
You probably don't have access to BBC iPlayer, but the 60th anniversary celebration episodes of Top of the Pops - currently watching 1990 - something perfectly in sync with this piece.
I think it's also Hollywood at the height of its powers with utmost confidence in its economic viability, the goodness of its values, and immortality of its stars. Hollywood made movies that made us feel good about ourselves and our society because it never felt better about itself (and it never would again).
It certainly does seem that there was a special period right before the turn of the millennium where, as you describe, the optimism was in the ascendancy. Although I hope that we are seeing the small glimmerings of an awakening to the excesses of technological dependence, and starting to feel (rightly, I would argue) that the online world just isn't delivering on its promises.
I love this: "We are all messy, self-destructive human beings, who in our desire to communicate something of ourselves to one another might be able to lift ourselves out of our solitude." Makes me wonder why people are so enamored with AI image generators.
And might I suggest, as two recent movies which dwell on the "human interpersonal messiness" you mention, Noah Baumbach's "While We're Young" and Nicole Holofcener's "You Hurt my Feelings"?