By Peter Rizzo | Staff Writer
Very few scenes in cinema history deal with the complicated nature of enlightenment. The idea of not just accepting but challenging who you are comes with an inherent fear that’s often overwhelming, so discovering a scene that combines the idea of true self-awareness with the lyrical genius of Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie could not be overlooked. Two characters ask of themselves if they’re men or muppets. We can only dream of being brave enough to ask that same question.
“Man or Muppet” from the Muppets (2011) won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 2012, despite heavy competition from “Real in Rio” from Rio (2011) and no other nominees. The song earned its place as one of the jewels in cinema’s musical crown because Academy voters decided that it was already better than songs by Elton John, Lady Gaga, and Elvis Costello. Only Rio stood in its way, but support for “Real in Rio,” much like the Blue Macaw the film centers around, was vulnerable and steadily decreasing. Following its victory at the Academy Awards, the song briefly faded into nostalgic obscurity, much like the Muppets themselves, but the song recently received a resurgence due to different parts of it going viral on TikTok, so naturally we must venture back into the felt and technicolor dreamscape the Muppets inhabit to provide a thorough and wholly unnecessary analysis of not just the song, but the entire scene in order for “Man or Muppet” to reclaim its seat among the most meaningful scenes in cinema.
The “Man or Muppet” sequence finds brothers Gary (Jason Segel) and Walter (Muppet) at different emotional points in their respective journeys. Gary realizes that he’s been neglecting his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) because he’s afraid of letting Walter go, which manifests itself in his unrelenting desire to help the Muppets and culminates in his girlfriend leaving him when he forgets their anniversary. Walter meanwhile gets the opportunity to potentially join the Muppets as a performer, which would require him to accept that he is in fact a muppet despite his attempts to live like a regular man.
Gary has to face what he’s become while Walter comes to terms who he could be. The movie adds to this by having Gary always face his reflections in windows, making them appear transparent while a circle of mirrors surrounds Walter, showing an opaque, fixed reflection of who he is. Additionally, Gary sees his reflection turn into a muppet while Walter looks away and gets surprised when a human form (Jim Parsons) replaces his reflection. This suggests that Walter subconsciously wants to be a man while Gary consciously wants to be a muppet. Staying a muppet means that Gary gets to spend his time goofing around and never growing up, but it comes at the expense of being with the woman he loves. Likewise, Walter thinks he’s too ordinary to become a muppet and internally believes that he doesn’t deserve it even though he really wants it.
Following Walter’s verse, the duo sings the line, “here I go again,” which reveals that this has been weighing on both of them for longer than just the duration of the song, and the two of them playing piano with their alternate selves shows that they want to find a balance, where both man and muppet can coexist in harmony. In this sense, it’s impossible to not see the Freduian meaning behind their dilemma. Being a muppet represents the id: being able to do whatever you want whenever you want and never have to worry about the consequences). Being a man represents the superego: wanting to be responsible and normal in order to avoid conflict. The choice Gary and Walter end up making is based on the ego: finding a compromise.
Gary and Walter accept themselves with pride, proclaiming “I’m a man,” and “I’m a muppet,” respectively. However, Gary clarifies that he’s a “muppet of a man” while Walter clarifies that he’s “a very manly muppet.” Both of them make this declaration in the fantasy of them playing piano alongside their muppet and human selves, all of them dressed in white tuxes, and in Egyptian and Roman culture, white of course is the color of purity. This lends itself to the above theory that Gary and Walter ultimately represent the ego, finding a balance between the two choices they were given in order to be true to themselves rather than have to give up certain aspects of their personality so they could fit into a certain box. This explains why only after Gary declares himself as “a muppet of a man” is he able to get away from the rain he’d been stuck in.
We see Gary leave Los Angeles and return to Smalltown while Walter remains in the Muppet theater. Walter has already found where he belongs while Gary realizes that where he belongs is wherever Mary is. “Man or Muppet” is the first time where Gary and Walter appear alone. Previously, they’d always been together, in a larger group, or, in Gary’s case, with Mary. This scene gives them the chance to reflect on themselves without distraction for the first time in perhaps their entire lives, as the opening scene of the film suggests that Gary and Walter have always been a duo with Gary being there as Walter’s safety net if and when he needs it.
This scene serves as a reality check for both characters, where they realize that despite being blood/whatever-runs-through-muppet-veins brothers, there would come a time where their paths would diverge. Gary remains in Smalltown to marry Mary and presumably have a family, and Walter, in a Robert Frost-ian manner, takes the road less traveled, which would later enable him to travel the world in Muppets Most Wanted (2014). With all this in mind, it’s impossible to write off “Man or Muppet” as an award-winning song that outshines the scene in which it appears. Both the preceding and succeeding Best Original Song Oscars went to “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 (2010) and “Skyfall” from Skyfall (2012), both of which played over ending and opening credits, respectively. This only adds to the masterfulness of “Man or Muppet” because even though it’s a fantastic song in its own right, it’s near impossible to divorce it from the scene where Gary and Walter sing it. The song doesn’t stand alone, it could, but it doesn’t because the visuals only elevate the song’s quality.
The song only had one other nominee to beat, but it also dealt with the challenge of people writing it off as “just a kids’ song.” All because of the word “Muppet” being in the title. It’s this writer’s opinion that “Man or Muppet” will live on as an anthem about being true to oneself while its scene in the film proper bolsters the message and reminds viewers that while accepting oneself is scary, it’s the only way to be truly happy, and sometimes the thing standing between you and your happiness… is you.