How does one take a puppet and make it
less creepy? Just ask Jim Henson. The founder of The Jim Henson Company, he created
the idea for the Muppets – a mashup of “marionette” and “puppet”. Henson grew
up just as television began to make it big – he once called the moment when his
parents brought home their first television “the biggest event of his
adolescence.” He started working with puppets just after graduating high
school, when he heard that a local television station was looking for a puppeteer.
He worked on Sam and Friends for the
next eight years, trying to absorb as much about the medium as he could. In
fact, many of the Muppets started as characters on this show, such as Kermit
and Fozzie Bear. From there, he began doing commercials and, finally, began producing
Sesame Street in 1969. From there,
the Muppets universe just continued to expand, with The Muppets Show, arguably one of his most famous shows, starting to
air in 1976. (Labyrinth, also produced by Henson, was released in theaters in
1986.)
Although the Muppet is one of the most
famous characters in the franchise, Jim Henson wasn’t sure where the idea for
Kermit came from. In an interview given in the late 1980s, he says that “when a
good idea comes along, you really don’t know exactly where it came from or how
it got there, but it’s just suddenly there.” Henson and his most famous Muppet share
a lot of characteristics, both being the “normal” ones in a group of off the
wall characters. Henson drew inspiration from both his personality and those
around him, but the true success of a character came down to the individual
puppeteer. “The personality of the puppet has got to have an affinity with the
personality of the puppeteer. And then when it works well, then the puppeteer
slowly adds more and more things to the character of the puppet.” This ties
into the readings we did about collaboration. Henson knew that he could come up
with the idea for a character, but that true success came from working with
others and playing off of their personalities. Even story ideas for The Muppet Show came from a place of
collaboration: “We all sit back and kick around ideas. Ideas come from almost
anybody.”
Although Henson died in 1990, his
characters continue to live on. After Disney bought his company in 2004, they
continued to produce movies with the Muppets – most recently The Muppets in
2011, its sequel, Muppets Most Wanted, in 2013, and a TV show that aired on ABC
from 2015-16. The continued success of the franchise shows that Jim Henson
created something larger than himself, that people can relate to whether it’s
1977 or 2017.
Jim Henson had a huge influence on the field of puppetry and animatronics in Hollywood. He famously worked alongside legendary singer David Bowie in "Labyrinth" and brought much to Hollywood. Henson represents much of the innovation that came to the field of practical effects in film. Practical effects firmly believe that the audience is not fooled by CGI and will instead appreciate the reality of physical effects much more. Without Henson, that field would not have been possible.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on Muppet and loved watching them as a kid. To see this and how it was developed is extremely interesting. I do find it interesting that all these creative products of the past still live on today as new people extend these franchises.
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ReplyDeleteIt is no surprise that "Fraggle Rock" was the first American television show to be broadcast in the Soviet Union. Henson, like many of the creatives we have examined, was simultaneously master and re-inventor of his domain. The quality and authenticity he brought to his work set an industry standard. I agree that he is an excellent example of someone who utilized creative collaboration.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting post! I grew up watching the Muppets and Sesame Street, but I'd never really thought about how important collaboration must have been in making these puppets so different from the typical perception of puppets as awkward and creepy. After reading the post, I realized that what made Henson's puppets so unique is the amount of personality they all have, and as you said, that can only come from collaboration closely with others and using their personalities as inspiration. Jim Henson's work not only involved working with others to refine creative ideas, but to come up with the creative ideas in the first place.
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