I can circle that square with a few pieces of canon. We start out with Kermit on SNL:
The muppets are a form of life, perhaps not quite like our own, but one with its own orders and genuses and the like. Robin goes from tadpole to frog stage on Muppet Babies, after all, thatās a biological life process. Note that muppets keep sewing/stitching/hand jokes to a minimum, thatās because they arenāt puppets, they just resemble them.Ā
The hand-thing presumes muppets work like toons from Roger Rabbit or toys from Toy Story, where theyāre made by people an incarnated. I propose they are like Pokemon, a separate, parallel classification of life that exists alongside what we would call natural life. As with Pokemon, these lifeforms are not the result of a parallel evolution. Rather, their various kinds were created by some manner of God. We know these exist in the Muppet canon, as Big Bird argued the Egyptian Pantheon into letting a child ghost into the afterlife that one time.Ā
Personally, as the essence of being a muppet is your greatest motivation being your greatest weakness, I blame the demiurge.Ā
But you can blame Gonzoās people or the aholes that are made of a Skexis and a Mystic, but not the Goblin King (he is a rogue memetic construct, what some might wrongly label aĀ ātulpaā).Ā Itās also possible they crossed over from the Gorg world. (but that does not preclude them from also being the creations of the demiurge)
This is not to say that muppets are inherently magic, any more than say, a hobbit or a goblin isĀ āmagicā in Lord of the Rings. They are simply created beings that thereafter reproduce after their own kind. Emmit Otter and his Ma, the fact thatĀ āMonsterā andĀ āgrouchā are explicitly races in Sesame Street, etc.Ā
Now, I hear you saying,Ā ābut [email protected], you handsome madman, we just pointed out that Fozzie and Kermit have a green half-bear/half-frog father!ā
Because the Muppets are actors.Ā
Muppets (the order of life) and the Muppets (the comedy/acting troupe), are different things. The former contains the latter but the latter does not contain all of the former. In essence, Kermit named his endeavorĀ āThe Peopleās Theaterā.Ā
Breaks down like this: You have our, real world universe. Within that is nested a universe that is much like ours, except it is sillier, and Muppets are creatures and not special effects. Within that are nested the fictional worlds of all the various muppet productions.Ā
For further proof, I present these bloopers from Emmet Otterās Jugband Christmas:
It is uncertain how much of the Muppet ouvre is canonical ābehind the scenesā and how much is constructed entertainment provided by the Muppet organization, because of one deep wrinkle we havenāt touched on...
Kermit isĀ hard-core about Kayfabe. He comes from a Vaudeville theater background, the 4th wall does not exist in his performance ethos, the show must go on, and the rubes getting a peek behind the curtain doesnāt get you off that hook.
All your Muppet-troupe core performers stick close to this ethos, ensuring you can never be quite certain on what level of reality the scene youāre being presented with is intended to be.Any specific example that conflicts with the others cannot be shown not to just be another straight-faced performance.Ā
Itās not an unreliable narrator, everyone is unreliable, from the producer on down to the go-fer.
Donāt blame me, blame the Demiurge.
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