I remember when I returned to Shanghai last year, my old friend mentioned the issue of educating children during the party. The deepest conversation in my memory is about the influence of the media on the growth of children. Indeed, in an information society with ubiquitous networks, while mass media allows children to maximize access to information, there is also the problem of allowing children to contact the adult world prematurely. At the same time, our education system, consumer culture, and many parents' own knowledge limitations have failed to do a good job on how to make children understand the adult world. As a result, many parents, while facing their precocious children, show confusion and helplessness.
Behind the hidden worries that my friend unwittingly revealed, I saw her helplessness and helplessness as a parent. For her, finding books, movies, TV shows, toys, games, and even clothes that are suitable for children is often a headache. It can be seen that behind the overwhelming parent-child education, there is a lack of children's programs/reading materials. In fact, if we look closely at the content of the parent-child and parenting channels in the mass media, it is not difficult to find that the real objects targeted by those columns are in fact not the children themselves, but the parents of the children. In other words, the mass media is still quite inadequate in producing children's programs.
In this regard, I have to applaud the appearance of the movie The Muppets (2011) in 2011. This is a work specifically aimed at children. The concise storyline, funny and exaggerated puppet images, cartoon-like performances of actors, and catchy movie episodes bring the audience into a pure and happy children's world. The value of the film lies in its childlikeness of the right age-there is no pretended maturity, nor ancestral pretending to be cute, some are the basic principles of being a person (such as justice, responsibility, and identification with the true self) are conveyed to them during play Up the children.
The protagonists of the movie, such as Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and Fozzie Bear, are household stars in Europe and the United States. These puppets, born in the 70s, are extremely popular, and their popularity is no less than that of real-life stars. The field they are involved in has already surpassed the first variety show like "The Muppet Show"/The Muppet Show. They have been on news programs, interviews, records, and hosted various programs. All of these appear directly in front of the public in the name of puppets (not actors operating the puppets). For this reason, even some scholars (in fact, he was a colleague of my Ph.D.) took the star image of this group of puppets as a research topic.
Also surprising are the many celebrities who pass by with soy sauce. Whoopi Goldberg/Whoopi Goldberg, Jack Black/Jack Black, Emily Blunt/Emily Blunt, Selena Gomez/Selena Gomez and other big and small stars of all ages and young and old have enough gag. Unlike some other films that use the celebrity's eyeballs, the celebrities do not feel overwhelming in this film. In fact, the success of "The Muppet Show" for decades has already allowed the puppets to accumulate many celebrity fans. Like many celebrities who actively asked to join the "Muppet Show", the joining of the stars in the movie is more like a star-chasing action by the fans of the puppet to see their idols.
Perhaps for those adults who are not familiar with these puppets, or who have turned a blind eye to the phenomenon of children's adulthood, this movie will appear naive, even stupid to be unreasonable. But for those European and American audiences who grew up in the 70s and 80s, these puppets are their childhood friends. While this movie happily tells the children stories, it also allows the parents of the children to relive the innocence and beauty of their childhood. Therefore, the prerequisite for adult audiences to enjoy this film is to adjust their mentality to the innocence of children. Don't expect any sophisticated twists and turns, and don't expect any deep ethical debate. Because the charm of this movie lies in its simplicity and childlikeness.
Attachment: The movie's theme song "Man or Muppet" is the winner of the 2012 Oscar for best soundtrack.
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