Blue Man Group - Themes

Themes

There are a number of different themes found in various Blue Man performances. These themes include:

• Science and technology, especially the topics of plumbing, fractals, human sight, DNA, and the Internet.
• Information overload and information pollution, such as when the audience is asked to choose one of three simultaneous streams of information to read.
• Innocence, as when the Blue Men appear to be surprised and perplexed by common artifacts of modern society or by audience reactions.
• Self-conscious and naïve imitation of cultural norms, such as attempting to stage an elegant dinner for an audience member with Twinkies; or following the Rock Concert Instruction Manual (see below) with the expectation that following a series of instructions is all it takes to put on a rock concert.
• The Outsider. Blue Men always appear as a group of three. This is because not only are Blue Men viewed as outsiders to the rest of the world, but three is the smallest group possible wherein there can be a subgroup of more than one as well as a subgroup of one, the outsider. Many of the Blue Man skits involve one of the three Blue Men performing in a manner inconsistent with the other two.
• Rooftops, or otherwise climbing to the top. There are a number of references, both in visual pieces and in lyrics from the COMPLEX tour, that have a common theme of getting to the roof. This theme is a metaphor for the advice Stanton, Wink, and Goldman drew from Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers's PBS program The Power of Myth and represents "Following your bliss."