Miss Piggy – “The Starlet”

Miss Piggy is a main character on The Muppet Show. She’s intriguing in that she is a pig that carries all the traits of a Hollywood starlet. She considers herself to have incredible talent and singing abilities and if you tell her any different she will be sure to let you know. In an interview with Time magazine, Miss Piggy performer Frank Oz said, “She wants everyone to treat her like a lady, and if they don’t she’ll cut them in half,” (Skow). Her life story is identical to one of a star. She began her career in the entertainment industry by winning a beauty pageant. She walks the red carpet, has been on the covers of people and life magazines, had her own perfume and published a book entitled “Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life”.

She presents herself as a strong and independent woman. Bonnie Erickson, the designer of Miss Piggy said in an interview with Smithsonian magazine, “The character was inspired by the jazz singer Peggy Lee who was a very independent woman,” (Gupta). Although she is a pig, her exterior appearance is reflective of a blond bombshell. She wears revealing clothing and carries extreme sex appeal. On the other side she knows karate and if insulted will not hesitate to use her expertise. All of her eccentricities are exaggerated and none of them reflects any type of sexuality. Miss Piggy’s costume designer Calista Hendrickson said in an interview with New York Times magazine, “Miss Piggy’s not aware of the fact that she’s overweight, she dresses as if she’s 30 pounds lighter. So she has a lot of fantasy,” (Culhane). Since Miss Piggy doesn't actually fit the stereotypical beautiful qualities of an actual woman, she uses her strength and character to be judged as an individual.
She's a prima-donna and has an inspiring personality. Miss Piggy’s attributes are just a presentation of what any sexual human being may be like. In “Imitation and Gender Insubordination,” Judith Butler states, “It is necessary to consider that sexuality always exceeds any given performance, presentation or narrative which is why it is not possible to derive or read off a sexuality from any given gender presentation. And sexuality may be said to exceed any definitive narrativization,” (725). Therefore, the character that Miss Piggy portrays is not reflective of any particular sexuality. It's just Miss Piggy.

Works Cited
Butler, Judith. “Imitation and Gender Insubordination.” Literary Theory: An Anthology Ed. Rivkin, Julie, and Michael Ryan. Blackwell Publishing, 1998. p. 725
Culhane, John. “The Muppets In Movieland; Muppets Moving Muppets.” The New York Times. June. 1979
Gupta, Anika. “The Woman Behind Miss Piggy.” Smithsonian Magazine. Oct. 2008
Skow, John. “Those Marvelous Muppets.” Time Magazine. Dec. 1978