Talk:Monster in the Mirror
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After Wubba Wubba Wubba was closed as "delete" at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wubba Wubba Wubba, I created an article on Monster in the Mirror. Cunard (talk) 08:53, 1 January 2019 (UTC)
From here, I wrote:
- Keep and rename to Monster in the Mirror to have the article focus on the song instead of the chorus per the significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources.
- Turim, Maureen (2000). "Looking Back at the Mirror: Cinematic Revisions". In Rudnytsky, Peter L.; Gordon, Andrew M. (eds.). Psychoanalyses / Feminisms. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 155–156. ISBN 0-7914-4377-9. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
The book notes:
As soon as children reach the Sesame Street stage, they can find this first mirror evoked nostalgically in a song entitled "Monster in the Mirror." Here the child hears the babytalk narration ("wabba wabba wabba wabba woo woo woo" is the chorus) of the baby encountering a monster in the mirror, which, over the course of several verses, his gaze accommodates and tames. The lyrics suggest the progression from the transliteration of babytalk to recognizable English phenomes. "Wabba wabba wabba wabba woo woo woo" cedes to "I will wabba you and you will wabba me." Violence, proxemics, and touch are hinted at when the monster's "wabba" seems to become meaningfully transitive and even aggressive, sounding like a threatening "rubba." Finally, it seems contextually to become merely babytalk for "love" as if what is being said is "I will love you if you will love me." In the visual images that surround the lyrics in Sesame Street's music video for kids, what appears is not the reflection of the child viewer but a montage of television pop culture images, drawn not just from kids' shows or even PBS, but a collage of all aspects of television viewing not proscribed for the under-five age group. This is you, your mirror, your culture, never first or last, but in one looping, eternally present surround. This is how you will learn to see, to speak, to move, and to love—watch and learn, Sesame Street seems to say in a self-conscious gesture. However, I think it's altogether likely that the convergence of elements in this song is just one of the ways that the fairy tale tells us more than it knows. It illustrates the assumption of the imago in all its potential monstrousness, combined with the access to language, sexuality, and love.
- King, Patricia (2008). "The Monster in Your Mirror: You're Scaring Your Employees". Monster Boss: Strategies for Surviving and Excelling When Your Boss is a Nightmare. Cincinnati: Adams Media. ISBN 978-1-59869-399-7. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
The book notes:
The Sesame Street celebrity version of the song "Monster in the Mirror" has everyone from Ray Charles to the Simpsons singing "wubba wubba" along with Grover, who croons about how he tamed the monster in the mirror with kindness.
Are you a manager? If you are, before we part company, I want you to ask yourself how your employees might view you. Does your managerial style include a wardrobe of black capes and green goo? Do you fear your employees might see a monster in you? you may be a monster boss's victim and at the same time some other victim's monster boss. If you think this is possible, remain calm. Management is a skill. You can learn it.
Actually Grover's song has a point. In good management practice, kindness is a good place to start.
- Bartholdi, Maria (2014-03-24). "Top 10 Greatest Sesame Street Musical Moments". Rewire. Twin Cities PBS. Archived from the original on 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
The article notes:
2) Monster in the Mirror
It is impossible not to dance to this catchy number! But it also has the deeper message of being the change you’d like to see in the world. You can always count on Sesame Street to make you smile and think at the same time. Also included: double Grovers! - Kid's First! (1999). The New York Times Guide to the Best Children's Videos. New York: Pocket Books. p. 81. ISBN 0-671-03669-6. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
The book notes:
*** Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration: An hour-long collection of favorite Sesame Street songs, such as "C is for Cookie," "Bein' Green," "Monster in the Mirror." ...
- "More Than the Muppets Sesame Street's Independent Edge". The Oregonian. 1990-07-20. Archived from the original on 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
The article notes:
Subtitled A Tribute to Jim Henson, this program highlights 20 years of Sesame Street, and it emphasizes that the show is more than Henson and his Muppets. … Jim Blashfield produced three: Monster in the Mirror and The Word Is No, directed by Laure Di Trapani; and Forty Blocks From Home, co-produced with Paul Diner and directed by Don Wallace.
- Solimine, Donna (1996-11-15). "Films for the 'Sesame' Generation". The Record. Archived from the original on 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
The article notes:
Other films include: "Adventure Song," with the female pop group En Vogue; Rhaz Zeisler's "Imagination with Elmo"; Veronika Soul's "African Alphabet Box"; and Jim Blashfield and Associates' "Monster in the Mirror," featuring Robin Williams, Candice Bergen, Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Roberts, characters from "The Simpsons," and others.
- O'Hara, Delia (2003-09-10). "Kids groove to 'Street' beat for 35 years". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
The article notes:
"Jeff Moss didn't know as much about rock 'n' roll [as he did about other musical genres]. I was the logical person to fill in that one little hole in the arsenal. I did some things that were fun and they let me keep doing it," [Christopher] Cerf says.
His first song, "Count It Higher," from 1971, is not on this set, but later ones, like "Monster in the Mirror" and "Put Down the Duckie," are included. "If you write five or 10 songs a year, after 30 years, you've written a heck of a lot of songs," he says.
- Whitehouse, David (2007-06-02). "Shake it like an animated picture". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
The article notes:
"Oh yeah," hums OutKast's Andre 3000, a man considered by many to be as cool as two cucumbers. "Sesame Street was great, for sure. I always wanted to perform on Sesame Street. I remember Stevie Wonder doing Superstition on Sesame Street... that was some good shit."
Andre Benjamin is right to praise it. It was, after all, the show that gave children access to puppet-ridden performances from Johnny Cash, James Brown and the classic Ray Charles duet with the Cookie Monster on Monster In The Mirror ("He sang wobba wobba wobba and I sang along: wobba wobba wobba it's the monster song"). Thankfully, Andre is doing something he hopes will match it.
- Zurawik, David (1996-11-17). "'Street' Wise For 27 years, there's been a warm place in the hearts of children and parents for "Seaame Street.' Let's take a sunny day stroll". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
The article notes:
What more need be said, except the facts about the first Sesame Street Film Festival that opens tomorrow night and runs through Sunday at the New Victory Theater, New York's theater for kids at 209 W. 42nd St?
The festival, which celebrates the start of the 28th season of "Sesame Street," features 47 animated, film and puppetry shorts produced for the series.
Highlights include: three works with William Wegman's Weimaraners, En Vogue in a short titled "Adventure Song," Veronika Soul's "African Alphabet Box Song" and the unforgettable "Monster in the Mirror" starring Grover with Ray Charles, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Candice Bergen, Julia Roberts and the Simpsons among others.
I say unforgettable, because once you see this short -- the happiest two minutes of film that I've ever seen -- you will never be able to get the refrain out of your head: "Wubba, wubba, wubba, wubba, wee, wee, wee/Wubba, wubba, wubba, wubba, woo/Wubba, wubba, wubba, wubba me, me, me/And I will wubba, wubba, wubba, wubba you."
- "'Big Bird's Birthday,' Bullwinkle Special Sure to Amuse the Young, Young at". The Star-Ledger. 1991-03-13. Archived from the original on 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
The article notes:
For starters, at 8 p.m., we're all invited to "Big Bird's Birthday" or "Let Me Eat Cake," a "Sesame Street" special apparently just made for these PBS cup rattling moments.
...
And we have cameo appearances from 25 celebrities in Grover's music video, "Monster in the Mirror."
- Turim, Maureen (2000). "Looking Back at the Mirror: Cinematic Revisions". In Rudnytsky, Peter L.; Gordon, Andrew M. (eds.). Psychoanalyses / Feminisms. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 155–156. ISBN 0-7914-4377-9. Retrieved 2018-12-29.