Gary & Mary: Love Tips from "The Muppets"

MEDIA MONDAY!

Disney

On November 23rd, 2011, Disney released "The Muppets", a film starring the lovable, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and their muppet friends. Now, what does this have to do with How Not To Fall In Love? Keep reading.

Disney

We'll focus on two central leads of "The Muppets", Gary and Mary--who both happen to be human beings (played by Jason Segal and Amy Adams). However, Gary has a muppet-ish looking, younger brother, named Walter, who happens to turns out to be quite the third-wheel in his relationship with Mary.

Gary and Mary. They are portrayed as that cutesy, oh-so-perfect pairing: smiling from ear-to-ear and frolicking to the song, quite literally entitled, "Life's a Happy Song". In the very first ten minutes of the movie, you find out that Gary has planned a lovely, romantic vacation to Los Angeles to celebrate his and Mary's anniversary. But California is where the Muppets Studio is located, so Gary invites his little brother Walter to come along. Gary breaks the news to Mary after he has already bought a ticket for Walter and brought him down to the school where Mary works. When he subsequently asks if she minds, she says, "Oh no, no. Of course not." During Mary's segment of "Life's a Happy Song", she presses her face to the glass window of the classroom and watches as Gary helps Walter with his suitcases. She sings:

"Everything's great. Everything's grand.

Except Gary's already off with his friend.

It's never me and him.

Wonder when it's going to end.

Right now, I guess it's okay.

Maybe someday ... I know how it's going to be.

You'll ride up on a steed and get down on one knee.

And say, "Mary, will you marry me please?""

Hm. Seems like life is a happy song for everybody but Mary.

Tip #1: Say what you mean. When someone asks if it's okay to do _____ (whatever it may be), be honest with him. You have to tell the truth, or you'll become the most, passive aggressive person ever. This is true for all relationships. Haven't you ever had a growing suspicion that someone was mad at you but wouldn't say it out loud to your face. But the way they've been literally giving you the cold shoulder makes their pent-up anger pretty hard to ignore. It's okay to put your own feelings and desires aside for someone you love, but you have to be truthful or else healthy communication goes right down the drain. Passive aggressive people are annoying. We all know that. Don't be one of them.

Tip #2: Know that he won't change. Especially if you didn't mean what you said right before. Mary wonders if this trend of Gary ditching her for Walter will ever end. She decides to put up with it for now--which is straight out of the passive aggressive handbook--secretly hoping that he'll have a revelation one day and start paying more attention to her. You can't change anyone, even if the thing they do really bothers you. You can only communicate your concerns and hope for the best. And if this movie took place in real life, I bet Gary would always dump Mary for Walter, long before their relationship got serious. I bet he would consistently choose his friends over her from Day One. Remember, Guys Will Tell You (read ME)? Well, it's true. They will also show with their actions very early on in the relationship. All you have to do is pay attention.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie! And I would recommend it to my friends who want to see some happy singing muppets and a couple try to figure themselves out along the way.

Have you seen "The Muppets" yet? Do you want to? What did you think about the film and did you notice any of the relationship factors that I did?

Love,

Zabrinah