27th
Being Elmo
I saw this documentary yesterday at a dirty movie theater where I’d always been kind of scared of the concession stand, but it turns out they have ORGANIC popcorn! Also, the guy working there looked at me in disbelief as I asked three times for more butter, so I feel like they’re on a weird health kick.
Anyway. Neither here nor there. The movie is a documentary about Kevin Clash, the man who basically invented Elmo. It’s not a very good film, but it is a super awesome story. I had some thoughts, but they’re almost not very interesting, and just general criticisms that could literally be applied to every documentary made ever (probably). EXCEPT: Mr. Clash has like, a very strange relationship to life and maybe souls? Some of the movie is about his relationship with his daughter, and he says multiple times how crazy it is to create life—and then compares it to making puppets. And he talks about getting to know a puppet, and discovering what its voice and personality are. And the way he just interacts with puppets is very like, intimate and thoughtful and like he treats them like they are entities separate from him. Just something to think about, on a Thursday.
The other thing the movie made me think about is HOW AWESOME JIM HENSON IS, AND HOW AWESOME SESAME STREET IS, and also how much I really love children’s entertainment.
And possibly just watched this three times in a row.
