I misunderstood The Muppet Chrismas Carol
Written on 9th Feb 2023 by Alex Lowery
I often have a tendency to mishear or misunderstand what other people said or simply not remember it properly. I particularly did this a lot as a child when watching films. I’d misunderstand what the characters said.
One of my favorite films from childhood is The Muppet Christmas Carol. I’ve loved this film for many, many years now and it’s still something I watch every Christmas. However, as a child, I would often misunderstand things the characters said. One example is when the Ghost of Christmas Present says “Come in and know me better, man!” I always misheard it as “Come in and meet Badger Man”. This always really confused me as a kid. I kept expecting Badger Man to show up but he never did so I was confused as to why even said this. Eventually, I started to hear it as “Come in and no meet Badger Man” implying he doesn’t want him to meet Badger Man but why would he say this? What does Badger Man have to do with the scene? It actually took me years to realize what it actually was that the character said. Even now it still kind of sounds like Badger Man to me. Watch the scene below for context.
There is another example also from the Muppet Christmas Carol. When the Marley brothers sing “Our Hearts were painted black” this also confused me as a child as I took it very literally. I thought they were saying someone painted their hearts black and I didn’t understand why this was at all. My mum explained to me that it was metaphorical and it actually meant they did really wicked things that darkened their spiritual heart. Another example also from ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’ is after the Marley brothers sang about their hearts they went on to sing “We should have known our evil deeds Would put us both in shackles”. I misheard shackles ‘Sherlock Holmes so I thought for some reason the Marley ghosts were referencing Sherlock Holmes. Watch the song below.
When I was younger, I also really struggled to understand the concept of Scroog being able to see his past self. It was a difficult concept for me to grasp as a young child.
Needless to say, as much as I loved this film as a kid I didn’t fully understand everything about it. I’m sure there were a lot of other examples where I misinterpreted what the characters said too. If you liked this article please do let me know. I’m hoping to do a Part 2 where I give other examples of things I’ve misheard or misunderstood.
When I was 19 I actually did a review of the Muppet Chrismas Caraol on YouTube which you can watch below if you’re interested.
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