Following a week of soul searching, beginning with an ebbing Moopet fandom, taken over by obsessive Muppet fans and count-downs, exploring the world if Muppet-tributes and then fastening on the works of the band OK Go...I have now returned full circle to a love of everything Muppety -- the humour, the randomness, the heart, the wacky mayhem, the explosions and the penguin throwing. If The Green Album perhaps focused too heavily on the deep soul of the Muppets (as Kermit explained to Robin once, “Sometimes the Muppets do things that arn’t funny,” to which Robin responded, “Yeah, but I figure that’s the writer’s fault...”) then this newly released Music Video more than makes up for it with full-blown explosive crazy which includes the triumphant return of the Muppet Sheep.
However, rather than focus purely on the fun, I intend to explore the Fun-demental (if you pardon the pun). I feel the need to delve into the deeper, artistic expressions of the images presented within this music video, to see what it is that they add to the overall message of The Muppets: The Green Album, OK Go’s The Muppet Show Theme. (To see my review of the music, see here.)
See the video here.
The first image presented is of a machine, described as a ‘music machine’ by Darren from the group. Reviewing previous OK Go videos in order to present a collected opinion on this latest offering from the group, it is clear to see that the performers of the OK Go band rely upon accuracy and choreography in order to present their view of the world, a world that functions with all the mechanics of a machine. If any timings were out in their previous videos, then the entire shoot would need to be reset and taken again from the beginning. Order and timing are paramount.
This reliance on order (and technology) has become ever more prevalent as the economies of the world have been rocked time after time. Individuals rely on limiting their lives to match their budgets, much as a machine cannot extend beyond its original purpose. Moths have been often used to represent a lack of money (even within Its a Very Merry Muppet Christmas, where a moth flutters from Kermit’s wallet). However, the Muppets have always found a way to overcome their limitations...without needing money or the machinery of world governments to help them.
In fact, it is the Muppets intervention in the OK Go order and function that causes an explosion of chaos to backfire into their past and (no doubt) their future.
The Muppet Show transcends the borders of the world that it was created as and becomes real in a way that can be felt (and foam!) because it exists inside of our world, under our skin, closer than we think. Within the Music Video this kind of meta-adjustment is represented through multiple awakenings (Are they in OK Go’s dream, are OK Go in their dream, or do they both live together in the world of ‘entertainment’.)
Ryan Dosier said to me the other day that he must be living in an elaborate dream, because he cannot imagine a reality in which Nigel and Uncle Deadly appear in Music Videos in 2011 and that a huge Cinema Movie is being released on the Muppets. Well, according to this video, it could be less that he is dreaming of The Muppets and more that The Muppets are dreaming of us.
Regarding the strong imagery of The Muppets as Puppeteers of The Performers, it is interesting to see how OK Go really let go and rock out during this scene here, finally releasing the ‘machine’ of their previous videos (and pervious lives) and letting the crazy fun take hold, regardless of what other problems they may have (such as exploding machines or being run off their treadmills!)
Really, there could not be a better time for a Muppet comeback. It is time we let them take the strings (or armrods?) of our worlds too.
Finally, if you would rather go and watch cat videos...feel free...I am sticking with The Muppets (sorry Moopets...yooou have have been forgooten).
The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com
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