The Lovers, The Dreamers, and Me
There was some magic in that single line in The Muppets song, "Rainbow Connection" that always made me feel united somehow with everyone and everything around me. Like I was a part of those lovers, and dreamers.
As a boy, The Muppets had the power to make me laugh, make me cry, and make me feel like there would always be somewhere where I fit in. Where I belonged.
It's a difficult thing to explain, but I related to the characters, and the weird family dynamic they all had, one with another.
How fitting then, that some 30 years later, I can sit down with my sons and watch those same characters recreate that same familial sense again, and that Cam, and Ridley and I can laugh together, and collectively feel those things I had felt so long ago.
In that moment, some gap of 3,000 miles and 30 years and phone lines and video lines is boiled down to a handful of simple, silly, touching, powerful scenes and the laughs that they induce, and we are all on some level playing field of mutual acceptance and equality.
The movie progresses, and I can feel myself hardening up against the impending tears as the simple starting banjo notes of the song begin. But I can look around the room, and realize that I am in a safe place, and the looks reflected back in those smiles and sweet eyes mirror mine, and I cry without embarrassment or shame.
There might be some time in the very near future where my patience will run out. Where I will be exasperated. Where I will want to yell.
I pray in that razor's edge moment of suspended anger and fear and tension, I will have the presence of mind to simply say:
"Mahna mahna"
Darth Sardonic
As a boy, The Muppets had the power to make me laugh, make me cry, and make me feel like there would always be somewhere where I fit in. Where I belonged.
It's a difficult thing to explain, but I related to the characters, and the weird family dynamic they all had, one with another.
How fitting then, that some 30 years later, I can sit down with my sons and watch those same characters recreate that same familial sense again, and that Cam, and Ridley and I can laugh together, and collectively feel those things I had felt so long ago.
In that moment, some gap of 3,000 miles and 30 years and phone lines and video lines is boiled down to a handful of simple, silly, touching, powerful scenes and the laughs that they induce, and we are all on some level playing field of mutual acceptance and equality.
The movie progresses, and I can feel myself hardening up against the impending tears as the simple starting banjo notes of the song begin. But I can look around the room, and realize that I am in a safe place, and the looks reflected back in those smiles and sweet eyes mirror mine, and I cry without embarrassment or shame.
There might be some time in the very near future where my patience will run out. Where I will be exasperated. Where I will want to yell.
I pray in that razor's edge moment of suspended anger and fear and tension, I will have the presence of mind to simply say:
"Mahna mahna"
Darth Sardonic
posted by darth sardonic at 8:07 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home