Chaos, mess, and disaster are the norm for the Muppets. On The Muppet Show, the gang puts on a variety series amidst their own self-caused calamities; in Sesame Street, Muppets and humans share a grungy neighborhood of urban decay; on Fraggle Rock, Fraggles, humans, and giants cause problems for each other, while a trash heap serves as spiritual advisor; and in the The Muppet Movie, Kermit chases his dreams to Hollywood, overcoming obstacles and bullies along the way. These Muppets captured the worlds we humans live in, finding something poignant and comedic in the universe’s propensity for chaos.

Much like the Muppets, we have to learn just what it takes to move forward when chaos is the norm.

The Muppets, now about a half-century old, were best known as television stars in their early days. The denizens of Sesame Street made music and found lessons everywhere they looked in the community they loved so much, while in The Muppet Show, a troupe of performers leaned into their chaotic natures, creating laughter and entertainment. When the Muppets did make it to the big screen, to Hollywood, they were an inextricable part of the American zeitgeist, as well as a burgeoning global phenomenon. It was a journey made up of missteps and setbacks, and the movie’s production proved to likewise have unpredictable challenges: it is much easier to design sets for puppetry, than to figure out puppetry in real-world settings. For the Muppet production crew, it was a return to the unknown. Similarly, when we meet Kermit the Frog for the first time again in The Muppet Movie, he isn’t the successful variety show host of The Muppet Show. He’s just another swamp frog with a banjo, who has sat through too many double features dreaming of making millions happy in Hollywood. Despite the absurdity of this swamp frog’s dreams, his first instinct, when inspired and supported, is to chase them. And as Kermit learns repeatedly, there’s a lot of work and support that goes into achieving your dreams.

Even amidst this chaos and dream chasing, the Muppets have always, in every incarnation from big birds to Fraggles, been about family. With each movie or show, strength comes from community, whether it is the family you’re born with or the friends you find. In The Muppet Movie, in a scene of melancholic self-doubt, Kermit becomes unsure at the chances of him and his found family achieving their dreams precisely because of the number of obstacles they have faced to make it this far, and still not any closer to Hollywood. In a moment of literal self-reflection, his inner self poses the idea that this group—a frog, a lady pig, and a bear and a chicken, a dog, and a thing, whatever Gonzo is—aren’t in it together because they believed in Kermit, but because they believed in a shared dream. Digging deeper, Kermit, in the middle of another crisis, another disaster, realizes that, although this shared dream held them together, it was the promise he made to himself—the promises they all made to themselves—that drives them forward.

There is a cyclical nature to family, to inspiration, and to support: ultimately, to believe in a dream is to believe in oneself, and to share that dream with others is to be a part of a larger community, of a family.

The world of the Muppets has always been the fragile world we live in: one of entropy, both external and internal, in which physical and emotional crises can be daily occurrences. The Muppet Theater itself, although iconic, was always one of decay, a vaudevillian artifact from an era now out of fashion: equipment breaks, dust prevails, and the risk of closing is always near. Disaster, when it comes to the Muppets, is rarely unexpected, and almost never the same—one day farcical, the next emotional. Similarly, the Muppets have had to contend with bullies—almost always human—that utilize destruction for personal gain or harm against others. They’ve faced unscrupulous frog legs salesmen; brothers who trap and exploit Big Bird for their carnival; and even a jewel thief stealing from his own sister. Yet, these problems and bullies were such tangible enemies that, although unpredictable, were never surprising. These villains were just another part of the everyday chaos. What always posed the hardest roadblock was the Muppets themselves: their moments of limitation, of self-doubt, of loneliness.

Although the bullies of the world can grind us down, it is our inner voice that proves to be our undoing if we let it, especially in moments of crises.

Through it all though, these Muppets, these creatures of felt and yarn, of all colors and shapes and sizes, keep going. They find or even create the strength to move on, and in doing so, they’ve taught generations of people like me to find family, to make friends, to make messes, make music, work hard, reach for the rainbow, be wacky, wild, and ultimately, true, because above all else, the road to rainbows and dreams depends on believing in oneself.

And this is the crux of the Muppets, their ceaseless earnestness and lack of cynicism, their endless belief in themselves and in each other, and even in you and me. It is perhaps their modern undoing that, instead of being hardened and calloused by their many bullies, their many crises, and their endless disasters, they remain endlessly felt-soft and heartfelt. They keep going and singing about things like love, friendship, family, and art, and they keep striving to make us laugh and cry and feel, to chase rainbows, however illusive.

In The Muppet Movie, we watch these characters come together—old friends who’ve never met—and we learn that the road has always been paved with chaos. Bullies come, disasters strike, and dreams are notoriously fickle: these are facts of life, even when you’re as big of a star as Kermit the Frog. Although chaos is certainly potent, we need not be hardened by it into something unfeeling, forced back into our lonely swamps. We can turn to each other and turn within to build from the mess something new, something beautiful for ourselves and especially for others, working tirelessly to find rainbows for our friends, family, and even a community of strangers.

The Muppets taught and continue to teach a lesson most precious: it is possible to create meaning in disaster and building blocks from rubble.

So, here’s to the lovers and the dreamers of the world. Here’s to you and me.

Here’s to the Muppets.

The Muppet Movie
1979
dir. James Frawley
95 min.

4/17 at 4:30 pm @ Brattle Theatre
Come sing along with the Muppets during this special singalong screening!
Part of Muppet Madness 2017!