The Pig insists, and always will, that she and Kermit are married. “I said, ‘I do,’ Kermit said, ‘I do.’ We are married.” Kermit has always, always, always argued to the contrary. The wedding in Muppets Take Manhattan was ambiguous by being not only a part of a movie, but a part of a show within the movie. The theory that this made them officially wed was strengthened in 2011’s The Muppets by the emphasis on the importance of the photo from the wedding in the movie, but then the necessity of another wedding in Muppets Most Wanted made it all unclear again. So, should Kermit and Miss Piggy finally, once and for all, officially tie the not?
In one documentary, Bill Barretta (probably somewhat facetiously) said, “I hope they get married. It’s really getting tiring . . . . They’re basically married. What’s the difference? Just a piece of paper, so come on, Kermit, do it!” It does seem like the gag is getting a bit tired out, as one will find when watching Kermit and Piggy do TV interviews. They nearly always have to repeat the same jokes about their marriage repeatedly. Some of these jokes are good, and I really enjoy Kermit saying, “We’ve reached an understanding – she understands, and I don’t.” Still, it may very well be about time to put the joke to rest. Kermit should probably have committed by now so he doesn’t seem immature for keeping her hanging on.
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There is, however, a problem with this, since it would take away half of Piggy’s humor. The other half of Miss Piggy’s humor, as I have already addressed in a previous article, already seems to be missing. Miss Piggy must be very insecure, and must be constantly struggling to be seen as gorgeous, in order to be funny. This struggle is not nearly as apparent now as it used to be in the Muppet Show days, resulting in a character that comes across as flat and obnoxious. The other half of her humor is very, very closely related, as it is her struggle to marry Kermit. She wants to live a perfect happily ever after with her crush in paradise, and it’s funny to watch that get casually shut down by a frog. So, if so much of what makes Miss Piggy funny (her insecurity) is now largely gone, it’s possible that the pig and the frog must remain in this bizarre state of limbo so that Piggy can be the character that Disney is marketing her as, but can continue to get laughs.
While I would probably prefer to see Kermit and Piggy’s relationship evolve – and I truly am very interested in seeing them get married – this will probably have to wait until Piggy gets the core of her comedy back. Until the good folks at Disney and Muppets Studio get her act together, she must stay in pursuit of the frog out of necessity so that she is still a fun character. In recent years, Frank Oz has spoken about the current state of the Muppets saying, “they’re not the Muppets that Jim had intended . . . . We were all entwined like a funny O’Neill play . . . we all had chains to our chests.” By this he meant that when any of the characters did anything, it made for more struggles for the other characters, and this tug of war led to great comedy. When the struggle between the Muppet characters is gone, Muppet comedy falls apart entirely. It ultimately boils down to what Frank has said about the core of Miss Piggy is pain, and I want to see whatever it takes in order to get Miss Piggy back to a constant painful struggle. Then, once this happens, Miss Piggy and Kermit will finally have the freedom to tie the not.
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