Sesame Street Introduces New Autistic Muppet, Julia

[D'Snowth]

Here's another Sesame Street Newsflash: the street will be gaining another new Muppet character in the form of a cute little autistic girl named Julia.

http://www.today.com/parents/sesame-street-introduces-first-character-autism-meet-julia-t51491

Based on the information presented in the article, I really can't tell if she's going to be a part of the series proper, or if she's been created for another one of those Little Children, Big Challenges resource specials/videos. But this is really interesting, and something of a coincidence too: I know a girl from deviantART who created a SST Muppet FC (OC) with autism and when she visited the set, talked to them about incorporating her into the show so they'd have a representation of autistic kids, but they told her they couldn't do that for legal/copyright reasons. . . . which in an of itself reminds me of a friend of mine who, back in the 80s/90s, submitted a suggestion to Fred Wolf Films about incorporating a female turtle on TMNT named Mona Lisa, but they told her they didn't accept unsolicited material . . . then shortly afterwards, came Mona Lisa, the mutant lizard lady.

But, I digress. This should be interesting; I think it's nice that SST is trying to not only add another female Muppet to the roster, but one with a disability - very inclusive.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Well if she is going to be on the actual show now is a great time to add a new character as the number of episodes are supposed to be increasing in season 47.

 

[123Sunny]

Awesome! This is why I love Sesame Street. I think they are more relatable. I can definitely relate to the bit about repeating things and using fewer words. She also looks quite a bit like my own Sesame Street sona! :0

 

[beaker]

Ugh, not an actual puppet but just a cartoon? No! Make this an actual puppet. I'm super bummed Mazzarino and therefore Murray is no longer with Sesame. Murray was the best new character in over two decades. But totally excited for new characters. Not sure how the "Sesame on HBO" thing will work but this Julia character, if she was a puppet, sounds promising

 

[Drtooth]

I'll agree it's kind of disappointing that's the case and this character is essentially as important to Sesame Street as Malcom Monster from "Where's My Blankie?" considering how powerful (and long time coming) an Autistic character on Sesame Street could be. I mean, Arthur beat them by several years, and at least Carl is a semi-recurring character. One episode even featured George suggesting that Carl's laser focus would be beneficial. This is a nice step to have an expanded universe character and all, but why couldn't they have made an actual character for the actual show?

 

[D'Snowth]

Okay, as it turns out, the girl from dA I mentioned in my original post actually did help inspire SST to do this project:

She's been in contact with SW all this time, and they informed her about this project weeks ago, it's only been just now made public.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I like what they are doing in general but it feels pointless if we're never gonna see her on the actual show.It's gonna be just like Lilly on "Growing Hope Against Hunger" or that Matt Vogel muppet on the Incarceration special. They were all characters that tackle important issues and had so much potential but they weren't used on the show.They could have tackled so many different aspects of these issues and they could have been very well developed characters.But more importantly the fact that they aren't on the show is a missed opportunity for them to get maximum exposure. Less people are going to watch or even care about these Muppets if they're not on the show. So they may never cause a much greater awareness or help the kids who are effected by these issues.

 

[D'Snowth]

I like what they are doing in general but it feels pointless if we're never gonna see her on the actual show.It's gonna be just like Lilly on "Growing Hope Against Hunger" or that Matt Vogel muppet on the Incarceration special.

That's what I was saying in my original post: based on the information that's been made available, it's really hard to determine whether Julia is actually going to be featured on the series proper, or if she's going to be getting her own Little Children, Big Challenges special, or if she's indeed exclusive to this online storybook. Clearly, there's a lot of potential with an autistic Muppet, I think it would be a shame to not further expand on this new character on the show - the street could really use a little more diversity in terms of disabled characters; like Drtooth previously mentioned, ARTHUR's featured semi-regularly/recurring characters with disabilities for years now, such as the aforementioned autistic Carl, the blind Marina, and the wheelchair-bound Lydia. SST used to have Tarrah in the 90s, then for one season she was replaced with Emily who was another wheelchair girl; then there was the blind Aristotle from the 80s. SESAME PARK in Canada had a wheelchair-bound Muppet girl as part of their regular cast.

 

[Drtooth]

I like what they are doing in general but it feels pointless if we're never gonna see her on the actual show.It's gonna be just like Lilly on "Growing Hope Against Hunger" or that Matt Vogel muppet on the Incarceration special. They were all characters that tackle important issues and had so much potential but they weren't used on the show.They could have tackled so many different aspects of these issues and they could have been very well developed characters.But more importantly the fact that they aren't on the show is a missed opportunity for them to get maximum exposure. Less people are going to watch or even care about these Muppets if they're not on the show. So they may never cause a much greater awareness or help the kids who are effected by these issues.

I have very complicated thoughts about how diversity plays out in kid's programming. There are those who really want to add diverse characters naturally, and those often result in some well written characters that have depth. I mean, look how diverse Hey Arnold is. Every character is genuine. You believe that Arnold and Gerald are close friends and not just the one token black kid that they have an awkward relationship with because he's just there. Which is, unfortunately what the other kind of diversity is, throwing in flat, personality devoid characters to fill out some quota or to clumsily address something. Instead of getting a character with a disability or different ethnicity, you wind up with a disability attached to a character to basically give halfhearted lipservice or just being overly cautious and too afraid to make a disability or ethnicity a character because any character traits will be picked apart as offensive. I feel what hurts potentially relatable characters is cowardice and or lack of care. So I can see Sesame Street being late to the party Arthur already threw here. Not that good character writing would label a character as "Autistic Muppet" instead of "Muppet character with Autism."

Plus, it is adding a new character into a show. Sesame Street has a strange track record of that. Either you wind up with something like Rodeo Rosie or Deena and Pearl that don't work outright, characters made to fill out holes left by other characters not appearing that get lost in the shuffle when those characters do come back (the entire hotel gang), or characters that stick like glue like a certain red feller. And those latter ones are rare, but when they stick, brother, they stick. And yet, it feels like characters they introduce only to discuss an issue like this...well... you're right! We never see them again, so what's the point? I'm sure they can find a good way to integrate Julia into the show gently and genuinely so that she feels like she's a part of Sesame Street. At least rather than a spotlight saying "look at this character. Isn't she sad but scrappy? Good for her. Now let's do a parody of a hit TV show."

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Ugh, not an actual puppet but just a cartoon? No! Make this an actual puppet. I'm super bummed Mazzarino and therefore Murray is no longer with Sesame. Murray was the best new character in over two decades. But totally excited for new characters. Not sure how the "Sesame on HBO" thing will work but this Julia character, if she was a puppet, sounds promising

Well we don't know for sure if Murray is leaving or not.