I Think Kermit Just Slapped Me in the Face

I feel conflicted. I really want to watch the 2011 Muppets movie because of how good it was, but I don't at the same time because it makes me want to cry. And I don't mean that in the way that the movie tugs at your heartstrings (because it does), but because the current state of the Muppets makes the whole film feel like a lie.

The entire movie is centered on Kermit getting the gang back together at the request of a childhood fan who gets him and everyone else to realize how important they are to the world: that they give people hope and laughter, that they make outcasts feel special and important, that classic entertainment isn't outdated, and most importantly, that they make us forget how awful the world is for a very special thirty minutes and make us believe in our dreams again.

The current Muppets are old, cynical, and tired. They've stopped fighting against modern Hollywood and have all but said "The show's over, kids. Stop believing in your dreams because they won't come true. The Seventies are over and we lost." It's like finding out that, at the end of the movie, all of their trouble was a waste anyway and they lost the theater and went back to living miserable lives doing what they hate.

I'm sorry to harp on this so much, but I really do feel deeply hurt by this. I can't really explain it. Sure, I complain about bad TV and movies, but at the end of the day I just shrug it off as something bad and that's all. But I feel like my childhood heroes have just verbally harassed me and told me to give up on everything I ever cared about. And, having actually experienced that twice before, this hurts far more than either of the previous times that happened. The Muppets are supposed to care. They're supposed to bring joy. They're who I modeled almost my entire life after.

And I really didn't expect this post to be so long. I've been needing to vent a lot, it seems.