Last week Chad and I saw “The Muppet Movie” on the big screen in an actual movie theater. (Kind of a dumpy movie theater, but not quite as dilapidated as the theater where the muppets have their film screening in “The Muppet Movie”). It was a special screening in honor of the movie’s 40th Anniversary.

Obviously it is rather mind-blowing to me to realize “The Muppet Movie” premiered 40 years ago. As Linda Holmes says in her amazing and profound essay, Rainbows, Frogs, Dogs And ‘The Muppet Movie’ Soundtrack at 40,

“And I could tell you that this makes me feel old, but it doesn’t. It oddly makes me feel just right.”

Actually, the 40th anniversary of the Muppet Movie DOES make me feel old, but also just right. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that I feel like being old IS all right, as long as I can still bask in the wonder and magic and optimism and goofiness of “The Muppet Movie.”

My muppety appreciation may be even richer and sweeter because of all the 40 years I’ve lived since my first viewing of “The Muppet Movie.” Today I still love the inspiring muppet message of following your dreams, but now I realize that I often have to redefine my dreams and keep having new ones.

Now when I sing along at the end of the “The Muppet Movie” to one of all-time favorite lyrics, “Life’s like a movie, write your own ending, keep believing, keep pretending,” it’s not only a straightforward “take control of your life and make things happen” message. Now I also think about how I want to tell my life story, what the narratives are that I want to create to make meaning out of my life, even when, or especially when, I can’t control what happens.

I think about all the layers of the word “pretending,” encompassing everything from imagination to lying, bravery to denial. In a simple sense, it’s what all actors do: pretend to be someone else. It’s also what all people do, at least in the sense of pretending to be other aspects of ourselves. So instead of pretending to be something or someone we don’t want to be, can we choose which “me” to be and when? Can we keep trying to be our best, or at least “best at this moment” selves, even when it’s hard and we feel like we’re just pretending?

I love how Kermit and the muppets give us great examples of selves we could pretend to be. They are all admirable and flawed and funny and interesting and bold in their own ways. With infinite time I probably could blog about the symbolic meanings of each major muppet, but for now I’ll stick with Kermit. 

Today Kermit is still my hero and my crush (more about that other key aspects of my Muppet fandom in This Looks Familiar), but I am surprised to discover how Amy “The (at least temporarily) Man” admires Kermit as a boss and leader. Kermit inspires me because he wants to live up to his responsibilities to his fellow muppets, but still keeps it real. Kermit gets snarky and scared and annoyed, but leads anyway. No wonder Captain Mercer of “The Orville” (a brilliant show) has a Kermit doll on his desk, explaining, “…He’s just a leader I admire. Always keeps his cool in a crisis [there’s some irony there], inspires greatness in his people…”

And today, as a professional amateur actor, I now get and appreciate all the puns that lace “The Muppet Movie” more than I ever did as a kid. After 10 years of performing with the pun-loving Duck Soup theater company, I almost feel like an honorary muppet.

Yes, seeing the special anniversary screening of “The Muppet Movie” with Chad was quite the momentous and moving occasion, and I got to enjoy it with a cheapass little individual bottle of theater merlot (I didn’t get to enjoy that when I was 9). If only they had sold Muppet Sparkling Muscatel!