News has leaked out from the folks at Muppet central (The Jim Henson Company) that the next Muppet feature film will sport a story line that attacks oil companies. According to CHUD.com, the story will center around all our favorite Muppets producing a show to raise money to save their old theater. They need the money, of course, because an "evil character" is trying to buy the building so that he might tear it down to "get at the oil underneath."
Why is it we have to turn everything into an anti-capitalism, anti-oil hatefest?
Even more alarming is the fact that it seems that the writer/director team pegged to head the project will be Jason Segel and Nick Stoller, the team that recently gave us the very R rated "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." One wonders if the Muppets will go from kid friendly to edgie and R rated? (I must admit that I would doubt the owners of the Muppet property would do that to their long standing kid friendly product, though.)
Here is how CHUD reported the story line:
Apparently their Muppet film is going to be incredibly old fashioned, with the familiar Muppet characters putting on a show to save an old theater (the theater from The Muppet Show?). The danger? An evil character wants to tear the place down to get at the oil underneath. It's sort of current!
Yes, the oil industry is again being presented as an "evil character" who has no interest in culture or kids and wants to destroy everything in pursuit of the evil black gold to make even more evil oil profits. And, here we go again, another Hollyweird film that has to take beloved children's characters and make of them anti-capitalist shills for the extreme left.
Nice going Henson co.! Way to ruin another bunch of our favorite kid's characters.
Should you wish to contact our friends at The Jim Henson Company, you can send them an email at fanmail@henson.com . Or write them at the following addresses:
The Jim Henson Company
1416 North LaBrea Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90028
Phone: 323.802.1500
Fax: 323.802.1825
New York office
627 Broadway, 9th floor
New York, NY 10012
Phone: 212.794.2400
Fax: 212.439.7452
Maybe a few well placed emails or letters will disabuse them of this anti-capitalist, anti-oil story line? Remember to be nice, though. You don't want Miss Piggie to come give you a karate choppin'.
(Photo credit: from The New York Times archives - Jim Henson Company, the Muppets Studio and Sesame Workshop)
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I am going to have a long conversation...
March 31, 2008 - 14:53 ET by arbin82I am going to have a long conversation with my boys (3 and 7) about how their favorite shows are actually political appendages of the Democrat machine...I am so glad that our family homeschools.
Then tell them there's no
March 31, 2008 - 14:58 ET by balboaThen tell them there's no easter bunny. Should be a fun day...
I LOVE the Muppets (I was going to make my original screen name Guy Smiley, Sherlock Hemlock, or the Amazing Mumford) but this storyline seems very tired. Not everything has to "make a point" so overtly. Stick to the basic lessons (good / evil) in kids movies, and you're better off.
"I was going to make my
March 31, 2008 - 15:03 ET by Hero SquadBased on your knowledge and fondness for those characters, I think I can now pinpoint your age to within five years. :-)
*****
"People only insist that a debate stop when they are afraid of what might be learned if it continues." - George Will
Don't forget Roosevelt
March 31, 2008 - 16:16 ET by NewsbusterbrownDon't forget Roosevelt Franklin!
Yes, I'm in my early forties. :-)
I actually watched Sesame Street the first year it came on.
"Not, Looper. Hooper, Bird!"
Protecting Children from Indoctrination
March 31, 2008 - 15:17 ET by PopularTechI frequently watch shows with my son and will make it clear I disapprove of politically neo-liberal positions and clearly state to him the facts I back up with sources online. I find him asking many more questions now and wanting to find out the truth before blindly believing something.
His HS Science teacher tried to hype Leonardo Dicrapio's recent global warming propaganda piece to which my son stated "Why would I listen to someone who dropped out of high school?", the whole class cracked up laughing and they have not taken the teacher seriously on the subject since.
Parents need to make their positions heard to their children to prevent their indoctrination.
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
You are very right, I found
March 31, 2008 - 15:41 ET by general companyYou are very right, I found it very important to watch the news with my kids. My 14yr old watches more then I do, we have a lot of fun talking about it too.
His English teacher called out of the blue the other day. Just to tell me how impressed she was with how much he knows about current affairs and how he seems to have a very "coherent opinion on each subject". That is the second teacher that has called in the last month to tell me what a smart guy he is. Only problem is, one gave him a C the other a B, I asked them about his grade as well, they both just said he works very hard and particapates enthusiastically. I was very surprised, but then again, we still have pretty good schools and teachers down here, along with a bunch of great kids.
"Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest". Mark Twain
Why can't you always talk
March 31, 2008 - 19:05 ET by zfWhy can't you always talk this rational? <g>
Interesting concept
March 31, 2008 - 15:54 ET by Dustin JolleyInteresting concept. But idiotic at the same time. Why are the Muppets still around anyway? The Muppet films just get worse and worse everytime. Muppet Treasuer Island and The Muppet Wizard of Oz are perfect examples of that fact.
These pathetic people will
March 31, 2008 - 14:58 ET by bigtimerThese pathetic people will stop at nothing...
Isn't it rich that the address to email Jim Hensen is on LaBrea Ave.?
What a coincidence....
Being born and raised in Southern Cal the La Brea Tar Pits is the first thing that came to mind.
I just can't get angry today...I am past that anymore..with the three candidates we have running all I can say is there is nothing we can do when it comes to being self-dependent on something we all need here...OIL.
It is all so sad...all the way around.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
A better plot
March 31, 2008 - 14:59 ET by Mica the MagnificentHow about the old theater being torn down by Al Gore because the Muppets didn't change their spotlights to flourescent lights and failed to buy enough carbon credits?
Now that's sort of current!
I LOVED the Muppets Growing Up
March 31, 2008 - 15:05 ET by CapitalismRulesThese guys were my world, I think every kid wanted to be on stage because of them. We all figured if these rag-tag crazies can make it, so can I and it really fulfilled a lot of dreams in children.
Now that I'm much older and see what the next movie is about.....screw 'em, I hope they doze the whole buliding and all the muppets enjoy the profits of the oil based on property rights, they all get rich and build a bigger, better theater for future generations.
And then teach
March 31, 2008 - 17:46 ET by FastEdalgore to sing "It's not easy being green", while they heat and cool their building with oil, while al tries to fire-up his furnace using wind and solar power.
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
The Government make more money off oil then "Big Oil"
March 31, 2008 - 15:07 ET by PopularTechWhy are they not making a film about the evil government taking land via emminent domain? That seems more likely then Exxon buying an old theater for oil. Regardless the government would be in favor of this since they make more money off the sale of oil then the oil companies do...
- The average amount of tax on gasoline in the United States is 47.0 cents per gallon (API)
- The average amount of net profit an oil company makes on gasoline is 5 cents per gallon (Source)
Give me a break - Oil Prices (Video) (5min) (John Stossel, 20/20)
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
Pete and RePeat
March 31, 2008 - 15:16 ET by BondPlainBondHere we go again...
Yet another blatant example of the Left indoctrinating children via intentionally one-sided and politically skewed propaganda.
1. I've got every season
March 31, 2008 - 15:35 ET by tracheostomy1. I've got every season of the Muppet Show on DVD and they've been anti-capitalist from the beginning. This is totally nothing new.
2. The Muppets died with Jim Henson and no one really has the guts to say it out loud.
3. I have a personal bone to pick with Henson/Disney that they never hired me on as the new Kermit, because I'm ten times better than Steve Whitmire! Sorry, just had to say it. I'm pretty touchy about Muppets.
-PJ
"Trake: Your lofty convictions are another blemish on the rump of congregational sectarianism." -Tumbler 5/15/07
One of my favorite skits
March 31, 2008 - 15:44 ET by balboaOne of my favorite skits from Sesame Street:
http://youtube.com/w...
Was Doc Hopper Busy?
March 31, 2008 - 15:38 ET by RiharThey've come a long way from trashing Big Frog Legs to trashing Big Oil. Maybe the Evil-Capitalist-Oil-Tycoon will have an assitant that has a change of heart near the end and join the muppets for their "last stand".
Sad really.
When a liberal speaks, the truth is busy elsewhere.
I got five bucks says
March 31, 2008 - 16:37 ET by Indiana JoeI got five bucks says there's no "maybe" about it.
Any takers?
How we can put a man on the
March 31, 2008 - 15:52 ET by sajc05How we can put a man on the moon, study the furthest galaxies, defeat the nazis and rebuild a continent ect ect with all our accomplishment....
but we cannot find a way to get off a black sludge?
please. this country can do anything and the the fact that we haven't smells of powerful special interests not letting us.
Agreed
March 31, 2008 - 16:17 ET by CapitalismRulesI have made that argument several times. Perhaps if there were a major interest involved in NOT putting a man on the moon that made tons of money, we never woulda done it. Perhaps if we coulda just thrown money at the Nazi's to make them go away, we woulda done it. Follow the $$$$$, that is why we can't get off the black sludge, too many people stand to lose too much. My view is that free market enterprise allow the consumer not an "alternative" fuel, but another "optional" fuel or vehicle, let the consumer decide, give the consumer more options let the market run its course and we would get off the sludge faster than government programs, faster than we got a man to the moon.
We cannot get off of the
March 31, 2008 - 16:41 ET by Gary P JacksonWe cannot get off of the "black sludge" because nothing will replace it. Folks forget that oil isn't "just" used to make go juice! Plastics, pharmaceuticals, lubricants, and thousands of other things use oil in their manufacturer.
Folks act as if we are running out of this "black sludge" which is not the case. We have plenty of it, right here in America. We just have to go get it!
true. But we can, if we
March 31, 2008 - 18:07 ET by sajc05true. But we can, if we wanted to, make all these things in a different way that doesn't leave so much disgusting run off in water ways and create smog. (i'm not suggesting global warming, which is NOT man made)
Newt speaks very well on this subject. create incentives for companies to lock smart people in rooms and just be innovative. a manhattan project of sorts.
Yes, I agree we need a new
March 31, 2008 - 19:17 ET by Gary P JacksonYes, I agree we need a new Manhattan Project type of initiative. We need one to figure out how to quickly, and safely build a number of new refineries. We already know how to get oil without harming the environment. We also need to jump start numerous new nuke plants, as well as clean coal electricity plants.
At the same time, we should look for alternative energy. But, I'm nearly 50, and we were looking for a real alternative before I was born, so I'm not holding my breath on this one!
To me, the bottom line is to responsibly use the resources we have right here in the US, while we look for something else. The current plan is killing our economy. And, there is no logical reason for it!
Burt To Play Algore
March 31, 2008 - 15:56 ET by SickofLibsBurt will reprise the lead role of Algore. He's a natural, considering his severely enlongated 'Frankensteinian' head, unibrow and poor taste in casual clothing.
Even though Burt is an 'inner city type' vs the real country boy Algore, http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp, Burt can probably pull it off.
I've got a plot that could work
March 31, 2008 - 16:17 ET by FastEdSince the foam used to make the Muppets, is created from oil, if the plot includes "ridding" the world of oil, then at some point, each of the characters will need to realize their "roots" (so to speak), and learn that oil is good, and that everything we have is transported using some form of oil. If not, no more Muppet road trips!
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
I'll be wilfully naive and
March 31, 2008 - 16:21 ET by JasonCI'll be wilfully naive and say that perhaps the point of this muppet movie is simply to demonstrate the importance of maintaining culture and the arts in an increasingly privatized society. It's a pretty old storyline, really. Even Saved by the Bell did it. It would seem less hackneyed if the antagonists were like used car dealers who want to bulldoze the theater to set up a new Hyundai lot or something.
Who can revolt if man has become a simple conglomerate of organs, a person barely free enough to use a remote control to choose his channel? -J. Kristeva
You hit the nail on the head.
March 31, 2008 - 16:44 ET by Indiana JoeThat IS "wilfully naive!" Of course it's an old story-line. But it's also obviously propaganda. Why couldn't it be a lost gold mine, and the Muppets could find it first and save their theatre that way? Or buried treasure?
Because then your villian is just an evil man, not an evil business.
A used car lot? Don't quit your day job! ;^)
Who decides what should be "maintained"?
March 31, 2008 - 19:36 ET by PopularTechWe cannot save "everything" and many things are not worth saving or are not cost effective to save. You get to the point where everything would become "historic" and require billion dollar renovations and future maintenance costs. Just because some people "think" something is culturally important does not mean it is.
You act like privatization is a bad thing? Everything the government runs they run like crap.
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
Indeed, but having a shared
March 31, 2008 - 20:23 ET by JasonCIndeed, but having a shared artistic culture (i.e. texts and cultural artifacts that are not arrogated or mediated by corporate interests) is what keeps us from descending into a capitalist incarnation of Oceania.
Now, clearly, "The Muppets" is hardly an adequate vehicle with which to critique such things. And again, I was being kinda sarcastic in my original post. However, I'd wager that Henson Co. didn't put the thought into this film that you all are putting into decrying it. I imagine they needed a villain with a vested interest in destroying the theater and were like "Well, nobody likes Big Oil, that'll work."
By the way, what did you guys think of PT Anderson's There Will Be Blood?
Who can revolt if man has become a simple conglomerate of organs, a person barely free enough to use a remote control to choose his channel? -J. Kristeva
Museums and Libraries vs Everything
April 1, 2008 - 13:41 ET by PopularTechAt some point every building becomes "historic" and a case can be made for the loss it and it's "culture". This is a far cry from abolishing museums and libraries. But many culturally significant "artifacts" are maintained in private collections.
The point is I have seen this plot on many children's movies and TV shows and it gives children an idealistic depiction of the world. The frequent use of corporations and oil companies as the root of all evil are specifically chosen to indocrinate children. No I do not believe they off handidly just chose someone as the bad guy but specifically went after the current scapegoat of the invented AGW hysteria. They are trying to redefine who and what "evil" is.
I have not seen the movie yet.
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
this one is funny..
March 31, 2008 - 16:37 ET by jezebellehttp://youtube.com/w...
trying not to read into to much...
jeze.... I am laughing out
March 31, 2008 - 16:42 ET by bigtimerjeze.... I am laughing out loud and grinnin' ear to ear!
What's to read into it..it was great!
....ahhh...the memories, my son rarely missed the Muppet Show growing up...therefore neither did I...heheheee
Thanks...I enjoyed it a lot...it's a great break from all the negativity.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
This is another great reason
March 31, 2008 - 16:42 ET by Gary P JacksonThis is another great reason to cut off all funding to PBS, and NPR.
GaryP... Yeah
March 31, 2008 - 16:52 ET by bigtimerGaryP...
Yeah right..that'll happen in Congress just as soon as they allow us to drill in our own country and off-shore too...
When pigs fly.
People are going to be forced to be awakened to all of this.....unfortunately at an extremely high price...possibly our own vulnerabitlity during war that is far greater than the one we are fighting now...prices aren't mattering to people at the moment to most people who are like dumb lemmings with the msm leading the way and three candidates for Prez who are in complete intentional denial....only votes and campaign money matter...they all continue to vote against self-dependency here....
...at the moment.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
Yup. My opinion on our
March 31, 2008 - 18:03 ET by Gary P JacksonYup.
My opinion on our candidates is this. Somehow, we have managed to end up with three of the most inept candidates to ever have a shot at the oval office. Not a one of them have the knowledge and experience the job requires.
The RNC leaders should be tarred, feather, and run out of office for allowing this to happen!
The sooner the better!
March 31, 2008 - 19:38 ET by PopularTechThere is absolutely no reason that we should be funding these stations anymore. They have become nothing but mouthpieces for socialist agendas and have obsolete programming that next to no one watches or listens to. Give me my tax money back!
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
"Why is it we have to turn
March 31, 2008 - 16:48 ET by Indiana Joe"Why is it we have to turn everything into an anti-capitalism, anti-oil hatefest?"
Because there's always a new generation in need of indoctrination.
THAT'S why!
Joe, Such an original plot,
March 31, 2008 - 18:37 ET by Chris NormanJoe,
Such an original plot, too. I believe, with this, every actor in Hollywood has made a movie where their characters have fought Big (Fill in blank with a favorite corporate villain of the Left). I think there have even been Westerns where noble cowboys have fought "Big Ranching". Sheesh.
Since I'm an old crank,
March 31, 2008 - 20:07 ET by FranksamSince I'm an old crank, I'll share my memories of the WWII era porn my friend's dad had. Has anyone else seen the graphic comic books featuring Popeye and Olive Oyl, among others? Let's just say that spinach helped in more ways than one!
I've enjoyed the Muppets for years, and I'm wondering what the creator, Jim Henson, might have thought about this politicization of Kermit et al. Having said that, I would like to see the frog and the pig en delicto. I gotta go to confession now, I suppose.
Yyyeah, and you think I've
March 31, 2008 - 20:19 ET by balboaYyyeah, and you think I've got issues...you want to see a foam pig and and frog get it on.
brought to you by the letter 'W' as in Win-Win
March 31, 2008 - 20:11 ET by mom_rox...so that he might tear it down to "get at the oil underneath."
I guess the writer would not like my idea of Super Drilling Engineer who comes in with the brilliant idea of directional drilling allowing
which allows the theater to operate at a profit. win-win.
(Directional drilling is drilling at an angle which allows many wells to be produced from a single offshore platform or a single gravel production pad in the Arctic.)
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw, 1944
When all of these liberal
March 31, 2008 - 22:28 ET by NonanonWhen all of these liberal environmentalists give up everything they use that is produced using oil, then maybe I'll be willing to listen to them. Until then, they are just as hypocritical as they can be for using the products themselves while criticizing everyone not in their ideological group. How much oil will be used in producing the movie and by those who will watch it?
Oil comes out of the ground.
April 1, 2008 - 00:25 ET by JoggerNotIt is a natural thing. Dig deep enough, in your own back yard, or wherever, it will come to you.
Yes, I remember the val-dees oil spill, all the horrific pics of birds, etc.
What happened? nature, not man's attempts, cleaned it up. Oil is nature. Or more specific,
Oil is natural...oil comes from the earth. and
earth disposes of it, or re-absorbs it as needed.
Nonanon
April 1, 2008 - 00:38 ET by RESTLESS 1Here is a list of some of the things they would have to give up. Oil will always be around.
Restless... Excellent
April 1, 2008 - 00:58 ET by bigtimerRestless...
Excellent list there....and that is for starters...lol.
Joggernot...I couldn't agree more with you too. (I worked on the Valdez oil spill, lived in the hub of it, went out to sea in different areas, my husband hauled so called scientific experts out to locations on skiffs...lots of stories that aren't told purposely via msm ect.) I just get so weary at times of all the BS regarding oil...I am really tired of congress for over 35 years now stopping our drilling just in ANWR...I also would love to give a big thanks to Carter...what a guy...and to think Congress is calling a major hearing of all the bid bad oil executives tomorrow for a hearing to use them politically again via the msm (which of course feeds right into algore& his ilk)...it never ends, until the masses in the public wake up this will end up worse than they ever could of imagined...it will be Congress, the msm everyday regular people for not learning themselves and voting in the critters they keep voting in...this is going to be one big mess....in more ways than one.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
When I was a kid, I watched
April 1, 2008 - 02:54 ET by riff_raffWhen I was a kid, I watched old reruns of Bugs Bunny battling the commie Gremlin-from-the-Kremlin and the 3 Stooges outwitting the Fascists, Nazis and Imperialist Japanese.
The muppets may have an uphill battle with the oil companies though. The US may soon be a net exporter of oil again. So much for that trade deficit that libs love to carp about. This Bakken (North Dakota) oil field would give the US the largest known oil reserves in the world (300 billion bbls or more), and all of it profitable at about $20-30/bbl. Scr*w the Saudis, Mexico, Russia, Canada, Iran and Venezuela. The USGS will issue a report in a couple weeks detailing the estimated reserves in this field. Should be interesting reading.
http://wingod.newsvi...
Oops...there goes another campaign issue for the dems.
Fact vs. Fiction
April 1, 2008 - 09:27 ET by owr084The school being fought over to get to the oil reserves has already been done in an episode of "The Simpsons" - a fictional cartoon.
In reality - see Beverly Hills High School. They seem to have done it righ. Well, at least in terms of the oil and not its graduates...
They need to throw in a
April 1, 2008 - 09:53 ET by misterbee241They need to throw in a couple of Trump-like real estate developers too. Could probably throw in a Rush Limbaugh-like radio personality condemning the Muppets and supporting big oil. Whye leave anybody out when you're smearing?
There is none so blind as they that won’t see. Jonathan Swift 1667-1745
Curse you, Hollywood libs
April 1, 2008 - 14:07 ET by greenfairieThey can't even leave the Muppets alone. Everything has to be agitprop to these people.
Besides, the "save the theater" plot is older than dirt.