Is Cookie Monster an Anti-Zombie Bigot?
It’s always disturbing to learn that an icon in public life is an Anti-Zombie bigot. I mean, Max Brooks made a name for himself being evil, but undoubtedly some comic book fans were disheartened when Robert Kirkman showed his true colors. Woody Harrelson? I never saw that one coming.
But the Cookie Monster, beloved children’s icon, an Anti-Zombie bigot? Surely not, right?
Well…
Some background first: ‘Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster‘ is a new game from Double Fine Productions, Tim Schafer’s company, which has a reputation for quirky but interesting concept games. This is their first licensed/branded game, but it didn’t start out that way. They were going to make a game using original monster concepts but found that it was a natural fit with Sesame Street, and so a marriage was arranged.
Which leads to a promotional video where Cookie Monster supposedly vets the original concept for ‘Once Upon a Monster’ and rejects it. This supposed original idea?
A Zombie game along the same lines. Zombies, sympathetically portrayed, who need the protagonist’s help to solve problems.
In fact, not only does Cookie Monster reject it, he rejects it with a snide and hurtful comment about Zombies being ‘kinda 2007′
Now, clearly, we here at The Zombie Rights Campaign take great exception to this video and Cookie Monster’s behavior within. He is supposed to be an inclusive role model for America’s children, yet here he is shown as callous and unfeeling toward Zombie kids nationwide. That should be, and is, unacceptable.
For some expert insight, I consulted the ZRC Cultural Historian Andrew Leal, who helped write the book on Muppets (this one anyway).
He pointed out that the Cookie Monster is more than a little selfish and largely unaware of identity politics. CM doesn’t generally work toward broader Monster solidarity; most of the time he’s just focused on the cookies, or these days, I suppose, fruit snacks and ‘sometimes’ cookies. It’s not that he’s prejudiced against Zombies, it’s that, well, he only cares about topics that affect him, cookies most importantly.
Narcissism and obsession as a defense against the appearance of prejudice; it could be effective but it’s certainly not pretty.
Clearly there are some valuable things to take away from this. One is that ignorance can lead to prejudice in actions even if not in intent; another is that we need more Zombie representation in children’s media and educational programming. Sesame Street needs a Zombie character to help combat misunderstanding and bigotry!
We’ll have to work on that lofty goal.
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