Has Big Bird lost his appeal?

[zns]

In the MuppetMindset interview with Kevin Clash, Elmo made a comment of saying that Big Bird is his best friend, along with his goldfish Dorothy. Obviously that's saying something.

 

[D'Snowth]

In the MuppetMindset interview with Kevin Clash, Elmo made a comment of saying that Big Bird is his best friend, along with his goldfish Dorothy. Obviously that's saying something.

I thought Zoe and Grover were his best friends.

 

[Puckrox]

I thought Zoe and Grover were his best friends.

Yeah, when I was listening to Kevin's interview, I was surprised Elmo said Big Bird was his best friend but didn't mention Zoe. I mean, when I was in kindergarten, my best guy friend and I would pretend to be Elmo and Zoe at recess.

 

[D'Snowth]

Yeah, when I was listening to Kevin's interview, I was surprised Elmo said Big Bird was his best friend but didn't mention Zoe. I mean, when I was in kindergarten, my best guy friend and I would pretend to be Elmo and Zoe at recess.

Aww, lol.

But you know something? That's actually a good little (and very subtle) message to kids right there: it's okay for boys and girls to be best friends; I think that each generation of kid (particularly the 90s when Zoe was introduced) likes to make fun of kids whose best friends are of the opposite sex, "Oh, what is he/she, your boy/girlfriend? Nyaaah!"

What's amusing is that it seems like I made friends easier with girls than I did boys, while conversely, my best friend, who is female, says she made more friends with guys than she did girls, lol.

But, that's getting off topic a bit. It's interesting, because yes, so many sources often cite that it's Zoe (and Grover) who are Elmo's best friends; the SSU book even said that Zoe was specifically designed for her and Elmo to visually compliment each other (Elmo's red fur complimenting Zoe's red mouth, while her orange fur compliments his orange nose, etc).

 

[Drtooth]

Well, I find Big Bird to be a big brother figure to Elmo. I just find Grover to be a closer big brother whom Elmo seems to idolize as far as his careers go. And I personally think there's a LOT of lost potential in not having more skits with both of them in it. Zoe is more special... It's really evident in EIG, but they have the special "We were friends before we fell in love" bond... you can totally see them being together as teenagers, and beyond. I HATE to be the internet relationships meme guy on this, but watch EIG and TRY not to walk away from that.

Maybe Big Bird is just Elmo's oldest and closest friend. He WAS there when Snuffy was revealed, and he was integral to that important scene. He does hang around with him when he gets the chance, and you can see they both have chemestry with each other, Big Bird seeing him as a little kid that needs his guidance (though not to the extent with Grover... really, we need Super Elmo to become Super Grover's sidekick).

I especially like the Oscar being his grouchy grampa figure.

 

[D'Snowth]

That would make more sense, considering, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, that Caroll Spinney likened Elmo to the new little brother that you have to share the love and attention with.

 

[Erine81981]

I know that i love Big Bird as much as i do Elmo. They are both in the same amount of love as much as the older characters and the earlier 90's characters. But Big Bird has been one of my favorite character ever since i can remember.

I even had a Big Bird stuff toy back in the late 80's but my dad threw it away. I've been told it was either torn or broke but I've also been told that my dad didn't like it that i might have it till the day i die.

I've liked that Zoe now has two girl characters that i've always loved ever since they were introduced. Rosita and Abby. That's another thing that i think that Sesame Street has taught is that girls can have other girls as friends too. I've too had that problem is that i had a few boys that were my friend but i made more girls that liked being my friend too.

 

[Drtooth]

I've said a bunch of times, there's something inorganic about Elmo and Abby. They're the most popular characters and all, but they seem so mechanic together. Elmo works wonders with Big Bird, Oscar, Zoe, Grover, and a couple others... Abby works great with some of the other characters... but when they're together, it's like Abby can't screw up her magic and Elmo can't emote. So basically, they just don't play off each other as well as they want them to.

Let's say Disney made a project with Mickey Mouse and Pooh together, as they're the most popular and money making characters they have. They just can't play off each for various reasons, but it sells merchandise and keeps kids tuning in. I'd rather Mickey go with Goofy and Donald and Pooh with Tigger and Rabbit... characters they play off of that have some measurable tension or some sort of unique chemistry with. That's basically the best example I could think of...

I mean, Abby and Elmo sort of work, but they seem more like they're together due to demographics. And really, Elmo has couple chemistry with Zoe... If I were a 13 year old girl, I'd draw humanized anime teenager Elmo and Zoe couple pieces on deviant art... that's how much like a couple they are. Abby seems like a friend of a friend of Elmo's and they just wind up being in the same place together.

 

[D'Snowth]

I get what you're saying... there's no real chemistry that's developed between Elmo and Abby, and that can happen sometimes between characters or performers, like you said, they work well off of each other, but not together.

But the greatest Elmo/Abby moment I've EVER seen was their appearance on Bonnie Hunt's unfairly short-lived daytime talkshow, where Abby accidentally turned Elmo green (again)... the look on Elmo's face when Abby shielded her eyes, and exclaimed "I can't look at him, he's hedious!" was TOO priceless. Elmo got 0wn3d in the face that day!