The Muppets and Generation X

We were molded by Jim Henson and that's a good thing. [Link]

Disney’s “Muppets Most Wanted” was released late last month, and despite reviews presaging disappointment, America took to their theaters to see how the latest installment of karate chops and sight gags would fare. Whether you’re a purist who can’t stand “wrong Muppet voices” or an overjoyed muppet-man, either way you care about Kermit. While most journalists are covering the Muppets from the angle of “did they live up to Jim Henson’s standard?” this isn’t that kind of article. What I want to know is – why do we care so goddamn much. We’re grown-ups. Why is this still so important to us?

In the lead-up to the Bobin-Stoller-helmed Muppet film, we’ve been seeing a good deal of googley-eyes, fleece and flocked foam. (Contrary to popular opinion, Muppets are not made of felt.) In February, the Electric Mayhem – the Muppet Show’s raucous house band – spiced up the categorically “sensible” Toyota brand playing “No Room for Boring” in a well-received Super Bowl ad. Soon after, they played a soulful rendition of “The Weight” with Jimmy Fallon to mark the end of “Late Night,” a resonant moment, for what was effectively an NBC studio swap. Lipton and Subway ads followed, incurring Twitter backlash. Last fall, Lady Gaga and the Muppets performed a well-intentioned Thanksgiving special on ABC that no one liked. The reason for this upswing in Muppets is obvious: Disney has launched a concerted publicity campaign for its new film property. But that’s not the half of it.

Lately, spontaneous references to Jim Henson and his creations have also cropped up. On “The Mindy Project”: “I will Jim Henson you into apologizing.” On “Community”: “Welcome to the Labyrinth, kid, only there ain’t no puppets or bisexual rock stars.” Comedian Mike Birbiglia has been riffing on “The Muppet Show” in his live act: telling the story of the time Statler and Waldorf heckled him on-stage. Unless this is the next phase of insidious product placement, it seems that the Muppets don’t exactly need Disney’s push. Thirty- and 40-somethings, once reminded, seem to be generating their own buzz, and this buzz was brought to us by the letter N. N, of course, is the first letter in the word “nostalgia.”

We – adults – love the Muppets. Boomers remember “The Muppet Show” as one of the rare shows they could watch with their children that didn’t make them sick. Some millennials remember “Muppet Babies” while most are coming to the franchise with fresh curiosity. But the generation that is most attached to the Muppets is surely Generation X; for adults of a certain age, the Muppets make us nostalgic for our youth in the ’70s and ’80s. Though it was a time of economic trouble, nuclear threat and increasing divorce rates, it was also a time of arcades, station wagons and playing in the streets without parental supervision.

It would be wrong to say, “Everyone in Generation X loves the Muppets,” yet it’s so right-esque that when people do not like Muppets, they feel compelled to justify it in Op-Ed pieces. But if you search “don’t like the Muppets” on Twitter, you’ll find tweets making it very clear that someone who doesn’t get the Muppets just can’t be trusted.

The Muppets are a touchstone for a generation of middle-aged Americans, and I agree I’m probably more nostalgic than a grown adult should be. (I published a book about Henson this month, after researching his business for the last three years.) But it’s not just me. It’s crazy what a lasting legacy one puppeteer – Jim Henson – has had. And how many people feel genuinely emotional about his characters, nearly 25 years after his death.

So what’s the reason for our collective nostalgia? Is it simply his ubiquity in our childhoods? Is it simply the case that whatever you put in front of a child will become meaningful to him or her? Television has become a kind of de facto baby sitter, a virtual mentor and best friend to the developing child. A college freshman might feel just as emotional about Barney, Power Rangers and the Teletubbies. While I don’t have a high opinion of the lobotomized purple dinosaur, he was certainly a “touchstone” to 20-year-olds.

We all have our nostalgia. But, at least for me, my love of Henson’s work goes beyond that. I don’t think we love the Muppets simply because they came from our childhood. We love the Muppets because they gave us a worldview – a profoundly idealistic, yet profoundly realistic worldview – that many of us carry into our adulthoods. It is only rarely that we take the time to consider where we picked up such ideas.

Not all Generation Xers are intent on “making the world a better place,” but a good deal are. And even with the Howard Roarks of Xers, the Donald Trumps of our cohort, there is one abiding similarity: Big Bird. For those born from the mid-’60s to the mid-’80s, the first show you probably watched was “Sesame Street.” I would guess you don’t remember watching it as a 2-year-old, but at that age, you were constantly learning about the world, and like a sponge, you took it all in.