File puptcrit/puptcrit.0701, message 67


Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2007 20:35:10 -0600 (CST)
From: Charles Taylor <cecetaylor-AT-verizon.net>
To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] What is it about puppets?


What a great subject! I had to read the article: It stimulated a lot of 
thoughts. 

I too have puppets on display in my living room that frequently creates an 
unsetteling response from guest. Occaisonaly a visitor will be very outspoken 
about his or her discomfort with these =93things=94.  These =93things=94 happen to be 
an exquisite pair of Punch and Judy puppets made by Wayne Barolow an 
extrodinary puppeteer from the nineteen thirties, forties and fifties. These 
puppets were costumed by Francis Oznowics, (mother of Frank Oz). They had been 
given to Bob Bromley and then Bob Bromley passed them on to me.

 I believe Wayne Barlow once was in business with Bob Baker manyyears ago.  I 
recently saw a nineteen forty movie, Blackbeard in which the marionettes were 
made by Wayne Barlow and Bob Baker. John Carridene played the master puppeteer 
that was murdering  ladies in Paris. 

I lhave long held a theory that the interest or fascination in puppetry is a 
natural phenomenon that stems from our primitive needs for self preservation. 
Humor me please. Now just imagine you are walking down a dark street on a 
windy night. No one is around. The wind makes the trees and bushes move. The 
junipers are swaying. The moon is out. Perhaps clouds make the night light 
flicker.  This is a theme in many horror movies when the young engenue crosses 
the dark park.  You are alert, your eyes constantly scan for something that 
moves, that might jump out at you. You watch the shadows for shape, size and 
eyes that gleam in the dark. Goosebumps rise on your skin. The hair on the nap 
of our neck is up. You are genuinely scared. Maybe you whistle or maybe you 
are as quiet as possible to not be seen yourself. Not until you are in the 
safety of your home can you relax and even laugh at the foolishness of  your 
imagination. 

When very young children, say three maybe four years old, see puppets they 
think they are =93real=94 live creatures. This may frighten them. Experencied 
puppeteers know to move the puppet away from a frightened child so as not to 
further any fear, crying or screaming. 

How many parents forced their young infants to sit on the lap of Santa Claus 
while the child screamed in terror?  Why would a child scream? Because they 
don=92t see Santa the way adults do. Our experience and traditions tell us he is 
benevolent, kind and filled with generosity. The child may see him very 
differently. He=92s  a stranger, hairy, old,  he smells funny, maybe he=92s a 
smoker.  The child is asked to sit on his lap in close proximity and must 
touch and be touched by this stranger. The child is not able to communicate 
it=92s fears to the parents and so cries in fear or frustration.   The parent is 
perplexed as to why the child isn=92t more cooperative for this photo that is to 
be sent to all the relatives as a Christmas card.

But as children have more experience with puppets they come to realize that 
just because it moves, dances and talks, it does not  pose a threat.  Then the 
pretense, the suspension of disbelief, makes the puppet more enjoyable.  

As we gain knowledge of what makes the things go bump in the night, we lose 
our fear. We become more sophisticated about the environment and enjoy the 
savoriness of the complex world about us.  That=92s what holds our fascination 
with puppetry. We know they aren=92t alive but we like to suspend our disbelief.  
Our =93fascination/repulsion=94  holds our attention.

In Japan, I=92ve heard told, that the puppeteers remove the heads of the Bunraku 
puppets at night to prevent them from coming alive and causing mischief.  So 
this fear maybe univerasal.  We are afraid of most human effigies that move, 
puppets, automata, vet figures, statues, manikins etc. etc. etc. 

Puppets are inanimate objects in which they are =93given=94 life through the 
animation or manipulation by the puppeteer.  My wife likes to agrue that there 
is a fine line between dolls and puppets. Her contention is that a child 
playing with dolls gives them animation through  interaction though usually a 
very close and interpersonal relationship  with the child and doll.

I do question the objectivity of a psychologist, psychiatrist or analyst using 
the word =93dead=94 when refering to an inanimate object.  Didn=92t they learn in 
high school the difference between objects once alive eventually become dead 
but objects never alive, such as a rock, cannot be dead? Trees, flowers, 
crocodiles, humans, fish eventualy die and become dead. But rocks, plastic, 
wire, beads, cloth, are not thought of as dead or even the undead. That is a 
bit too much. 

Now puppeteers maybe a bit more jaded about puppets than the average Joe. But 
really, a college educated adult that claims to understand the human mind  
should have a better understanding and knowledge of art, theater, and the 
differenece of animate and inanimate obejects  to be taken seriously.  I would 
have to dismiss anything the article by Paska or Heinrich von Kleist=92s seminal 
1810 essay had to say as being very uninformed and predjudicial.  Perhaps they 
were struggling to understand their own fear of their creepiness reaction and 
could not express very well their feelings through lack of personal 
experience.  



>From: Ed Atkeson <edatkeson-AT-earthlink.net>
>Date: 2007/01/03 Wed PM 12:42:08 CST
>To: Puptcrit <puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org>
>Subject: [Puptcrit] What is it about puppets?

>There was a string a few months back on the subject of "what is it 
>about puppets?" or something like.
>
>Pertaining to that, I've come across this article from 1998 on the 
>creepiness of puppetry. Includes comments from puppeteer Roman Pasca.
>http://www.firlefanzgallery.com/creepypupp.html
>
>best,
>Ed
>
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