quote:Originally posted by Dan_Frank: I haven't seen the Muppet movie, but I have no trouble believing there is an undercurrent of "big businessmen are villains" since that's a common theme in our fiction. But I really, really doubt that it's dominated by that message. In fact, though I've never seen it, I'd happily bet money against that likelihood.
Nope this isn't the case. The villain is stock-generic-badguy. There isn't even the slightest undercurrent of any anti-big-business propaganda. No one has a problem with the big-business guy buying the theater, or with the oil drilling. They have a problem with the destruction of the theater itself. Heck, they don't even bear any ill will toward the developer, and he is a real d-bag.
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So when you say "nope this isn't the case," you're referring to... what, exactly?
Are you arguing with me? Cause it looks like your assessment of the movie basically confirms my guess. So...
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quote: Nope this isn't the case. The villain is stock-generic-badguy. There isn't even the slightest undercurrent of any anti-big-business propaganda. No one has a problem with the big-business guy buying the theater, or with the oil drilling. They have a problem with the destruction of the theater itself. Heck, they don't even bear any ill will toward the developer, and he is a real d-bag.
Maybe this will make it easier to understand.
Is Cruella DeVille a villain because she is rich? or maybe its her obsession with nice clothes or is it just her unfortunate last name that causes everyone to dislike her. Oh yeah, she wanted to kill a butt load of puppies for a coat. Tex Richman (the bad guy in the movie that haven't seen but are damning as propaganda) was lying to the stewards of the Muppet Theatre about how he was going to fix the place up after buying it when he was in fact going to destroy the whole place to drill for oil, that makes him a liar and liars are bad (plus he did this whole maniac laughter thing a couple times).
And really if you're gonna go after a kids movie for a self imprinted liberal scheme, we may as well discourage viewership of said movie for its unrealistic portrayal of how laws and city zoning statutes work. After all, you can't drill for oil in the middle of Hollywood.
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Yeah, although, it should be mentioned that the bad guy tycoon IS attempting to pull a bait and switch. They all think he's turning it into a museum, not an oil field. Though, he cops to it immediately when called out...and does so in song.
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Lets get back to real matter at hand, is it me or was the monster looking muppet that worked for Richman one of Jim Henson's originals from the first season of Saturday Night Live?
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AH, the movie as you've described it fits my definition of "having an undercurrent of 'big business is the villain'" to a T (tee?) Tex Richman wants to demolish a theater and drill for oil? Yeah. It's there. No surprise, since that attitude is pretty well ingrained in our pop culture and appears in countless movies. My greater point was... who cares? If I thought subliminal manipulation was occurring (a.k.a. if I was a nutball conspiracy theorist) maybe I'd care. Fortunately, I'm not, so I don't.
By all accounts it's a great movie, and I'm sure the movie never tries to have a message of "see this guy is bad cause he's a businessman!" Therefore, Fox is way off base.
You mentioned 101 Dalmations. 101 Dalmations has an undercurrent of "fur is murder, anyone who wears fur is the devil," but they don't taint their story by trying to jam that message home. So it's a great movie, you can pick that up if you see everything through that lens, but ultimately you'll miss it if you don't. Ditto for muppets and businessmen. Fox sees the world through that lens. I have a pair of multi-focals that include that lens, but I'm clever enough not to waste too much time staring through it. Posts: 3580 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Dan_Frank: Thanks Boots!
AH, the movie as you've described it fits my definition of "having an undercurrent of 'big business is the villain'" to a T (tee?) Tex Richman wants to demolish a theater and drill for oil? Yeah. It's there. No surprise, since that attitude is pretty well ingrained in our pop culture and appears in countless movies.
See, that was one of the funniest things to us when we saw it, the fact that it was so obvious, the whole evil businessman, Tex Rich Man thing. Think of the era the Muppets hail from and were popular during. This was a classic scenario. Who's going to argue that Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem didn't at least wish they were at Woodstock or protests in the 60's and 70's? I think that while the big, bad businessman plot was overt, the humor behind it was subtle.
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