Racial Coding in The Muppets

[Epictetus]

Here's an interesting article on the new film:

After beginning their quest to reunite the Muppets, Segal, Adams and Walter (his puppet brother) must journey into the city of Reno. Reno is a far cry from the kitsch of Smalltown, USA, and they find Fozzie in the unenviable position of fronting a cover band called ‘The Moopets,’ which is composed of those pictured above. There’s a pivotal scene here in terms of racial symbolism, when our heroes are outside in an alleyway talking with ‘Miss Poogy,’ the Miss Piggy substitute. During a conversation expressing disbelief that Fozzie could ever end up in such a terrible place, the sound of gunshots is heard. Later, Miss Poogy is seen sharpening knives, presumably for sheer pleasure or criminal intent.

Underpinning this entire drama is the juxtaposition of the clean, safe, neighborly Smalltown with the dirty, violent and hostile urban city. To say that this dichotomy has historically been predicated on the nostalgia for all-white rural homogeneity is not exactly a quantum leap. The sentimentality that surrounds fifties-style community is often expressed through a fear of the urban, which transposes quite naturally into (and is often meant as nothing but a coded expression of) a fear of non-white minorities.

I need to be cautious about jumping into this personally, as the fact that I did not like the new film makes me very likely to be prejudiced in favor of anything that criticizes it. But I'd be curious what other folks thought of this critique.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I need to be cautious about jumping into this personally, as the fact that I did not like the new film makes me very likely to be prejudiced in favor of anything that criticizes it. But I'd be curious what other folks thought of this critique.

I'll admit I did think this might happen when I saw the Moopets. But I don't think the filmmakers intended anything offensive, definitely not.

 

[Epictetus]

I'll admit I did think this might happen when I saw the Moopets. But I don't think the filmmakers intended anything offensive, definitely not.

It's very, very easy to be offensive, racist, or cruel without ever intending to do so.

 

[CensoredAlso]

It's very, very easy to be offensive, racist, or cruel without ever intending to do so.

Or it's very, very easy to be misunderstood. If people are looking for these things, they tend to find them.

 

[Epictetus]

Or it's very very easy to be misunderstood. If people are looking for these things, they tend to find them.

That's something of a non-sequitur - you noticed it yourself, as you admitted above. Then you said that despite your concern, you "don't think the filmmakers intended anything offensive".

My point is that your argument is not a good one: I can very easily believe that the filmmakers did not intend anything offensive, but that they created something that promoted offensive, racist images. Racism has never required that a person be cruel: one of the most awful things about it is that people can believe they are being incredibly kind to the very people they are harming.

 

[CensoredAlso]

That's something of a non-sequitur - you noticed it yourself, as you admitted above.

I noticed what could be misinterpreted. I did not notice any actual racism. There's a huge difference.

 

[Scooterforever]

I loved the new film, saw it 4x so far, but I also noticed the Moopets were meant to look and sound "urban," and I found the Moopet Fozzy (Foozy?) a bit offensive, he seemed like a rapper stereotype or something, and I could understand if others found it offensive too. At the same time, the argument made that Smalltown is a "white" town is not true (again, I've seen the film 4x so I think I know what I'm talking about), as there were people of all different races in the opening scene. I think people in general still see the suburbs as being safer than the inner city, and that doesn't necessarily make them racist. Also, Reno is a pretty unsafe city, I think most cities reliant on gambling for their main revenue are unsafe, so there's that.

 

[Epictetus]

...the argument made that Smalltown is a "white" town is not true... there were people of all different races in the opening scene. I think people in general still see the suburbs as being safer than the inner city, and that doesn't necessarily make them racist.

Your report that Smalltown contained people of many races is useful; it doesn't surprise me too much, either. Until I was twelve I lived in a very small town in rural America, and I don't think it had too much overt racism. But there was a huge distrust of urban culture - or, indeed, any other culture. My memory is that people felt somewhat guilty about past American racism, and would've loved to incorporate people of different races into their town - so long as they became exactly like them. Brown-skinned, yellow-skinned, anything-skinned people who behaved exactly like proper, upstanding small-towners would have been (by most) embraced with enthusiasm.

Many people think that this means there was no racism involved. I would argue that this can involve racism: when one's comfort involves a model of life that will only tolerate people who behave exactly like you, it excludes anyone whose culture might value very different things.

Smalltownism - the longing for a never-really-existed idealization of '50s America involves by its very nature racism and sexism. It's like looking back fondly at plantation life in the south. Sure - maybe you don't mean any malice to black people when you think fondly about sipping mint juleps under some Jeffersonian columns in a jaunty straw hat. But the way of life you're imagining requires - by its very nature - slavery. Would you blame a black person who heard your fantasy if he said, "Hey, you *******, that little scene you summoned up requires a whole staff of my ancestors working as slaves in the fields!"

I, personally, am not concerned that the filmmakers of The Muppets intended racism of any sort. I am concerned that they summoned up lazy, unexamined stereotypes of smalltown life, of urban life, and spared not a second thought for the possibility that there were some ugly things buried beneath those shared stereotypes.

It would have been a better film if they had been reflective enough to realize this and probe for deeper, truer ideas.

 

[We Got Us]

I, personally, am not concerned that the filmmakers of The Muppets intended racism of any sort. I am concerned that they summoned up lazy, unexamined stereotypes of smalltown life, of urban life, and spared not a second thought for the possibility that there were some ugly things buried beneath those shared stereotypes.

Uhm...it's a Muppet movie, which means a movie that's supposed to be an hour and and a half of all different color Muppets with different 'cultural values' and certainly no 'small-townism' involved. (Gonzo is an alien from outer space who dates chickens and shoots himself out of cannons. That doesn't seem like any 50's American idealization) but people still have to find ridiculous things like an opening dance number, filmed with extras to point fingers and call racist. I've seen the movie with friends of different races, and even religions: they all told me how much they loved that, as something other than humans, their were never any stereotypes or undertones in a Muppet movie. Huh, go figure. It would have been a better article if the people who wrote it had tested their theory that people would find it offensive.

 

[Drtooth]

I have to disagree on one thing... this ISN"T an interesting article.. it's poop short and simple.

After beginning their quest to reunite the Muppets, Segal, Adams and Walter (his puppet brother) must journey into the city of Reno. Reno is a far cry from the kitsch of Smalltown, USA, and they find Fozzie in the unenviable position of fronting a cover band called ‘The Moopets,’ which is composed of those pictured above. There’s a pivotal scene here in terms of racial symbolism, when our heroes are outside in an alleyway talking with ‘Miss Poogy,’ the Miss Piggy substitute. During a conversation expressing disbelief that Fozzie could ever end up in such a terrible place, the sound of gunshots is heard. Later, Miss Poogy is seen sharpening knives, presumably for sheer pleasure or criminal intent.

Underpinning this entire drama is the juxtaposition of the clean, safe, neighborly Smalltown with the dirty, violent and hostile urban city. To say that this dichotomy has historically been predicated on the nostalgia for all-white rural homogeneity is not exactly a quantum leap. The sentimentality that surrounds fifties-style community is often expressed through a fear of the urban, which transposes quite naturally into (and is often meant as nothing but a coded expression of) a fear of non-white minorities.

It's Reno. Reno is the ugly fat depressing sister of Vegas. The film wasn't making a statement about safe clean imaginary 1950's towns are good and urban settings are evil... just Reno is a depressing place where once famous celebrities end up if their careers tank. Crime? in a city full of gambling? Never heard such a thing.

The fart of an opinion starts to go onto whining about Tex's Gangsta parody rap, suggesting only black people can use this style of music. I'm convinced this was written by an overly sensitive white boy who's trying hard to not come off as a racist himself (I KNOW those kinds of people).

Yeah, Foozie's a parody of a Gangsta. Dude... you know how many cultureless suburban white boys I knew in High School dress up rap style and act rap style when they come from pretty well to do families?

I hate these grasps at straws pushing pointless and idiotic agendas they enforce. I don't know what's full of more hot air... this or the claims by Faux news that a bad guy in a movie that's rich automatically means the movie promotes Communism.