Of course, Kermit ends up getting mistaken for his evil twin and thrown into the Gulag while Constantitne commanderies The Muppets in order to pull off heists across Europe alongside Ricky Gervais' character. Related: What Happened To ABC's 'The Muppets'? So, with Constantine being a Russian bad guy, him coming from a Gulag just made sense and it seemed like a great place to have Kermit out of his element." So I did some research into old-fashioned Russian names 'Constantine' kept coming up, and I felt it was a good fit for a bad guy name. "The name 'Constantine' came because I wanted the Russian equivalent to 'Kermit,' which is an old-timey name popular in the U.S. Specifically, General Orlov from Octopussy was very much an inspiration," James explained to MEL Magazine. ![]() ![]() "Constantine came about because the 'Cold War Russian Bad Guy' was very much a trope of the sort of 1970s and 1980s caper movies we were parodying. And of course, comedically, we knew that having none of the Muppets - other than Animal - realize the switch was going to be funny."Īfter figuring out that Kermit was The Muppet who'd recieve the evil twin, James and Nick determined that he would be called "Constantine". "We knew that we wanted to do some sort of identity-swap-caper-movie, and Nick and I thought it would be great to have an evil version of the world’s nicest, kindest, most decent being. "The idea of putting Kermit in the Gulag came about naturally as we were developing the story," James Bobin, who also directed the 2011 Muppets movie with Jason Segel. Related: Why The New Kermit The Frog Voice Makes Disney's 'Muppets' Unwatchable Thus their sequel could also delve into some darker territory while poking fun at it in that cheery Muppet way. The entire film was an homage to 1981's The Great Muppet Caper movie, which was an adventure/mystery film. But according to an interview with MEL Magazine, the director and co-writer of Muppets Most Wanted, James Bobin, thought it was totally natural to put Kermit in a Gulag. While it's true that Muppets creator Jim Henson originally wanted his character to be R-rated, the franchise eventually became synonymous with family entertainment. Yet, the creators of the popular family franchise thought it was totally appropriate to lock up their most beloved character in such an environment. Anyone who knows anything about history is aware that some truly horrendous things happened in Gulags under Stalin's Communist regime. Aside from creating Kermit's evil twin, Constantine, and (inadvertently) the unstoppably popular meme, it also put the beloved character in a legitimately dark place. But The Muppets tend to be prime candidates for being memed, likely due to just how entertaining it is to corrupt otherwise wholesome characters.īut Kermit The Frog was already somewhat corrupted by the owners of The Muppets when The Muppets Most Wanted came out in 2014. Stars Wars is likely the first thing to come to mind given the ludicrous amount of Obi-Wan memes out there. While certain celebrities, such as Leonardo DiCaprio, have found themselves the subject of popular memes, franchise films tend to be used the most. No matter the circumstances, a good Kermit The Frog starring at the cloaked, shadowy face of his evil twin seems to be applicable. ![]() If you're interested in reading more of Geher's insights, feel free to take a look at the topics he covers on his Substack and Psychology Today blog.Everyone has seen the Evil Kermit meme. This "sheds light on the actual term itself-meme kind of sounds like gene!" In the 1980s, Dawkins "defined a meme as a unit of cultural evolution that has the capacity to replicate and spread." Geher pointed out that the replication happens parallel to how a gene works. Professor Geher noted that the term 'meme' itself actually comes from the work of evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. I recently saw one that showed a stovetop and simply said, 'You know you’re a real adult when you genuinely have a favorite burner.' At 53, I have to say that I saw this and was like, 'Heck yes!!!' So yes, relatability is key for sure in terms of cultivating the success and longevity of a meme." We fully agree with the professor on this (and many of us probably have a favorite stovetop burner by now, too). Memes that lead people to say, 'Oh, I totally get that-that is ME!' tend to take off. "Relatability of a meme is also critical.
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