The redemption arc of The Muppets (2011) is one that parallels real life. In 2011, the golden age of the Muppets franchise seemed to be over. Jim Henson was dead. The last large-scale production was the 1999 Muppets in Space, which lost Disney money and was widely regarded as the worst movie in the series. Many of the popular kids movies were now CGI powered. Were the Muppets still relevant? Were they doomed to fade away into lackluster Christmas specials and nostalgia?
The Muppets addressed this question head-on: “Kermit, your fans never left you. The world hasn’t forgotten. All you need to do is show ‘em again!” This task was lovingly taken on by writers Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel (who also stars as Gary), with some lyrics written by Bret McKenzie. Segel actually pitched the project to Disney himself, campaigning for it on live TV until it gained traction and corporate gave the go-ahead.
Handling such revered characters was a responsibility which neither took lightly. It was a balancing act— they wanted to be funny and self-aware, but also sincere. As was emphasized by both the puppeteers and the story executives, above all, the Muppets are kind. They aren’t mean— and if they are, they’re not irredeemable, they just have something to learn. The Muppets have faith that there is good in the world.
At the same time, it was important to keep the audience in mind. In an interview, Segel said “I think there’s a misconception that a family film has come to mean a children’s film, and that’s not what it has to be like.” While the movie is naturally appealing for children, it is equally targeted towards those who grew up with the Muppets. The script is filled with irony and is often meta, with quips like “This is going to be a really short movie.” Many of the movie’s storylines are relevant for adult viewers— Kermit’s regrets of letting go of people he cared about, divorce, communication problems in relationships— and the movie’s self-aware humor gives them permission to be emotionally impacted by the story even though the Muppets are “for kids.”
But in order to understand this intricate dance of irony and earnestness, we must understand the plot.
Structure Notes
Walter, world’s #1 Muppet fan, accompanies his human brother Gary and his girlfriend, Mary, on their anniversary trip to LA. While touring the decrepit Muppet Studios, Walter discovers oil baron Tex Richman’s plan to purchase the Muppet Theater and to drill for oil underneath. The three join forces with a depressed Kermit to reunite the gang to hold a telethon to raise the 10 million they need to save the studio.
There are three main storylines: the story of the Muppets reuniting and saving the theater, the story of Gary and Walter finding their identities together and apart, and the story of Kermit and Ms. Piggy. Each of these arcs, along with their sub-arcs, are outlined by an establishing song that shows the status quo, a pivotal song that shows a character change, and a resolution song.
In addition, it is helpful to categorize the songs as soundtrack songs (non-original but create tone), show songs (either old original Muppet songs or the acts performed), and musical songs (the plot-heavy, original songs). Soundtrack songs are mostly used for setting mood, show songs are used when the Muppets are performing or to invoke nostalgia, and musical songs are used for character development.
Plot and Song Analysis
Walter is a muppet who grew up alongside his human brother, Gary in Smalltown. We see their idyllic childhood pass by through home videos with the soundtrack of “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” by Paul Simon. However, we see that there are problems– Walter doesn’t fit into human society along with Gary. He stops growing, and the music stops too.
We then see how when he felt like he didn’t belong, he would turn to the Muppet Show as his source of comfort, showing that for Walter, the Muppets represent hope and belonging.
Now grown up, we see Gary and Walter’s adult relationship through the musical number “Life’s a Happy Song.” This is the establishing song for Gary and Walter’s arc. There is a sort of false happiness portrayed– everything seems happy-go-lucky, but everyone is hiding dissatisfied feelings. We learn that Walter is joining Gary on his anniversary trip with his girlfriend, Mary. In an interlude of “Life’s a Happy Song,” Mary sings that she wants Gary to propose to her, but his devotion to Walter is a block in their relationship.
This song in particular is filled with lots of meta quips, which serves to both establish the movie’s tone and show that the over-the-top joy portrayed isn’t completely genuine. When Gary gives Mary flowers when picking her up from work, they are rumpled. He excuses it with “Sorry… it’s probably from the dance number I was doing.” This joke is funny, but it carries a larger story weight as well. Firstly, it acknowledges the ridiculousness of full dance numbers, which as I said above, disarms musical-weary watchers. Secondly, it shows how Gary’s commitment to celebrating with Walter (about Mary and his anniversary trip, to be clear), impacts their romantic relationship– a foreshadowing of what is to come.
Another interesting joke occurs when Mary, Gary, and Walter leave Smalltown for LA in their bus. As soon as they’re gone, a townsperson says “OK, they’re gone!” and the whole town, who moments ago were fully dancing along, collectively sighs in relief. Although this does the same work as the meta quip earlier, it also shows how exhausting it is to keep up a facade of false happiness for Gary and Walter.
With this opening number, all the main points of Gary and Walter’s arc are laid down: Walter’s struggle to find true home and his hope in the Muppets, Gary’s mixed priorities interfering with his relationship with Mary, and of course, the brothers Gary and Walter’s growing up.
Life’s a Happy Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af2GrJ7xfA0
When they go to LA, the three take a tour of the now-decrepit Muppet Studios, where Walter, horrified by the rundown conditions, sneaks into Kermit the Frog’s old office. There, he accidentally overhears oil baron Tex Richman and his henchmen’s plan to purchase the Muppet Theater in order to destroy it and drill for oil underneath. The only way to stop this evil plot would be if the Muppets could raise 10 million to repurchase the theater before the original contract expires.
Walter, full of panic, tells Gary and Mary. The three go to Kermit’s mansion to ask him to throw a telethon to save the Muppet theater. They find Kermit living alone, depressed, and full of regrets. He expresses this with the musical number “Pictures in My Head.” We see his love for his Muppets family, and his deep sense of loss he feels from falling out of touch. Kermit heartbreakingly sings a verse that establishes both the larger Muppet arc and his and Miss Piggy’s:
“If we could do it all again
Just another chance to entertain
Would anybody watch or even care?
Or did something break we can’t repair?”
This is clearly an establishing song for the Muppets arc. It sets up the upcoming plot– another chance to entertain with the telethon. It sets up the external pressure and conflict– do people still care about the Muppets? And most importantly, it sets up the emotional core question– did something break in the Muppet dynamic that can’t be repaired?
However, less obviously, this is also an establishing song for Kermit and Miss Piggy’s arc. They obviously still care for each other, but did something break in their relationship that cannot be repaired? Will Kermit be able to say the right things, learn the emotional communication skills he so lacks? These guiding questions to their upcoming plot are all laid out in the lyrics.
We also see in this song that Kermit has lost hope. He sees these precious memories as only pictures in his head, the past that cannot be revived. Ironically, Walter, for whom the Muppets have represented hope his entire life, is the one who inspires Kermit to try again. He gives an appeal: “Please, Kermit. You’re my hero.” Seeing Walter’s faith in him convinces Kermit to try again.
While the soundtrack song “Cars” by Gary Numan plays, the four take a trip to reunite the gang. They find Fozzie Bear performing the twisted “Rainbow Connection (Moopet version)” in Reno with a cruel band of Muppet impersonators. Kermit is devastated at seeing the living conditions he feels he abandoned Fozzie Bear to, and easily convinces him to come along. They find Gonzo working as a heartless plumbing executive who initially refuses to hear them out, but again moved by Walter’s earnest plea, joins his friends and leaves behind the plumbing company with a bang. They whisk Animal away from his celebrity anger management retreat, and retrieve the rest of the Muppets through a “map montage.”
These various unhappy lives that the Muppets are rescued from are yet another way the movie targets an adult audience. For the kids watching the movie, these scenes are funny, but don’t relate personally to them. For adults, these stories are personal. They are watching symbols of their childhood drained of joy by the harsh realities of life. It’s a story many viewers can relate to, a nostalgia-tipped jab at their lost inner child.
But even after gathering the Muppets, there is one key figure missing: Miss Piggy. Despite Kermit’s trepidation, the gang travels to Paris to find her, where she is an editor of Vogue Magazine. Miss Piggy is initially delighted, but has a deep Paris cafe conversation with Miss Kermit where they hash out their relationship problems. Kermit asks Miss Piggy “Why do you have to always be so overdramatic about things?” Miss Piggy hands him back a gut punch:
“It’s never about you and me, is it?
It’s always we. We this, we that.
‘We’ need you. You can’t even say, ‘I need you,’ can you?”
We see here that the core of their relationship problems stem from a lack of emotional communication skills. At the end of the conversation, Miss Piggy refuses to join, so the group reluctantly replaces her with the Moopet Miss Poogy.
The Muppets pitch their telethon to many networks, but are continually met with slammed doors and rejection. Veronica, the executive of CDE, is more sympathetic, but shows them the data: their popularity is at an all-time low. However, through a stroke of luck, another popular show is canceled and the Muppets are given the go-ahead.
The Muppets now have a lot to do in a short amount of time. Through a cleaning montage, they repair the broken-down Muppet Theater to the soundtrack of “We Built this City” by Starship while beginning to rediscover their group dynamic. The next day, Miss Piggy returns, although she makes clear that she isn’t returning for Kermit, just the good of the Muppets. Their first rehearsal is terrible and out of rhythm. Did something in the Muppets break that can’t be repaired?
Concerning the Gary and Walter narrative, Walter is worried that he cannot find his talent, and although he is thrilled to be with the Muppets, he feels like a phony. In the midst of helping Walter, Gary ignores his anniversary trip with Mary, leaving her to sightsee alone.
This leads Mary to her pivotal song, “Me Party,” an empowering number where she sings about not needing a partner to enjoy herself. It’s not a breakup song, but it’s a her-reclaiming-her-independence-and-not-letting herself-be-deprioritized song. Miss Piggy also joins in, showing the parallels between their narratives.
Kermits and Miss Piggy’s fractured relationship is further showcased when Miss Piggy refuses to do a duet with Kermit, instead opting for one with Pepe. Kermit is struggling to find a celebrity host, and in desperation, nicely asks Tex Richman for the studio back. He is met with Tex’s song “Let’s Talk About Me,” where Richman truly doubles down on his villainy. Richman reveals that not only will the Muppets lose the studio if they can’t raise money, but they will lose the rights to the Muppet name, which he will use to promote the Moopets, “a hard cynical act, for a hard, cynical world.” The stakes are high, and the pressure is on.
Kermit loses hope, and Miss Piggy, emboldened by “Me Party,” takes the Muppets on a mission to kidnap Jack Black as their celebrity host. Mary, also emboldened, becomes angry at Gary when he misses their anniversary. Gary tries to ask Walter what he thinks is wrong, but Walter is absorbed in his own worries about his Muppet talent. Their two worlds are in direct opposition, threatening to break each other.
Gary realizes he missed the anniversary and runs home, only to discover Mary’s ultimatum: “I love you, but you need to decide, are you a man… or a Muppet?” This launches us into the pivotal song of Gary and Walter’s arc, and arguably, the heart of the movie. In “Am I a Man or a Muppet,” the brothers try to understand their identity and where they fit into life. You are taken out of reality and into an emotional landscape as they take this journey, belting along with the piano and looking in the mirror. In the end, each makes their decision. Walter decides he is a very manly Muppet, which is notable– he isn’t erasing his childhood of being raised as a human, but recognizes that he has found home with the Muppets. Gary decides he is a Muppet of a man, again, acknowledging his love for his brother and the Muppets but taking a step back and choosing to prioritize Mary. He goes home to find Mary and meets her with flowers. Now that he has made his choice, they reunite happily.
Back at the Muppet Theater, now that Jack Black has been acquired, the Muppet Telethon begins. They perfectly perform “The Muppets Show Theme” with a heavy dose of nostalgia, but it’s to an empty theater. However, as the acts continue, including a barbershop quartet version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Camila and the Chicken’s “Forget You,” the show starts to pick up steam. Walter tries to perform, but runs off stage screaming. Just as the money starts trickling in, Tex Richman attempts to sabotage them by cutting off the building’s electricity, but power is restored when Mary pulls her electrician skills out of her pocket and saves the day. The show continues, and Tex Richman attempts to sabotage them again, this time foiled by his henchman with a change of heart, which demonstrates again the Muppet theme of goodness in everyone.
Gary, when talking to Kermit while the show is running, says “I’m sorry I bailed. I just… I realized you don’t let the most important person in your world slip away.” With the resolution of the Gary-Mary arc, this line pushes Kermit to finish his own story with Miss Piggy. He goes to her dressing room and tells her
“I miss you. And I need you. Uh, and maybe you don’t need the whole world to love you. Maybe you just need one person.”
Kermit has finally started to communicate his emotions! He is finally acknowledging both his own feelings and Miss Piggy’s, and it is healing. They go on stage to sing “Rainbow Connection,” which is a story song, but in this context holds a lot of emotional weight and is therefore also classified as their pivotal song. They are outright singing their love for each other, and that rainbows, which are a symbol of hope, have nothing to hide, representing their clearer communication skills they have developed.
As the rest of the Muppets join in hand-in-hand, this also becomes the pivotal song for the larger Muppet narrative. This is a song about hope and faith in love, qualities that Walter saw in the Muppets this whole time, but they are just now beginning to understand for themselves. Something broke, but it could be repaired.
The Muppets have almost reached their monetary goal, but they need one more song. Gary finds a terrified Walter and gives him a pep talk while reaffirming that he belongs with the Muppets, and shouldn’t give up and return to Smalltown. Gary gives Walter a speech that mimics the speech Walter gave Kermit at the beginning of the film, telling him “You have to try. Please, Walter. You’re my hero.”
Walter goes on stage and performs the Whistling Caruso, showing that he has truly become a Muppet and that he has grown up. He doesn’t need Gary anymore, and Gary is proud.
Despite this happiness, Tex Richman has one more thing up his sleeve. He successfully sabotages the electricity right before the deadline, the clock hits midnight, and the Muppets have officially lost. However, this scene really shows that the true journey of the Muppets wasn’t about the theater or Tex Richman, it was about each other. Kermit, in his most hopeful speech yet, tells the Muppets “Let’s all walk out through these doors with our heads held high. As a family.”
When they walk through the door, the streets are filled with avid Muppet fans chanting their names. Walter, after a final approval from Gary, officially joins their celebrations as a Muppet. And of course, everyone now breaks into a joyful rendition of “Life’s a Happy Song (Finale).” This is the resolution song for all three arcs. Instead of the false, syrupy happiness of the opening number, everyone’s emotions are genuine this time. They all have healthier relationships, less secrets, and much better communication skills.
The song ends with Gary proposing to Mary, to which she responds “Mahna mahna!” bringing everyone into the iconic “Mah Na Mah Na,” which is the background to a sort of credits scene where all loose plot threads are hastily wrapped up. Tex Richman suffers a head injury from Gonzo and gives back the theater, an event not given much importance as the movie shows that his oil saga wasn’t really the point: this is a story about finding your family.
Reflection
“The character of Walter is sort of an analogue for me in getting this Muppet movie made. He’s a wild Muppet fan who … he sets out to make them as famous as they once were — which was sort of our goal in making this movie” said Jason Segel on the parallels between the story and the writers. In the movie, Walter certainly succeeded in bringing the Muppets back to fame. Did the writers succeed? While commercial revenue isn’t necessarily the best metric, the box office grossed almost quadruple is $45 million budget. It also seems to have solidly lodged itself into the Muppet canon. It has become beloved, both among older people, especially the Gen Xers who are targeted, and with younger people for whom this is a first Muppets introduction.
This movie shows that the Muppets can continue giving the world the third greatest gift– laughter– but also something more, a silly but sincere narrative that emotionally hits wide-ranging audiences.
Inspiration
For people writing musicals they are worried will come across as cheesy or too silly, the Muppets are a good example of using humor to keep something lighthearted but still give it an actual impact. Self-aware or meta jokes are an actual tool that can be carefully employed to disarm the audience, acknowledge silliness, while still driving the story forward. However, these kinds of jokes can get tiresome or overused, so as the writers for the Muppets did, it is a good idea to set your own core story rules to abide by.
The Muppets is also a good example of using multiple storylines by having certain elements be parallel. This allowed some songs to develop different narratives simultaneously, as well as having the different characters propel each other on. If you are handling several different arcs, it is a good idea to think about how they can layer and overlap to keep the story clean and easy to understand.
Discussion Questions
Can you think of other musicals where self-aware humor is used as a tool, and what is its effect?
How can you make a musical silly but impactful?
How has the audience affected the presentation of musicals you have seen?
For Cayenne: Do you see any parallels with other musicals?
https://www.wired.com/2011/11/ff-muppets
https://www.cbr.com/muppets-now-walter-interview
https://www.npr.org/2012/03/23/149078780/making-the-muppets-movie-was-dream-come-true
Slideshow
the pva creative writing review 