From: mjm <mmoynihan-AT-wi.rr.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 14:31:02 -0600
To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] another note on TV and lip sync


As I grew up as a kid in Wisconsin I was very much a fan of Warner 
Brothers Looney Tunes. Today I still prefer highly stylized animation 
over attempts at realistic/naturalistic animation. My first memories of 
puppets were the sock puppets my mother made for us. On TV it was, of 
course, "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" and Howdy Doody.

My tastes have remain the same despite years, experience and training. 
When I initially studied theatre in college it was in a very 
naturalistic/Stanislavski influenced department. So when given a chance 
to study highly stylized and presentational Kabuki & Noh, it opened my 
eyes to other traditions (Commedia del Arte, circus arts, mime & 
pantomime, musicals, Bunraku, etc.). I still prefer everything to be as 
non reality/naturalistic as possible. Engaging and employing the 
audience's imagination to use it's abilities to give the form & subject 
matter of the art some highly subjective meaning/content is what it is 
all about for me.

I can understand how lip syncing becomes important in the early days of 
TV, which even today is still dominated by talking heads. But, and this 
is just my highly subjective opinion, the more realistic/naturalistic 
puppetry or animation or theatre tries to become, the less interesting, 
engaging and artistic it is for me.

Also, I would never want to be in the position to have to "certify" the 
professionalism or quality of another artist. Life is too short and art 
is too long and wide and deep for such things.

  Hippocrates may have been meaning the medical arts,
but I think this quote applies to much more:

=93Life is short,
But the art is long,
Opportunity fleeting,
The experiment perilous."

mjm
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