File puptcrit/puptcrit.0702, message 116


From: Stephen Kaplin <skactw-AT-tiac.net>
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:48:16 -0500
To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] shadows on the walls of the cave


Scho;ars seem evenly divided as to whether shadow theater was first 
developed  in India or China. But some scholars think that, more 
likely, it was developed in Central Asia. The round animal skin yurts 
that the Asiatic nomads used, lit from the inside at night, might have 
served as the shadow screen for shamanic rituals.

The earliest reference to shadow theater in Chinese literature seems to 
bear this hypothesis out. An Emperor of the Han Dynasty (1st or 2nd 
century BC) was distraught by the death of his favorite consort. He was 
unable to govern so his ministers had to effect a cure. They found an 
old magician, who set up a tent in the Emperor's chamber and then 
conjured up the shadow image of the beloved's spirit-- thus curing the 
Emperor of his grief and saving the empire.

However apocryphal this legend may be, it certainly seems to point to 
the early use of shadow puppets as a technique for communicating with 
spirits, a direct window into the "other world". This belief is still 
prevalent is southern Asia, especially in Java and Bali. It certainly 
makes sense that such beliefs and practices were also found in 
prehistoric Africa and Europe. Perhaps Plato's reference to the shadows 
in the cave was a rationalizing of what was by then considered to be a 
somewhat archaic magical ritual. I think Eileen Blumenthal's book has 
much to say concerning the ritual/shamanic roots of puppet theater.
Any other educated pupt-theorists have anything to add to this?

Stephen
On Feb 10, 2007, at 11:17 PM, Tina Farmilo wrote:

> Re Fred T.' s riff on shadows on the walls of the cave -
>
>
>
> .That one might imagine the cave paintings at Lascaux coming to life 
> (or
> appearing to do so ) in the flickering light of a fire. I was thinking 
> that
> perhaps the imagination of early man might have been 'sparked' by this 
> or
> seeing his own shadow move over the walls of the cave. I wondered, 
> too, if
> this might have been the precursor to shadow puppetry. Further, I 
> wondered
> if perhaps early man - say, the creator of the 'Venus of Willenburg' 
> wished
> somehow that he could animate this figure? I mean, was that the next 
> step?
>
>
>
> All very naive, I suppose, but I wanted some way to 'find' a beginning 
> of
> puppetry. A stretch, no doubt. I'm no scholar. But at least the 
> 'imagery'
> (no pun intended) - the 'possibility' works for me. One could say that 
> the
> conclusions arrived at by archaeologists, based upon a fragment are
> speculative at best. An educated guess, perhaps?
>
> Any takers?
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Fred T.
>
>
>
> -- reminds me of the famous  bit in the "Republic" (Plato: 427-347 
> B.C.)
> where Socrates is trying to enlighten his pupil about the nature of
> philosophy and truth... my italics.
>
>
>
> [Socrates] And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature 
> is
> enlightened or unenlightened: --Behold! human beings living in a 
> underground
> cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along 
> the
> cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and
> necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, 
> being
> prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and 
> behind
> them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the 
> prisoners
> there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built 
> along
> the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of 
> them,
> over which they show the puppets.
>
> [Glaucon] I see.
>
> [Socrates] And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying 
> all
> sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and 
> stone
> and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are 
> talking,
> others silent.
>
> [Glaucon] You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange 
> prisoners.
>
>
> [Socrates] Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own 
> shadows,
> or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite 
> wall of
> the cave?
>
> [Glaucon] True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows 
> if they
> were never allowed to move their heads?
>
> [Socrates] And of the objects which are being carried in like manner 
> they
> would only see the shadows?
>
> [Glaucon] Yes, he said.
>
> [Socrates] And if they were able to converse with one another, would 
> they
> not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?
>
> [Glaucon] Very true.
>
> [Socrates] And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came 
> from
> the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the 
> passers-by
> spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow?
>
> [Glaucon] No question, he replied.
>
> [Socrates] To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but 
> the
> shadows of the images.
>
> [Glaucon] That is certain.
>
>
>
> . and so forth. The Allegory of the Cave can be found in Book VII of 
> Plato's
> best-known work, The Republic... here in translation by Benjamin Jowett
> (Vintage, 1991)
>
>
>
> Love the list - never know what it will spark next!
>
>
>
> Cheers!
>
> Tina
>
> OneYellowDog studio
>
>
>
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