Could some Muppets be considered violent?

[mikebennidict]

Uh I'm not being rude it's an honest question so let's not be so senitive.

 

[peyjenk]

I think that the general answer is, yes, the Muppets can be violent. The bigger question is whether or not that is an issue.

I don't think it is a problem. As Ilikemuppets has already pointed out, the violence in TMS is very cartoony, and Looney Toon-ish, meant to be silly rather than destructive. It's also important to remember that the Muppets are all about heart... they are about togetherness and family and love, which have become cliche bywords but actually have meaning to them.

Someone said that Jim was known to have a "dark side", and I'd like to both agree and disagree with that. I agree in the sense that yes, we all have some sort of "darker" aspect to our lives: nobody is all-good or all-bad. But I disagree that the Muppets display that "dark side". I don't think that anything the Muppets have done could be categorized as dark humor. Their humor is mature without being offensive, bizarre without being disgusting, and silly without being demeaning. They aren't saccharine-coated lollipop funny, but they aren't dark, either.

 

[CBPuppets]

I got 2 words......Miss Piggy

 

[Drtooth]

I don't think it is a problem. As Ilikemuppets has already pointed out, the violence in TMS is very cartoony, and Looney Toon-ish, meant to be silly rather than destructive. It's also important to remember that the Muppets are all about heart... they are about togetherness and family and love, which have become cliche bywords but actually have meaning to them.

Exactly. They're violent in the way The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote were. They blow themselves up, and immerge unscathed. just burnt and dazed. I personally hate when people take cartoon violence so seriously, when there's quite a lot of real world violence to contend with. Of course, since people cannot control that violence, they whine and complain about things that aren't based in reality.

What really confuses me, you can't show guns or gun fire on a kid's show, but walk into a toy store or dollar store, and what's the first thing you see? Toy guns! If people are so concerned about imitating that stuff, why would they turn their heads, and hand them an exact replica?

But as for violent muppets... well, the old Wilkins and Wontkins commercials were chock full of random acts of violence. Cannon shots, puppets eatne by shark puppets... all if they didn't drink Wilkins coffee. And let's not forget the Ideal muppet puppet kermits singing in unison, "So buy us, oh buy us, oh buy us we beg, If you don't buy us, we'll bite you in the leg." which led to "Buy us at once, we're a bundle of Charms." "and if you don't buy us we'll break both your arms."

Of course, this is well before people became ovefly concerned with that stuff. And guess what, we had no shooting rampages from that stuff.

 

[uppitymuppity]

Peyjenk -

The Muppet Show has so much dark humor & freakiness going on I don't even know where to start. But, I have had this argument effectively before. If Jim Henson was not interested in "darkness" he would not have had Alice Cooper as a guest star who in those days (I remember) was biting heads off of bats and throwing them into his audiences...

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Alice cooper bit heads off bats? I know Ozzy Osbourne did, but I was not aware that alice cooper did that. You learn something new every day.

As for the actual topic, well, anything that includes hurting someone, talking of hurting someone, ect could be considered violent. The muppets are pretty mild compared to some family shows and movies in my opinion

 

[muppetmonster]

Uh I'm not being rude it's an honest question so let's not be so senitive.

I guess I got carried away, but I am not going to call that being very sensitive. It is just I guess I was thrown off by your question, and took it the wrong way, but to answer your question. I guess, I was just curious to know if whether or not the muppets would be considered violent, that is all.

Muppetmonster

 

[uppitymuppity]

Yes, Ozzy did it first but, Cooper followed decapitating them onstage and throwing dummy babies on stages full of fake blood... They were all trying to shock people and be freaky at the time.

I would say there is a lot of violence in the muppet show - muppets blowing other muppets up, karate chops, chef eating mexican lobsters and singing veggies... Then you have the critics shouting out very dark jokes in between.

I've always loved that part of it though and that Henson stuck his neck out for an "adult oriented" show.

 

[peyjenk]

Peyjenk -

The Muppet Show has so much dark humor & freakiness going on I don't even know where to start. But, I have had this argument effectively before. If Jim Henson was not interested in "darkness" he would not have had Alice Cooper as a guest star who in those days (I remember) was biting heads off of bats and throwing them into his audiences...

Yes, Ozzy did it first but, Cooper followed decapitating them onstage and throwing dummy babies on stages full of fake blood... They were all trying to shock people and be freaky at the time.

But I still wouldn't categorize TMS as dark in any way, despite what some of the guest stars did in their individual acts. Certain episodes of the show, especially the Alice Cooper ep, are marked by a creepier, Halloweenier premise or setting, but they still can't really be classified as dark. It is still very silly and slapstick funny... even with a freakier vibe. I suppose the Alice-working-to-buy-souls-for-the-devil plot is darker than most, but it is still played for vaudevillian, Looney Tunes-style humor.

When I think of dark, I think of Tim Burtony, Nightmare On Elm Streetish, Titus Andronicus' enemies baked in a meat pie, Gothic horror things... none of which can be found in TMS. Cartoony Halloween humor is spooky without being dark.

I would say there is a lot of violence in the muppet show - muppets blowing other muppets up, karate chops, chef eating mexican lobsters and singing veggies... Then you have the critics shouting out very dark jokes in between.

No one is really denying the violent aspects of the Muppets, but I do wonder what you mean by Statler and Waldorf shouting "very dark jokes"... care to provide an example?

 

[uppitymuppity]

The critics were always spouting off about killing/shooting the performers or they would often turn on each other and talk about how they were or should be close to death or dead already.

It's not a horror show like Burton or the others you mentioned but, the themes were not all light & child-friendly like sesame street. Even when the show wasn't "Halloween" oriented there were plenty of monsters and creepy characters to go around hence "uncle deadly"...

You are right in saying that a lot of it was slapstick but, there were dark things in there too.