Interpretation of "Manny's Land of Carpets"

[Convincing John]

Hey everyone,

I just watched "Manny's Land of Carpets" (one of my favorite Fraggle Rock episodes), and its main concept mirrored something else I have just seen. I'd like to share my observations and comparisons and see what you guys think:

I have a copy of the DVD documentary "Chariots of the Gods" (anyone heard of it?) Though some of what the author (Erich von Daniken) wrote in the original book has been discredited, the book (and documentary) open up a rather confusing can of worms about history.

The basic argument is that the culture of humans in ancient times have been influenced by higher (and more technological) civilizations.

Whether you believe it or not, people still wonder how such colossal works (the pyramids, for example) were built without modern methods. And all over the world, in ancient pieces of art predating most technology, imagery resembling modern (and futuristic) technology appears completely out of place...but it's there! Here are some examples for you to see. Not all are related to Daniken's work, but are still intriguing nonetheless:

So what does all this have to do with "Manny's Land of Carpets"? Well, in the episode, Gobo discovers something shiny and magical from the outside world which speaks to him. Quite quickly the other Fraggles are mesmerised by it...even Boober! The magical object is (quite literally) placed on a pedestal and its message is almost revered in the song "Follow the Road". Even in their arguments as to where they should go, the Fraggles (Red and Large Marvin especially) are adamant about following what "the Wish Granting Creature" says, rather than sticking together with their friends. Boober put it best when he said "That box is taking over your minds!"

All this happened because a (relatively simple) piece of $4.00 technology from "Outer Space" was mistakenly put where it didn't belong. The "guaranteed happiness" was, of course, no more than a trio of commercials being misinterpreted by a culture with no technology. The episode is quite literal in how something so common in our culture can be mistakenly interpreted in another.

Now, consider this...

In the documentary "Chariots of the Gods", during World War II, American soldiers flew to certain, isolated islands in the South Pacific to build military installations. These installations were on the fringes of some primitive civilizations. After WWII, some planes returned to observe these areas.

According to the documentary, before the planes came, the natives lived "virtually in the Stone Age". These natives were completely cut off from the rest of the world. No technology, no communication with outside cultures, no knowledge of a world beyond their own.

But when the soldiers returned to observe these areas when WWII was over, they noticed that the natives had built life-size airplane statues from straw and bamboo. They had clearly mistaken soldiers doing routine ariel observation for "gods from the sky". The documentary shows the natives bowing down as a plane (with the camera inside) flying overhead. On the island, the natives had built a landing strip and sat scanning the skies for the "vistors" to return again.

Here's a quote from the documentary that really struck me:

"However, the islanders had a new religion. A new cult was born from the encounter between a primitive people and visitors from a highly developed, technically superior society."

Although Fraggle Rock doesn't go into this amount of depth (after all, kids watch Fraggle Rock too ), there is something in that statement that is very "Manny's Land of Carpets"-like.

I also wonder, since Jim Henson (apparently) had an interest in unusual phenomena (do doo do do do), if he had seen this documentary or read the book. (Both were made in the 60's and 70's).

According to an interview with Jim from MC's "Interviews" section...

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Judy Harris: I read somewhere that you have an interest in psychic phenomenon. Is that true?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]HENSON: Oh, just an outsider's interest and curiosity, I suppose. I love all that stuff.[/FONT]

It may have inspired this basic theme in Fraggle Rock of a "primitive" society (Fraggles) encountering (and misinterpreting) the "technically superior society" (us, the "Silly Creatures") echoes a lot of basic stuff from "Chariots of the Gods" and other research.

What do you guys think?

Convincing John

 

[CensoredAlso]

That's a very interesting point about what can happen when a more primitive people coming across modern day technology

I've also seen the episode speaking about the dangers of the media and advertising. A cheap piece of technology tells you how to be cool, what to like, where to find happiness.

 

[Boober_Gorg]

I think the episode's theme is consumerism and how it takes over the gullible mind. Very timely, even today.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Even more so today I think.

 

[Foodie]

I have a copy of an early draft of that script. Originally, it centered more on a " Gobo vs. Boober " theme... if that makes sense.

Nick

 

[CensoredAlso]

Oh, that's interesting, I wonder why they chose to go in another direction.

 

[superboober]

Where might Fraggle scripts--or indeed any Muppet script for that matter--be found?

 

[Boober_Gorg]

I have a copy of an early draft of that script. Originally, it centered more on a " Gobo vs. Boober " theme... if that makes sense.

If you have any other information of episode evolution, it would definitely be of use to the Muppet Wiki.

 

[DTWolf]

Long post, but bear with me

Here are some examples for you to see.

Um, I'm pretty skeptical that any of the images on that site are authentic. But regardless, your comparison of this episode to Chariot of the Gods is fully legitimate. That's a thought-provoking way to look at it. On the other hand, when I watched this Fraggle episode a couple of days ago, I had something of the opposite response: how people like us can totally misinterpret artifacts because we lack the context that gives them meaning.

There's this funny book (out of print, I think) called Motel of the Mysteries that pretends to be an archaeological text from the future--hundreds of years from now a twentieth-century motel has been dug up, and the scholars are trying to figure out what all the artifacts (telephone, bed, recliner, TV, everything you find in a hotel room) might have been used for. They're convinced the TV is an altar and that toilet seat covers were ceremonial headresses worn by priests in worship of it. The book shows how wildly interpretations can go wrong when interpreters don't have enough to work with (but assume they do)--they can't guess any better because there's just not enough evidence left. Things that seem obvious to us are not obvious to anyone who doesn't know the larger cultural worldview.

Back to the Fraggles--I'd bet one of the main intents was to provoke us a little bit about how much we believe advertisements and marketing ploys. We say we don't REALLY believe "satisfaction guaranteed"--we claim we're too sophisticated to actually buy into the hype--but generally deep down we DO buy into it, we do believe it. Capitalist culture says "things bring happiness," and we tend to accept that on a gut level, swallowing the message the ads so crudely give out.

However, I think maybe the Fraggle Rock creative team may also have been suggesting to us that we need to be careful how we borrow ideas from other cultures. They might not mean what we think they mean. We could be completely off-base because we don't understand the context that gives individual ideas and behaviors their real meaning.

Think about Travelling Matt. Those segments are certainly a way to laugh at ourselves and the weird things we do, but aren't they also a little nudge to ask, "When do I act like Travelling Matt? When I look at other cultures and evaluate them, am I really understanding them or am I totally missing the point?" It's not just "primitive" cultures that misunderstand "more advanced" cultures--history is full of examples of that happening the other way around.

 

[Fragglemuppet]

Sorry to interupt; nothing educated or sophisticated to say at the moment,
I just wanted to ask Nick, if you have that script on your computer, could you please send me a copy?
kitkat1713@gmail.com

Thanks,
Kate