MAYBE IT’S NOT TOO LATE AFTER ALL
Believing in a dream is part and parcel of Kermit the Frog and Jim Henson. They wanted to make their dreams reality. It wasn’t enough for them to sit on the couch (or half-rotten log) and just think about what they’d like to do with their lives. It was all about chasing that dream and showing others just how wide, how far, and how real the universe really is.
In Muppet Babies, the characters use their imaginations quite a bit. Now, they’re toddlers, so play acting isn’t in itself a strange idea. However, the show has some elements to it that will repeat in other ways. The closet door in the nursery is usually the home to many a sight gag, usually some clip of some movie or show. But when one considers other projects of Henson, it can be even more.
In the Muppet Family Christmas, Robin the Frog reminds Kermit of a story the elder told the younger regarding Fraggle holes. What if Kermit knew of them from his younger years, or at least the location? The nursery closet that represents an opening to different worlds would provide just such a reason for Kermit to be perfectly fine with the idea that a mere hole in the wall would lead to a particular extra-dimensional location.
But what leads one to find such a thing, this opening that magically appears seemingly arbitrarily?
You know, it’s a shame that the Kingdom Hearts series haven’t really addressed the muppetverse, but with all its talk about hearts and connecting worlds, let’s be honest, the concept is tailor made for the works of Henson.
In Fraggle Rock, Gobo Fraggle has many maps of many tunnels. He made some himself while inheriting others from his ancestors. On the other hand, the location itself can never truly be mapped. The tunnels are apparently given life by Ditzies, little sparkles of light that live within. They’re more than just illumination, however. Whenever someone’s heart needs to connect … new tunnels inexplicably appear. Uncle Matt felt purposeless in his explorations. The entry to a near-infinite tunnel-filled room appeared before him. Red wanted to live out her dreams of being a warrior princess. The same room revealed itself to her. Gobo Fraggle wanted to find Doc (the human who lived in a workshop in our world). A tunnel that spanned basically across the entire United States yet was walkable in a few minutes appeared to help him in his quest.
Meanwhile, in the movie Labyrinth, Sarah wanted to live out her dreams of fantasy and adventure, despite the fact she wasn’t mature enough to decide firmly to do so. Her attempts to connect to the magic allowed Jareth to show her a way, through her parents’ balcony. Later, in the comic sequel, Return to Labyrinth, a goblin slips through what tends to homage a Fraggle Hole, with a teenaged Toby following closely behind. Both were dissatisfied with their lives as they were and wanted new ones.
On a related note, in the movie Mirrormask, the heroine also dreams of more. Her drawings become the portal that leads to a pocket universe. When she accepts herself and her family and her life, as well as mastering the universe in which she’s thrown, she returns to her world and, like Sarah, finds connections to that other world after the journey is over.
In Sesame Street, there is something a bit like this, although I’m not perfect and have never really seen the episodes where this kind of thing occurs. However, Oscar’s trash can is a portal to a much larger dimension as well. It’s the reason he can store lots of trash, other belongings, and even an entire menagerie in one simple-looking can. And while I am not familiar with why anyone would go through that trash can to Grouchland, I do smirk at the thought of Oscar’s cameo in Night at the Museum 2. Think about it: the plots of these movies are about fake beings given life. More importantly, though, the villains are out to restore meaning to their lives after having been forgotten for so long, both elderly real human villains and the mannequin of a brother of a Pharoah who seemed more powerful. Darth Vader would merely have been there to increase his power, but the brother of the Pharoah merely dismisses Oscar outright without thought that Oscar’s CAN is certainly a powerful object worth exploring.
Even Farscape could be argued to have this very same magical mechanism, though it is definitely given a more sci-fi bent. John wants to be a famous astronaut. He dreams of following in his father’s footsteps, making him a lot like Gobo Fraggle, in a way. And while the show explains the wormhole that flings him across the universe is from a particular set of solar flares and such, the fact remains his heart was reaching out to a dream, and the universe answered him. He ends up loving those he met (some more so than others). Even when tempted with going back home, his spirit has really chosen its home … all over the universe.
The main theme, when taking these particular properties together, seems to be that if you dream it hard enough, you’ll get there … even if you’re not really getting what you wanted, you’ll certainly get what you needed. However, it does seem to be arbitrary, doesn’t it? Why can Sarah or Gobo or John link to other worlds while others try very hard to find their purpose and don’t’ succeed?
Will we learn in the newest Muppet movie? The plot is about a young whatnot-like muppet (in other words, a stock-like character instead of easily recognizable famous Muppets) who dreams of joining and saving the Muppets from yet another threat to their dream. Will we get more hints as to how this dream-chasing works?
After all, lots of folks work hard for their dreams, with varying levels of success. Had Gobo been wishing to get to Doc in the Workshop instead of in the tunnels of Fraggle Rock – would a tunnel leading him to the correct location have appeared? Why didn’t Jareth take Sarah while she was LARPing in the park?
It seems to suggest an idea also brought up in The Princess and the Frog by Disney: you can wish on that magic star, but it takes both hard work and a little “right place, right time” luck as well. The United States loves to perpetuate the Great American Myth that all it takes is hard work to succeed. And yet if you were to really delve into famous rich people’s lives, a lot of them inherited their fortunes, lucked out without much thought, or downright oppressed others to make a buck.
Does this make dream chasing inappropriate?
I don’t think so.
If John had stayed in bed instead of suiting up, he’d never have met all those creatures from all over the universe.
If Sarah had decided to take up, say, accounting instead of theater, what would Jareth work with?
I feel it’s worth it to believe in a dream. I feel it’s worth it to try to make them realities.
But when the World Falls Down, maybe it’s also worth it to take a step back and see if that dream is really what we need.
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. And well, Toby was just basically a canon OC they could do anything with since he was a baby last time and meh...I just think its a very lost chance to have made Sarah a better character. I know how the movie really went and all...
. As for the porn yes I will admit I do love romance novels, but that's nether here nor there *lol*
