Miss Piggy takes place as ‘modern feminist icon’
She is ‘her own self,’ Steinem says as beloved Muppet honoured
Miss Piggy, a recurring and beloved character in Jim Henson’s Muppets universe, has received a Sackler Center First Award from the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum.
Previous honorees include Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison, retired U.S. Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Muriel Siebert, the first female trader on the New York Stock Exchange.
“This week moi is being honored — and deservedly so,” Miss Piggy explained in a Time editorial “Isn’t it wonderful? Isn’t it about time?”
“She is definitely her own self,” Gloria Steinem said. “She isn’t trying to be either totally masculine or totally feminine — she’s human.”
Kermit the Frog tweeted an image of Miss Piggy in conversation with Steinem. “Quick shot of the great parts, the hard parts, the chal- lenges, the beauties.”
Elizabeth Sackler, a historian and activist, recalled an occasion in 1979 in which Miss Piggy showed heroism, saving her beau Kermit from bad guys in The Muppet Movie. “I thought ... she has transcended. She has brought to life the kind of defence and survival mechanisms that human beings truly have,’ ” Sackler said. “I think part of what Miss Piggy brings is the essence of different aspects of humanness.”
“Move over, Taylor Swift,” the Huffington Post wrote. “Miss Piggy is here to claim her rightful place as a modern feminist icon.”
Only the Onion’s A.V. Club, reporting the award when it was announced in April, seemed suspicious. “The brassy and commanding porcine is set to receive the award in person,” the publication wrote, “if by ‘in person’ it’s clear that we mean someone manipulating a puppet will pretend that the puppet is actually able to move and talk.”