From Kermit to War Horse, low-tech artistry is putting the digitally enhanced in its place
We've all heard of ageing rock stars making a comeback, but what's with the Muppets? Kermit the frog, who first took shape in an American college art class in the mid-1950s, is back on the chatshow circuit. The latest Muppet movie has garnered five-star reviews on both sides of the Atlantic and an Oscar nomination for best song. And yet Kermit is still wearing that jagged, green felt collar that looks like something cut out by a kid in a craft workshop.
I suspect that the current success of the Muppets is largely down to nostalgia. Those of us who grew up on Sesame Street and the Muppet Show will happily accompany our offspring to the cinema where we can chuckle at the postmodern, satirical script. But don't you also love the fact that...
We've all heard of ageing rock stars making a comeback, but what's with the Muppets? Kermit the frog, who first took shape in an American college art class in the mid-1950s, is back on the chatshow circuit. The latest Muppet movie has garnered five-star reviews on both sides of the Atlantic and an Oscar nomination for best song. And yet Kermit is still wearing that jagged, green felt collar that looks like something cut out by a kid in a craft workshop.
I suspect that the current success of the Muppets is largely down to nostalgia. Those of us who grew up on Sesame Street and the Muppet Show will happily accompany our offspring to the cinema where we can chuckle at the postmodern, satirical script. But don't you also love the fact that...
- 2/13/2012
- by Kirsty Lang
- The Guardian - Film News
Those honoured in arts include 'the finest living English poet', novelists, actors and the man behind the Big Brother format
The arts awards in the honours list have a distinctly literary feel, with the poet Geoffrey Hill, elected last year as Oxford's professor of poetry – a post uniquely voted for by the university's alumni, given a knighthood, the novelist Penelope Lively made a dame, and the novelist Rachel Billington and the writer Clive James awarded CBEs.
Hill, 79, who had an academic career, has been described as the finest living English poet. He previously said: "Difficult poetry is the most democratic because you are doing your audience the honour of supposing they are intelligent human beings. So much of the popular poetry of today treats people as if they were fools."
Should he and Peter Bazalgette, the independent TV producer credited with popularising the Big Brother reality show format, be knighted...
The arts awards in the honours list have a distinctly literary feel, with the poet Geoffrey Hill, elected last year as Oxford's professor of poetry – a post uniquely voted for by the university's alumni, given a knighthood, the novelist Penelope Lively made a dame, and the novelist Rachel Billington and the writer Clive James awarded CBEs.
Hill, 79, who had an academic career, has been described as the finest living English poet. He previously said: "Difficult poetry is the most democratic because you are doing your audience the honour of supposing they are intelligent human beings. So much of the popular poetry of today treats people as if they were fools."
Should he and Peter Bazalgette, the independent TV producer credited with popularising the Big Brother reality show format, be knighted...
- 12/31/2011
- by Stephen Bates
- The Guardian - Film News
Fifty years ago, a husband and wife founded the much loved Little Angel puppet theatre. But would their talented kids take over? By John-Paul Flintoff
A long time ago, in a land far away, there was a little girl who made puppets. "I made them myself," recalls Lyndie Wright. "I filled my mother's oven with papier-mache." One day, a touring puppet company came through Pretoria, in South Africa, where the little girl lived. She went to a show and was spellbound. "There is a picture in the archives somewhere, showing me in the audience," she says.
Years later, the puppet company came back. By now, Lyndie was a student at art school, but she joined up to be general dogsbody and went touring through South Africa and neighbouring countries. The man who ran the theatre, John Wright, was older than her, but they fell in love. When Lyndie moved to...
A long time ago, in a land far away, there was a little girl who made puppets. "I made them myself," recalls Lyndie Wright. "I filled my mother's oven with papier-mache." One day, a touring puppet company came through Pretoria, in South Africa, where the little girl lived. She went to a show and was spellbound. "There is a picture in the archives somewhere, showing me in the audience," she says.
Years later, the puppet company came back. By now, Lyndie was a student at art school, but she joined up to be general dogsbody and went touring through South Africa and neighbouring countries. The man who ran the theatre, John Wright, was older than her, but they fell in love. When Lyndie moved to...
- 3/12/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
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