BEING ELMO: A Puppeteer's Journey

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey, is a biopic documentary that highlights the story of Kevin Clash, the man behind the lovable monster of Sesame Street.  Biopic documentaries are hit and miss for some people.  The documentary is carried by the story of one person, and few others can help out in the story telling.  This biopic does not disappoint.  I was a fan of Sesame Street growing up, and I have 2 kids who are huge fans of Sesame Street, one of which is obsessed with ELMO!  I won’t lie, on some level I thought it might help me to relate to my daughter to learn more about her favorite TV character.  I am not sure if she cares that I know his back story, but I appreciate the process that goes into making Sesame Street even more.  When we think of young prodigies we many times think of athletes, musicians, or Doogie Howser style geniuses, but we don’t think of puppeteer phenoms.  It is incredible to see someone who identified their passion so early and dedicated their time and hard work to perfecting their craft at such and early age.  Part of the movie shows what an incredible visionary Jim Hensen was and the impact he had on Kevin’s life.  Elmo was not a character on Sesame Street when I was little, but now that I am watching new episodes with my kids, it is hard to remember what Sesame Street was like with out the little red ball of fur.  It is fun and quite amazing to see how Elmo started out and what Kevin was able to transform the character into.  This documentary is able to bring up the fond memories of my childhood all while helping me understand why my daughter is obsessed with a cute little monster brought about by the talented Kevin Clash.

I chose this week to highlight this documentary because my family went to a Sesame Street live show.  I am not sure how I would react if I were able to see some of my heroes perform live.  Most of my obsessions don’t perform live.  This weekend I was able to see my daughter hardly be able to contain herself when she got to see her TV hero.  She is not yet 2 yrs old but her reaction to seeing Elmo for the first time was reminiscent of seeing teenage girls scream and cry in excitement over the Beatles, Elvis, or NSYNC.   I would not have gone to see Sesame Street Live by my self, but the total excitement and permasmile she had on her face the whole time was worth the cheesy songs and hokey dancing.  It is truly amazing to see how a character on TV can invoke so much emotion, even from a small child.  If it weren’t for Kevin Clash I would not have had that experience this weekend.