Talk, Listen, Connect - Death

[Oscarfan]

http://www.army.com/news/item/6006

Man, Elmo's family gets it hard in these.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, giving Elmo an entire family just upped his "over-rated" factor anyway.

 

[APRena]

Wow. This is just getting depressing. I know it's dealing with military deaths, so they couldn't just stick Prarie Dawn's older cousin into this or something, but why pick on Elmo? Do they test these specials on kids? Seems like this wouldn't help them much, but what do I know...

 

[Drtooth]

I'm really thinking these are getting more and more disgusting, actually. I HATE HATE HATE HATE the idea of Muppets going off to war and killing people and getting killed themselves. I really don't think that's what the Muppets are about at all. It's like having Wile E. Coyote permanently injured and crippled after falling off a cliff, or having Daffy die from an explosion from Elmer Fudd's gun. Muppets are supposed to be cartoonishly immortal, and things of wacky, happy fantasy (even the "evil" characters, like Uncle Deadly). And even though it was a bit character they just made up, I heavily dispise the idea.

I fail to see why they can't make these specials similar to "Sesame Street goes to Prison" and just not feature any Muppet characters (outside of maybe Elmo talking directly to kids)... and why this couldn't instead focus on actual people or at least human actors. I still think it deals with the message just as succinctly without implying that Muppet characters are pawns of (political rant time) a greedy, incompetent former leader, further exploiting the ideal that world governments can only learn to resolve their problems by killing enough people until a world leader says "I'm bored." All the while ignoring the real problems of their own people. (rant over)

I don't wanna blame any military families for this, since the sad thing is SW is doing more for them than our government did (how many soldiers came back only to find there were no jobs?) And I really think there should be some way to tell the innocent kids what's going on... but to m, this is like that Smurfs PSA, only with a pro-war twist.

 

[D'Snowth]

I know what you';re saying Drtooth, and I see where you're coming from, but let's face it - kids' parents are being sent to Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan/etc to fight in this war our "beloved" Bush declared, and some aren't making it back home... SOMEBODY in the line of children's television has to address this, and really, who better than the cornerstone of children's television to do so? After all, they chose to address Mr. Hooper dying when Will Lee died.

I know this is going to draw a deal of criticism like when M*A*S*H killed off Henry Blake, but again, they're not trying to make a show business point, but rather a real life point that hey, not everybody makes it home after (or even during) a war!

 

[RedPiggy]

Also, it's a psychological fact that kids (actually, most people at any age) will open up to non-humans far more often, as there are few if any social risks to talking, say, to a puppet or a pet. Having a human child talk about it might hit too close to home.

 

[Drtooth]

After all, they chose to address Mr. Hooper dying when Will Lee died.

I think that's the big statement. They addressed a human's death. Somehow, I wouldn't mind the idea of a Muppet character passing on, as long as it isn't because of...well... war stuff. I still think this would be just as powerful a message had it dealt with a human character on the show, and Elmo (or someone else, preferably someone else) has to comfort them.

I see exactly what you mean though. Someone has to tell kids they're going to lose their parents... but somehow, I just want Elmo to say "Why... why do people have to die because of the greedy machinations of evil world leaders?" or "Elmo wants to know what the freaking point of the UN was, since no one seems to actually pay attention to it?"

I still think the point that Muppets going out and killing people for war, and not even a fictitious black and white, good guys win in the end, movie style war is just revolting. I think these specials could do just as well if Elmo's father was a fire fighter and Rosita's Dad was a cop. Face it, those kind of jobs? You're talking about high risk and the thought of kid's losing their parents on a daily basis, keeping us safe.

 

[D'Snowth]

Yeah, so much for "fostering cooperation with other countries since the end of WW2"...

Since then we've had what? KW1 (Korean War 1, because you no NKorea wants to go to war with SKorea again), the Vietnam War, and it still goes on and on...

 

[Drtooth]

You know what would put an end to all the world's wars? Confiscate all the planes, bombs, guns, and replaced them with horses, swords and shields like in the old days. It would be such a hassle that it just wouldn't be worth it on either side, and no one would even bother.

 

[D'Snowth]

You know what would put an end to all the world's wars? Confiscate all the planes, bombs, guns, and replaced them with horses, swords and shields like in the old days. It would be such a hassle that it just wouldn't be worth it on either side, and no one would even bother.

If only, lol.