INSIGHT

NSIG
SECTION C • SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2020 • RICHMOND.COM
•••

By any other name

While world famous, the Ker-
mit that the United States
knows has at times gone by
different names across the
world. In Spain, he goes by La
Rana Gustavo, or sometimes
just Gustavo. In France and
Germany he retained “Ker-
mit” with “the Frog” being
translated into their respec-
tive languages. The same is
true of many other coun-
ties. Until 2011, when Disney
made an effort to unify his
name as Kermit in Latin
America, he was La Rana
René in Spanish-speaking
countries and Caco o
Sapo in Portuguese-
speaking Brazil.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
Ke
Kermit
The iconic green frog turns 65 today
Changing hands
Kermit was operated by
Henson from the charac-
ter’s inception until Henson’s
death in 1990. Henson’s last
performance was on “The Ar-
senio Hall Show” promoting
a new Muppets attraction
On May 9, 1955, Kermit, along with thousands of other tad- at Disney World. After Hen-
son’s death, Steve Whitmire
poles, was born in a swamp in the Deep South. Becoming the took over the role of Kermit.
first of his family to venture forth into the world, he would go on Whitmire started working on
“The Muppet Show” in 1978
to become a world-famous frog. There is some contention on and worked on most major
the exact day of his birth being marked as the day he debuted on projects for the Henson com-
the show “Sam and Friends” versus the fictional backstory of the pany. He played Kermit until
2016, when he was dismissed
Jim Henson posed for a character. Either way, Kermit has cemented himself as a main- from the company after dis-
photo with Kermit the stay of children’s programing for 65 years, appearing on the “Ses- agreements. After Whitmire’s
Frog and Miss Piggy in dismissal it was announced
ame Street” premiere in 1969, as a star in “The Muppets Show” in 2017 that Matt Vogel
1978. Henson operated
Kermit from his debut until and Muppets movies, as well as in multiple TV talk shows, books would be taking over the
Henson’s death in 1990. role of Kermit. Vogel began
and commercials. He has even performed a couple of hit singles. working on “Sesame Street”
in 1996 and started working
Making friends with The Muppets Studio in
Before Kermit became a 2008.
household name, he and his
creator, Jim Henson, first
appeared on WRC-TV out Disney acquisition
of Washington on a show Henson and Disney’s Michael
called “Sam and Friends” in Eisner began discussing the
1955. The show ran twice purchase of the Jim Hen-
daily in five-minute spots son Production Co. in 1989.
and was created by Henson However, the deal never
and Jane Nebel, who eventu- happened after Henson’s
ally became husband and death the following year. The
wife. Many of the “Sam and company was taken over by
Friends” episodes were not Henson’s family and a de-
recorded and have been lost. cade later was sold to a Ger-
Kermit at the time was more man media company, which
akin to a lizard than a frog included the rights to the
and was a side character to “Sesame Street” characters
Sam, a humanoid character THE ASSOCIATED PRESS VIA DISNEY ENTERPRISES and the Muppets. The new
that was the star of the show. Muppet characters Gonzo (from left), Miss Piggy, Kermit, Floyd, Walter ownership was short-lived.
The final episode of “Sam and and Scooter appear in a scene from “Muppets Most Wanted.” Late in 2000, facing financial
Friends” aired Dec. 15, 1961. trouble, the company sold
the rights to the “Sesame
‘Sesame Street’ and the Muppets Street” characters to the
Between years “Sesame Street” has become a juggernaut of children’s educational program- Sesame Workshop. Then in
“Sesame Street,” which first ming and owes its success in part to Henson’s Muppets. The show used exten- 2003, two years after putting
aired in 1969, would cement sive research to establish its programing, focusing on educational objectives the other portion of the Jim
Kermit as an iconic character, that provide clear and measurable outcomes. During initial testing, Muppets and Henson Co. holdings up for
but in the preceding years he actors shared little screen time together, but research found that kids’ atten- sale, they were reacquired
was already establishing him- tion was highest while the Muppets were on screen and waned when there were by the Henson family. Finally,
self, making appearances on none. This led to the creation of Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird as two Muppets in 2004, Disney bought the
the “Tonight Show” and mul- that actors would interact with. Kermit would make frequent appearances on rights to Muppets proper-
tiple television specials, as “Sesame Street” but was not owned by the Sesame Workshop. Henson opted to ties. The acquisition did not
well as commercial work. At retain his ownership of the Muppets in lieu of a performance fee. While the Mup- include the “Sesame Street”
the time his character design pets were now a fixture on “Sesame Street,” they also continued to be featured characters. Despite the new
was still not fully frog-like, on multiple television spots including during the first season of “Saturday Night ownership, Disney agreed
despite being referred to as Live.” Henson pitched a new adult-oriented version of the Muppets to television to allow “Sesame Street”
a frog. According to Henson, networks in the early 1970s, but was initially turned down by U.S. networks. How- to continue using old seg-
Kermit officially became a ever, a British network agreed to produce “The Muppet Show,” which featured ments featuring Kermit and
frog in 1971 with the debut of Kermit as the host. The show would be syndicated in the United States and go using the term “Muppets” to
“The Frog Prince,” as part of a on to win multiple Emmy Awards and enable Henson to create multiple films, refer to the “Sesame Street”
series of Muppets specials. starting with “The Muppet Movie” in 1979. characters.

Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, Walt Disney Co., The Jim Henson Co., Sesame Workshop, Smithsonian, The Jim Henson Legacy, Television Academy Foundation JUSTIN MORRISON/TIMES-DISPATCH
 WOKKA-WOKKA
The signature sound effect “wokka-wokka” is made every time Pac-Man
consumes a pellet and is based on the Japanese mimetic sound of eating
food “paku paku,” creator Toru Iwatani said. The sound has become im-
mediately identifiable outside of just the video game landscape.

•••

SECTION C • RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH • SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2020

FOR ALL AGES ANNIVERSARY

Part of Pac-Man’s lasting appeal is how easy the
game is to pick up and play. The objectives are
OR 40 YEARS, PAC-MAN has eaten away at the hearts
simple: Eat all of the pellets around the maze and of Americans. The iconic yellow pellet-munching
don’t get killed by a ghost. You have three lives, then
it’s game over. At 10,000 points, Pac-Man earns a
character became an immediate hit when he was
bonus life. Earn points by munching up pellets; fruit, introduced to the United States in 1980, despite a
which appear at the center of the maze; and even
lackluster performance in his home country of Japan. After 23
ghosts after eating a power pellet. Power pellets
— there are four in the maze — turn the tables on official game releases, countless other copycats and unofficial
the ghosts, making them run away and vulnerable
releases, as well as all types of merchandise, Pac-Man — rec-
to Pac-Man for a short period. After consuming all
of the pellets, the level will reset and the next stage ognizable to over 90% of the world — is still going strong. The
begins. As the player progresses through the stages,
simple but addictive game play loop, designed by creator Toru
there are alterations to the game play mechanics,
such as player or ghost speed, making the game Iwatani, was intended to bring new gamers, particularly women,
more challenging. into the arcade space. It succeeded. Today, the same structure

RIGHT: A close-up view of the maze on the

that captivated gamers in 1980 continues to resonate with a
monitor of a Pac-Man arcade cabinet in 1983. new generation.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HUNGRY FOR CHANGE A PERFECT GAME RACKING

Setting out to break the status quo, creator Toru Iwatani (at left) specifi- UP POINTS

3,333,360
cally wanted to make a game that would bring women into the male-
dominated gaming space. With unlikely inspiration from a pizza with a Earning the high score
couple of slices missing (think of the iconic character shape), then-27- is the entire point of the
year-old Iwatani along with nine other designers at Namco designed the game. Here is how the
first Puck Man game, released in Japan in 1980. The game would make its scoring works — eat up:
Pac-Man, like many games of its era, was
way to the United States later that year, distributed by Midway, but with
not designed to have an ending. The idea
a slight name change. It became a major hit in the U.S.
was that eventually the player would lose, Pac-Dot (pellet)
toss another quarter into the machine and 10 points
fire up a new round in a quest to achieve
the high score. However, a glitch occurs Power Pellet
MS. SEQUEL once a player gets to level 256, a stage that 50 points
In 1982, Midway, the U.S. publisher for creator Toru Iwatani didn’t think anyone Vulnerable
Namco, released Ms. Pac-Man as a sequel would achieve. The glitch is due to limita- Ghosts
to Pac-Man following its major commercial tions of the 8-bit coding at the time and (In succession)
success. However, the release of Ms. Pac- results in half the screen turning into a 1 - 200 points
Man has a complicated history. The game jumbled mess of letters and numbers. This 2 - 400 points
was designed in 1981 as an enhancement causes the maze to have less then the 3 - 800 points
kit by General Computer Corp., GCC, for standard 244 pellets, including the power 4 - 1600 points
installation in the original Pac-Man arcade pellets. Thus, no win state for the stage
cabinet and was called Crazy Otto. The ALEXA WELCH EDLUND/TIMES-DISPATCH can be achieved, and the player cannot Cherry
enhancement introduced new mazes and A group dressed as characters from progress. This limit creates a possible per- 100 points
featured different character models of Pac- Pac-Man for the Monument Avenue 10K fect game for Pac-Man. To do so, a player
Man and the ghosts. While GCC was de- race in Richmond in 2015. must eat every possible dot, fruit and Strawberry
veloping Crazy Otto, it was settling a court ghost while vulnerable (this is only neces- 300 points
case with Atari over a previous conversion sary in levels 1-20, after which the ghosts
kit it had made for the game Missile Com-
ENDURING POP ICON can’t be eaten) on every stage without los- Orange
mand. As a result of the settlement with Since his debut in 1980, Pac-Man has endured ing a single life in levels 1-255. They then 500 points
Atari, GCC needed permission from publish- as a pop culture icon. When released, the game must get all the possible pellets on level
ers to sell conversion kits and decided to introduced new concepts to video games, 256, using all the available lives to eat the Apple
go directly to Midway. Impressed by GCC’s including character development, cut scenes pellets on the left side and hidden on the 700 points
work, Midway was interested in releasing called coffee breaks in-game, and a more right side mess of a screen to achieve the
the new game, but as a sequel to capital- Melon
robust enemy artificial intelligence. The sig- final score of 3,333,360 points.
ize on the success of Pac-Man and not a 1,000 points
nature silhouette has adorned all kinds of mer-
conversion kit. After several adjustments to chandise from T-shirts to pasta. Two television
Crazy Otto working between GCC, Midway series were produced based on the Pac-Man Galaxian Boss
and Namco, the name and design for Ms. character; he has been featured in multiple RECORD SALES 2,000 points
Pac-Man was finalized. Ms. Pac-Man game films; and the musical duo Buckner & Garcia
cabinets were built as an independent released the certified gold hit single “Pac-Man 100,000 $1billion Bell
3,000 points
game, but still relied on the original Pac- Fever” in 1981. Over the years, the game moved Pac-Man cabinets sold Profit earned
Man game board. Each cabinet effectively from the arcade to video game consoles, then in 1980; 300,000 more in quarters
had both games within it, one installed on Key
into the smartphone market, and now there’s were sold over the from Pac-Man
top of the other. 5,000 points
even a virtual reality iteration. next seven years. in 1980.

THE CAST It might be easy to dismiss all the ghosts in Pac-Man as the same, but they actually have distinctive behavioral patterns coded into them.

“Pac-Man” “Blinky” Shadow “Pinky” Speedy “Inky” Bashful “Clyde” Pokey “Ms. Pac-Man”
The player-controlled titular Blinky starts outside of The lone female ghost, Inky’s pattern at the begin- The last one out of the Introduced in the sequel to
character, Pac-Man has a the ghost house and fol- Pinky, unlike her name ning of the game is to work ghost house, Clyde, has two the original game, Ms. Pac-
simple goal: consume all of lows Pac-Man around the suggests, is not actually around a patrol path. Inky different behavior patterns. Man, also the game’s title,
the pellets on the screen map. As the game goes on, faster than any of the other only joins the chase after When far away from Pac- is the wife of Pac-Man. She
and advance to the next Blinky gets a speed boost ghosts nor does she get the Pac-Man eats a certain Man, Clyde will target him takes over as the character
stage while trying not to be once Pac-Man has eaten a speed boost Blinky does. number of pellets. Inky uses like Blinky, but as soon as whom players control and
killed along the way. certain number of pellets, She does, however, tend both Pac-Man’s position Clyde is a certain proximity the goal remains the same.
a mode colloquially called to move counterclockwise and Blinky’s to try to predict to Pac-Man, he will retreat However, there were some
“Cruise Elroy.” unlike the others and at- Pac-Man’s path. The two toward his corner. changes including new
tempts to put herself in patterns make Inky’s be- maps and mechanics for
Pac-Man’s path. havior erratic at times. fruit pickups.
Sources: Vintage Games, Bandai Namco, Classicgaming, Smithsonian, designoriented.net, arcade-museum.com, Time JUSTIN MORRISON/TIMES-DISPATCH
 •••
SECTION C
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2020

INSIGHT
RICHMOND.COM

LAM YIK/BLOOMBERG

Trending up
TikTok has rapidly grown to become one of the largest social media platforms in the
world, attracting movie, music, and sports stars and spawning its own generation of
influencers, with some spilling over from their initial success with Musical.ly. In the first
quarter of 2020, TikTok was the most downloaded in the world. With over 800 million
active users, TikTok is larger then Twitter, LinkedIn and Snapchat. The app found a partic-
2 ularly large audience in India before it was banned by the Indian government. Before that,
it had been the largest TikTok market outside of China, with 200 million active users.
BILLION
Total downloads
of the TikTok app nfluence
All about the influence
in the Apple and
Android stores os growth
With the explosive ow of TikTok, a new wave av of social media
Is time up for one of the world’s u
influencers ve found a home with the platform. Houses
have es of aspir-
eato communities, mostly
ing TikTok creator stly in their teens and twen-we
800 fastest-growing social media apps? ve sprouted up in Los
ties, have os Angeles.
es. They churn out content
y, with some influencers
daily, u ve $10,000
earning over ,0 per month
MILLION

T
he social media application TikTok has taken the through sponsorships and brand deals. The most st popular
Estimated world by storm. Originating in China as an app ’A
TikTok user on the platform, Charli D’Amelio, , at left,
eft, who
users of TikTok goes by the username @charlidamelio,, has racked up 76.2 6.
called Douyin, it quickly built up hundreds of mil- owers and over
million followers ve 5 billion likes.
es. The popularity of
worldwide
lions of users in its home country before expanding u
influencers et and manage-
has also given rise to marketing
to the rest of the world in 2017 when it launched its sister app, ment firmsr dedicated to working with and representinges
them. TikTok announced a $200 million fund to support U.S.
165 TikTok. Swallowing up competitor Musical.ly in the same year,
TikTok continued to grow in popularity as COVID-19 lock-
year co
content eators, with plans to increase
creators, ease it to $1 billion.
MILLION JESSE DITTMAR/THE WASHINGTON POST
downs fell into place around the world. The application was
Total downloads
of the TikTok app the most downloaded in the world in the first quarter of 2020
Enter politics President
Pres Donald
in the U.S. and set a new record as the most downloads ever in a quar- Trump
Tr has said
As rapidly as TikTok found inter-
ter. Despite its success, TikTok has also come under scrutiny that he wants to
national success, it has also found
OVER due to its Chinese origins amid international conflicts, privacy ba TikTok from
ban
itself the focus of international
the United
150 concerns and potential data harvesting by the Chinese govern-
ment. President Donald Trump has issued an executive order
ire. In June, a decades-long border
conflict between India and China
States.
Countries around in the Ladakh region of the Hima-
the world where that will ban the application in September amid a potential layas resulted in a clash that left
THE
TikTok is available purchase of the U.S. portion of TikTok by Microsoft. 20 Indian troops and an unknown ASSOCIATED
number of Chinese troops dead. In PRESS
response, India banned 59 Chinese
apps, including TikTok, cutting it
In line with Vine off from its largest market outside Trolling Trump
of China. India also cited security On June 11, Trump’s presidential campaign
TikTok isn’t the first short form video sharing social media platform. In 2013, Vine was released, concerns as rationale for removing announced his upcoming rally in Tulsa,
which enabled users to record video clips up to six seconds long that would loop back on them- the applications from the market- Okla., and opened online registration. The
selves. The platform was acquired by Twitter in 2012 for $30 million but was discontinued by place. In response, TikTok India said registration was quickly targeted by K-pop
2016. Vine as a platform struggled to gain users and find ways to actively monetize its services. it complies with the country’s data fans on Twitter, who encouraged people to
Coupled with increased competition from other platforms like Instagram, the app was unable to privacy and security requirements. sign up and not go. This same tactic was
compete. Twitter continued to archive Vine videos until 2019. Vine compilations can still be found
Those same worries over private amplified on TikTok as videos spread of
on YouTube today.
data being siphoned off to China people registering for the rally. The Trump
have led U.S. officials and compa- campaign claimed that there were over a
nies to speak out against, and in million requests for tickets, but the final
some cases, even ban TikTok. The tally on June 20 counted fewer than 6,500
Lip-sync success U.S. military banned the app from people in attendance at the 19,000 person
Before taking the world by storm, TikTok found being installed on government stadium. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
major success in China. Developed by ByteDance devices in January. Amazon briefly D-N.Y., credited online activity for lowering
out of Beijing, Douyin, the Chinese name for the told employees to delete the app the attendance, tweeting out, “Actually you
app, was released in September 2016. Available from their devices on July 10 citing just got ROCKED by teens on TikTok who
only in China, Douyin enabled users to create 15- “security risks,” only to backtrack flooded the Trump campaign w/ fake ticket
second videos set to music. The app exploded in hours later. In early July, U.S. Sec- reservations & tricked you into believing a
popularity after launch and has 300 million users retary of State Mike Pompeo said million people wanted your white suprema-
in China today. Seeking to expand outside of the United States was considering cist open mic,” an idea echoed by others.
China, ByteDance launched TikTok in September a ban on TikTok and other Chinese However, how much of an impact the troll-
2017. In November of the same year, ByteDance social media. On July 31, Trump ing actually had is hard to determine. At the
acquired the Shanghai-based Musical.ly, a similar weighed in, saying, “As far as TikTok time, COVID-19 cases were increasing, and
app that had already gained market share in the is concerned, we’re banning them the Trump campaign was typically able to fill
United States and Europe. Musical.ly’s users cre- from the United States.” his rallies without an issue. The online invita-
ated 15-second to 1-minute lip-sync music videos. On Thursday, Trump signed a pair tion was sent out to the campaign’s entire
ByteDance then merged the two apps under the of executive orders targeting Tik- mailing list. Seeing over a million people sign
TikTok name in August 2018. Tok and another Chinese app, We- up probably “made it seem like there were
Chat. The order takes effect in 45 more people interested than they thought,
days and prohibits U.S. companies which probably means [the Trump cam-
or people form transacting with paign] did less to drive people to the event,”
RIGHT: A TikTok image from a smartphone ByteDance. said former Obama administration official
in New York. From the perspective of teens Tim Fullerton.
flooding onto TikTok, the online video app is
a major new outlet for self-expression.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Can Microsoft stabilize TikTok’s unsteady future?

On Aug.2, Microsoft announced it was looking to buy the U.S. and other divisions from
Global downloads (Social media apps from 2014 to present) ByteDance by Sept. 15. Trump’s executive order Thursday to ban TikTok in 45 days unless
a U.S. company purchases the app adds new pressure on ByteDance to sell. The execu-
WhatsApp tive order states that China “continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy,
and economy of the United States. At this time, action must be taken to address the
Messenger
threat posed by one mobile application in particular, TikTok.” Also this week, Trump sug-
Facebook gested that any purchase should result in “a very substantial portion” of the price going
to the U.S. However, there is no legal precedent for any payment of that kind to the Trea-
Instagram
sury and some experts question the legality of the executive order. Caught offguard, Tik-
Tiktok Tok said the order violates the law. The Chinese media has likened Trump’s suggestions
for the U.S. to profit from the transaction to a “smash and grab.”
Snapchat
TikTok is loved by Americans and intends to stay, ByteDance CEO Zhang
IN BILLIONS 0 1 2 3 4 5 Yiming (left) said in a memo to Chinese employees on Tuesday. But un-
Sensor Tower estimates THE ASSOCIATED PRESS certainty over its future has caused some influencers to flee the platform
as rival apps make moves into the market. Triller, one of TikTok’s competi-
Though it was only released worldwide in August 2018, TikTok has quickly become one of tors, has seen explosive growth in the wake of Trump’s actions, going from
the most used social media applications the world, with over 2 billion downloads. the 1,048th-most downloaded app to the second-most in a week.
GI

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U

A MA RG
R CH BE
I/BLO O M
Sources: The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Sensor Tower, DataReportal JUSTIN MORRISON/TIMES-DISPATCH