An Ode to a Frog
Oh, if there were ever a sin we all struggle with, it’s money. We live in a broken society, so we need to make money. We’ve been told to exploit people and to look out only for ourselves. It’s a cruel world out there. And most importantly: we have to hustle. You’re a writer? You better whip out some pieces and make that Good Content. You’re an artist? Hurry, better put those prints to good use and start earning a side gig. Brand yourself! Make an Etsy shop! Every single moment of our lives must be toward creating and marketing ourselves as a product! Only good things can come out of that.
When that capitalist mindset tempts me most, I think of this frog.
This is Michigan J. Frog, and first debuted in WB’s animated musical short “One Froggy Evening” in 1955. (In 1995, he would work his own way up the ladder and become the network mascot.) He seems to be an unassuming, kindly frog, lost in a construction site. And then he puts on his top hat, and he sings, and of course, our poor construction worker, down on his luck, most likely without money, spots an opportunity. It’s time to exploit the marvelous singing and dancing frog for money.
What comes next is an exercise in futility as our poor worker attempts to make money again and again, to his detriment. This frog is his Pearl, his Silmaril, his only shining beacon of hope! With this frog, our worker must be thinking, he’ll be able to make millions.
The frog, however, knows better. Yes, this is a frog that’s been exploited before. This is a frog that’s seen the underbelly of life. Anytime he’s in front of others, outside of this construction worker, he refuses to sing. And with that, our construction worker’s dreams are crushed. No money can be made off this frog.
This frog feels like he’s been around for ages, like a biblical temptation, cropping up in various decades to see if man has changed. We can see he was last sealed in the 1800s, only to be discovered by our main construction worker, ready to spring from his box into song, like a twisted version of hope that Pandora left behind. Instead, he offers nothing but false dreams. Finally, though, after ruining a man’s reputation, he is sealed once more, discarded now that we know he can no longer be exploited.
But this is not the end for the frog — no, in some far away future, where lasers and space ships are supreme, everything has changed. But nothing has changed… because another worker has found this frog… and he has big dreams too… and well… you know how this story ends already.
