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bluegargantuaHi,
So elsewhere in LJ there's a thread that comes up about Elmo from Sesame Street and how pretty much everyone hates him. I really hate him. He's whiny and dumb and tries to take the roles of a dozen other Sesame Street muppets who are better and cooler than him.
But now I'm wondering if I'm a racist jerk.
See, here's the deal. Pretty much all the monsters in Sesame Street are blue in color. Grover, Cookie, Harry, they're all blue. And if they're not blue, they're generally in that end of the spectrum: Telly and Two-Headed monster are purple and Oscar (technically a grouch and not a monster) is green.
And a great many muppets (monsters or no) are in cool colors or darker shades of warm colors. There are exceptions (Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Bakley, Prairie Dawn, etc.), but most muppets are pretty chromatically relaxed.
Elmo, is bright, fire-engine red. He's the most notably bright and colorful muppet. And Henson bless me, I just can't stand bright red muppets. If I think Elmo is lame and stupid, how much of that is due to my own lame stupidity? And how can I overcome my personal prejudices? And if Elmo is as terrible as I think he is, how can I create positive change for both of us?
Sesame Street -- It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you think
Tom
So elsewhere in LJ there's a thread that comes up about Elmo from Sesame Street and how pretty much everyone hates him. I really hate him. He's whiny and dumb and tries to take the roles of a dozen other Sesame Street muppets who are better and cooler than him.
But now I'm wondering if I'm a racist jerk.
See, here's the deal. Pretty much all the monsters in Sesame Street are blue in color. Grover, Cookie, Harry, they're all blue. And if they're not blue, they're generally in that end of the spectrum: Telly and Two-Headed monster are purple and Oscar (technically a grouch and not a monster) is green.
And a great many muppets (monsters or no) are in cool colors or darker shades of warm colors. There are exceptions (Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Bakley, Prairie Dawn, etc.), but most muppets are pretty chromatically relaxed.
Elmo, is bright, fire-engine red. He's the most notably bright and colorful muppet. And Henson bless me, I just can't stand bright red muppets. If I think Elmo is lame and stupid, how much of that is due to my own lame stupidity? And how can I overcome my personal prejudices? And if Elmo is as terrible as I think he is, how can I create positive change for both of us?
Sesame Street -- It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you think
Tom
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 05:25 pm (UTC)Frazzle objects!
Date: 2006-11-30 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 04:14 pm (UTC)Technically a Fraggle is a muppet, no?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 07:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 08:11 pm (UTC)It's true. And I'm sure he's a great guy, perhaps he doesn't even write all of Elmo's lines. But still...
Tom
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 04:12 pm (UTC)