Wednesday, 11 March 2009 04:07 pm
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deckardcanineSometimes I want to add or correct something at the TV Tropes Wiki, but I refrain. Doing so requires registration. If I become a registered Troper, I imagine I'll find it even harder not to spend hours on the site. (I've gotten more resistant, but not enough to trust myself.)
Recently, I was reading a page on negative depictions of humanity in general. To my surprise, "Fraggle Rock" came up. Some Troper thinks that Jim Henson expressed his own opinion when the Fraggles, especially Traveling Matt in his narrations almost every episode, consistently referred to humans as "silly creatures."
Now, I haven't watched the show since I was 6 or 7, but I'm pretty good at remembering trivial TV details. The behaviors I recall Matt observing are hardly silly, aside from them sometimes mistaking him for human. They construct a building, and he admires the size but hates the taste. A paperboy throws a newspaper into a house's mail slot, and Matt interprets this as pet feeding. If there's a take-home message in addition to the humor, it's not that humans are silly but that we should avoid ascribing silliness to other cultures. It's a matter of understanding.
...
Eventually I recalled an incident that, in retrospect, shows a side of Matt we don't normally see. He sees two men step onto an empty elevator, and the next time the doors open, two women step out. His conclusion: "They changed into females!" Then he gets into the elevator himself. So, um, did he assume it would be reversible, or did he fully expect the next postcard to Gobo to be signed, "Love, your Aunt Traveling"... whatever? I know Matt is adventurous, but gee whiz.
Recently, I was reading a page on negative depictions of humanity in general. To my surprise, "Fraggle Rock" came up. Some Troper thinks that Jim Henson expressed his own opinion when the Fraggles, especially Traveling Matt in his narrations almost every episode, consistently referred to humans as "silly creatures."
Now, I haven't watched the show since I was 6 or 7, but I'm pretty good at remembering trivial TV details. The behaviors I recall Matt observing are hardly silly, aside from them sometimes mistaking him for human. They construct a building, and he admires the size but hates the taste. A paperboy throws a newspaper into a house's mail slot, and Matt interprets this as pet feeding. If there's a take-home message in addition to the humor, it's not that humans are silly but that we should avoid ascribing silliness to other cultures. It's a matter of understanding.
...
Eventually I recalled an incident that, in retrospect, shows a side of Matt we don't normally see. He sees two men step onto an empty elevator, and the next time the doors open, two women step out. His conclusion: "They changed into females!" Then he gets into the elevator himself. So, um, did he assume it would be reversible, or did he fully expect the next postcard to Gobo to be signed, "Love, your Aunt Traveling"... whatever? I know Matt is adventurous, but gee whiz.