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Kermit & Co lost on the young

Two worlds collided this week when PlayStation's heroes morphed with one from my past.

Don't start thinking Superman meets Transformers - nothing so mundane.

No, this was a meeting of the minds - so to speak - and it made me realise just how much childhood has changed.

When I heard the Muppets were about to release a new movie I must admit I was excited.

Seeing an old favourite on the big screen was a step back in time and as a grown-up those subtle nuances in the witty repartee meant for the more discerning youngster or his mother are much easier to spot.

Grandma was the lucky one to take PlayStation to see the movie. When I asked later how he enjoyed it, PlayStation shrugged his shoulders, while Grandma enthused eloquently about how funny the magic puppets were and what a hoot she had reliving some of her own memories.

It wasn't until a few days later that PlayStation and I found a YouTube video that put his non-committal response to the Muppets into perspective.

For the past month, I have been subjected to hours of techno noise in the form of a band with the unenviable title of LMFAO (for those of you versed in text you know what it stands for).

PlayStation loves it and Red Foo and Sky Blue - the mainstays of the inappropriately named duo - are his heroes.

One of my own heroes - the little red tickle monster Elmo from the Muppets - has done a cover version of LMFAO's hit 'I'm Sexy and I know it' (I do know that Elmo isn't real, by the way) and it was while watching the take-off on YouTube that PlayStation remarked that Elmo and "that big yellow bird" were pretty funny.

I was appalled to realise that he had no idea who Big Bird, or "Garbage guy" were, so I immediately started quizzing him about the other legends from Sesame Street.

Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, Mr Snuffleupagus, Herry Monster, Grover, even Fozzie Bear all remained a mystery to him and it now made sense as to why the Muppet Movie made little impact.

While my generation laughed at the antics of a bad-mouthed puppet in a garbage bin, PlayStation has learnt about the world via Homer Simpson.

Messages of right and wrong, good and bad, are now delivered via a dysfunctional yellow family rather than an array of cuddly, non-threatening hand puppets.

As a naive eight-year-old, watching Ernie and Bert have a bath together with rubber ducky meant nothing more than saving water and getting to play for a little bit longer with your good friend, but I fear that in today's overcensored and politically correct environment, the bath-time fun would be turned into something more sinister.

The Count taught us how to add up and subtract, Fozzie provided comic relief and Grover - my favourite of all - was the expert on near and far.

Celebrities lined up to appear alongside the assortment of characters in the quiet suburban neighbourhood where there was no crime, drugs, gang wars or single parents.

While I don't mind Homer's philosophies on life, and can see the moral message the creators try to impart in each episode, the Simpsons sadly don't stack up against Mr Hooper as the voice of reason in today's mixed-up world.

So while Evergreen Terrace in Springfield may seem harmless enough for growing young minds today compared with what's going on in its animated neighbouring suburb of South Park, it's a far cry from Sesame Street where innocence was coveted and life was all rainbows and lollipops.

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WTF
Posted by WTF, 31/01/2012 3:41:33 PM, on Illawarra Mercury
I laughed and cried my way through the Muppets - it brought back so many childhood memories! But I did notice that it was the adults in the cinema laughing, not the children.

A few members of my family have taken to obtaining the old Muppet Show to show to their toddlers and young children - hopefully this real television can make a comeback, and we may even in the future be rid of the atrocities that are Keeping up with the Kardashians and Jersey Shore.

Posted by spoot, 1/02/2012 8:11:10 AM, on Illawarra Mercury
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