Films

Hi everyone,

Okay, so if you dropped by the office, you found The Muppet Movie is there, like I promised. If not, make sure to drop by the office as soon as possible to get it.

Sorry it took a day extra, I was having technical difficulties.

I told you that you should also re-watch Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. There’s a copy of the video on Youtube; I assume a part of the advertising profits goes to the people who made it (ask me why if you’re curious), so I’m going to encourage you to watch it there.

As I told you, we will spend the first hour (approximately) of next class discussing Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, based on the comments and notes you have made during your second time watching it. You should also try to do some research about the story of how Dr. Horrible got created, as it’s kind of interesting, and certainly worth talking about in class.

Then we will spend the following two hours discussing The Muppet Movie. My advice is: watch the movie without any preparation, first. (The only preparation you need: try to see the movie through the eyes of a child.) Then, try to do some reading about Jim Henson, about the TV show on which this movie is based (The Muppet Show), and so on.  (I also recommend you watch some clips from the show on Youtube: if you search “Muppet Show” there you’ll find many, many wonderful clips.) Some of the topics we may discuss include:

  • vocabulary, social class, and character in The Muppet Movie (and American entertainment)
  • children’s entertainment as a modern phenomenon
  • muppets as metaphor (if the Muppets are a metaphor, what do they represent?)
  • the moral code of The Muppet Movie
  • The Muppet Movie‘s vision of childhood
  • the film’s depiction of the entertainment business
  • Jim Henson as a didactic (educational) entertainer

We can talk about some, or all, of those things, but I would also love to talk about what you found interesting or worth commenting on in the movie.

One more thing. Everyone in the class, please send an email to my work email address (which you can find on the Contact Page or on the class syllabus; you can download the syllabus from here on our class page if you don’t have it). In the Subject line (제목) please paste the following line:

Subscribe me to the Film Class Listserv!

I’ll make a mailing list sometime on Monday, so you won’t be expected to discuss the Muppet Movie on the list before class. (But a little discussion afterward wouldn’t hurt.)

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