Penny for your thoughts on puppetry

Okay OKAY so in case nobody knows I fucking LOVE puppetry. I’m a fucking Sesame Street/muppets ass son of a bitch. A lot of people like to jump on this stupid bandwagon of hating puppets cuz "uwaaaa they’re sooooo scarrryyyy!!!11!1" and that just ughhhh PISSES ME OFF. PUPPETS ARE HERE FOR WHOLESOME PURPOSES ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU FEEL NO BLISS WHEN WATCHING COOKIE MONSTER YOU JERK??/? Very annoying

I’m obsessed with just like sesame street lore and fun facts like. First off the show was waaaayy ahead of its time it started in like 1969 as a way of making preschool accessible to kids who were low income but it did it in such a way where like adults who were watching it would also have fun too. When they teach kids the alphabet they do funny skits or silly songs about it to make learning seem fun! Not to mention that any kids who’d be in those segments weren’t actors or anything it’d be their genuine reactions and so often they’d be trying not to laugh cuz holy shit they’re talking to elmo! Plus the show would just be so casually integrated with people of different races who all respected each other and it makes me think of my mom who grew up in very white area saying that sesame street was literally how she learned about like, the existence of black people. And it gave some black actors a chance to be in roles where they weren’t mocked or brutalized. Though a lot of progress had to be made throughout the show like one of the black actors early on thought that the show was too white and wasn’t reaching black youths like it should. So he created Roosevelt Franklin, a black-coded muppet that he performed

His role was essentially to teach the same basic education shit but trying to add black culture into it. He said he wanted black kids to have their race be a positive experience for them. The character was really controversial though, many black people not in favor saying he was too stereotypical and felt like a caricature of black identities. Whether or not the character was indeed Problematic didn’t really matter in the end though because he was removed from the show just a few years after he was introduced. I’ve no clue about what the show is doing today but as far as I know they’ve made better choices with black characters and have black muppets who are less of a caricature. Also important to mention that while the concept of Roosevelt was created and performed by a black actor, there were still many white performers playing a part which is what could’ve caused more offensive writing. Plus many black people had different opinions on the subject so I’m not gonna say they all felt one way or another

I also just wanna go over some of my favorite techniques and effects the puppeteers made and used on some of the muppets. One of the most iconic ones being Kermit on a bike

Where he miraculously is able to ride without any visible puppeteers in view. And it’s not a small model either, that’s without a doubt the full sized muppet. Essentially what they did was attach invisible wires to Kermit’s limbs and the bike and a puppeteer was using a crane above camera for some marionette style puppeteering. Remains to be an absolute hit to this day. There’s also the big bird mechanism where he is essentially a suit puppet. Because of this, one hand must be in the head in order to control mouth, eye, and head movements. That means only one arm is available to be an actual arm, and there clearly isn’t anyone else operating the other arm. What’s happening in that the empty arm is actually stuffed and has wires attached to the occupied arm that allows it to move in relation to it. Plus Carrol Spinney had to wear stupid big ass bird pants all the time I just think that’s funny. As for smaller effects theres the simple technique where an arm rod puppet can have their arms easily removed and reattached if the scene calls for a live hand substitution. Blinking puppets have a handle behind their eyes that can be moved by fingers. Puppeteers for shows and movies like these absolutely have to stand in close proximity to each other with their arms straight up which mean that they better be buff and use good deodorant. It’s not an easy job to do and it shouldn’t be underestimated

I have sooooooo much more I could say but ummmmm I’ve already said a lot and I need to move around 🤪