January, 2005
Muppet Book Club
"The Many Faces of Ernie"
Commentary : Part 3 -- Part 4
Browsing
Danny:
What do you guys think of the art style? I have a love-hate relationship with it -- essentially, I love Ernie and I hate Bert.
I think Chartier gets Ernie exactly right. His wide-eyed wonder on the title page, when he's looking through the Disguise Kit -- that's exactly Ernie. He's got just the right kind of sunny innocence.
But Chartier totally flubs Bert, who moves his eyebrows too much. In fact, from pages 7 through 20, Bert's eyebrows flip up and down from one page to the next. Up, down, up, down. It's not right.
Jess:
Is the struggle between Bert and his eyebrows symbolic of the dichotomy of his nature? Is it an outward expression of the inner struggle of a person who strives to be boring -- but who knows, in his heart of hearts, that no Muppet who lives with Ernie can ever truly be dull? Or was Chartier simply stymied by the unibrow?
The world may never know.
The Lawn Arranger
Emmy:
What really disturbed me was the fact that there was grass right out front. Grass! On Sesame Street!
David:
It's simple. Ernie disguised the apartment as a house.
Tom:
I think Chartier chose to set the story at Bert and Ernie's summer home in Paris, where the entire cast of Sesame took their stage show every year (titled "La Avenida du Sesamuso"). I don't know why Bert failed to recognize Frazzle, though, who must have come with the troupe. Did Bert already forget last night's rehearsals?
Interesting Observations about Boring Stories
Kellie:
I love that the Boring Stories have such a large part in this, and that we even get a hint of what's in them. When I was a kid, I really, genuinely wanted CTW to publish a book of Boring Stories.
Rob:
Ernie stands there, dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, the ultimate symbol of femininity in danger from the masculine predators of the world. Yet he wears a beard the color of the wolf, thus embodying both the oppressed and the oppressor in a single, unified, powerful statement.
Ernie embraces both his dark, masculine impulses and his lighthearted, feminine urge to play and thus is depicted as psychologically whole, in charge of both yin and yang -- as opposed to Bert, who ignores his bodily instincts and desires, in favor of the dubious pleasures of sticking his nose in a book and disregarding the physical world around him.
Thijs:
Another thing about those books overall: what is it with the monsters? On the show, Herry and Frazzle are both sweet monsters, but in the books they're rampaging devils.
Anthony:
Hmm, that's true. And in The Cookie Tree, everyone accuses Cookie Monster of lying when he tries to be nice. Not to mention that Grover -- a monster himself! -- is frightened of the monster at the end of the book. I don't recall ever being told monsters were anything but friendly on TV. Also, look how crappy Grover's first day of school was. No little guy deserves all that.
The obvious conclusion is that authors of Sesame Street books are all part of some anti-monster conspiracy, and they must be stopped.
Danny:
You wouldn't say that if a monster came to your house and ate you. I mean, you couldn't.
Anthony:
That's true. I'd probably just say, "You looked so friendly on televis-"
Joe:
You know how they say that the camera adds a few pounds? Well, it also adds several veils of lies. About monsters.
Let's hear from the Tough Piglets
Laura:
Here's the responses from my Tough Piglet: Aidan, age 4.
1. Why does Bert think the monster is Ernie?
Ernie wants to surprise Bert, 'cause surprises are fun. Bert knows Ernie because he's shaped like Ernie, and Ernie colored, only with some different clothes on. Bert thinks the monster is Ernie because he was wrong. Ernie was at the door every single time, so he thought the monster was Ernie at the door again, and the monster has an Ernie nose. I thought the monster was Ernie.
2. Why does Frazzle ring the bell?
Frazzle wanted to know if people were home, because you have to have people around for them to see you eat the furniture if you're a monster.
3. What's in the Super Disguise Kit? What would you dress up as first?
Spiderman, because in a Super Disguise Kit are super hero disguises. If Ernie wants to really fool Bert, he should dress up like a regular person with regular skin and not fuzzy skin and a regular shaped nose, because he wouldn't be Ernie shaped and that would totally fool Bert.
While we were reading, Aidan noticed the beard, and said, "Look, Ernie is dressed up like Little Red Riding Hood, but he hasn't completely stopped being a pirate yet. Him might want to be a pirate again, soon." The oatmeal on the couch upset him, and he was glad that the monster ate it off the couch. He also noticed that Bert reads boring books like mommy and daddy -- books with no pictures. When I asked him about Bert and Ernie living in a house, he said, "They live in a 'partment, but they're visiting somewhere else."
Scott:
This was a favorite of mine as a kid. A few things always stood out for me -- not things that bothered me per se, but just some particulars that I took notice of. For example, how Bert expertly maneuvered the oatmeal so that it would land on the chair instead of the floor.
Thinking about it now, I figure Bert might have liked the idea of making his chair smell like oatmeal. Cinnamon oatmeal. Wouldn't you? Figure, if gravity's gonna pull that oatmeal down, you may as well have it land on a place where the smell will be enjoyed for months to come.
Frazzle's appearance at the end was always a highlight for me. This was Frazzle's Big Moment in my memory, and I even knew that his name was Frazzle. Probably from the Sesame Street Library books, because I certainly don't remember a whole lot of him from the show. Because of this book, I always wanted a Frazzle PVC. Except in my day, we didn't call them PVC's. They were Sesame Street Guys. Even the girls.
My daughter Gillian and I read this together a few times the other night, and her suggestion was that Bert should have been able to try on some disguises, too. Like me, she's an Ernie kid, but she'll learn to appreciate Bert later in life. She saw Ernie as having all the fun, and thought Bert should have been able to get in on it.
So now another generation begins their journey, pondering over oatmeal cans and toothbrush suds.
What We Learned
Joe:
The moral of the story is simple: Don't open the door for strangers on the fifth knock. The first four are probably your roommate in a costume, but the fifth one might be a monster who will steal your stuff and ruin your decor.
Commentary : Part 3 -- Part 4
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