File puptcrit/puptcrit.0805, message 124


From: Fred Greenspan <greenspan-AT-earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 22:19:06 -0400
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Avoiding racism in caricature


Yes, Alan, it looks like people with different political agendas have  
been debating the different sides of this issue for a long time.  
Maybe there is a puppet show in the Sally Hemmings controversy?

Cheers,
Fred

On May 6, 2008, at 8:00 PM, Alan Cook wrote:

> Jefferson's Black relatives to current knowledge were the probable  
> offspring of the nephew, but there is still the problem of Sally  
> Hemmings.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Fred Greenspan
> Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2008 12:42 PM
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Avoiding racism in caricature
>
> Alan, to give you a further update on Thomas Jefferson, when we were
> at his site last year our tour guide told me that the latest  DNA
> tests had shown that those believed to be living decendents actually
> traced back to his "wayward" unmarried nephew who lived on his
> estate. According to the tour guide, none could be traced directly to
> Thomas Jefferson. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but is
> certainly plausable. Perhaps you would care to research it?
>
> Fred
>
> On May 6, 2008, at 6:11 PM, Alan Cook wrote:
>
>> I like Suze's approach.
>>
>> And she's right about how things change. I just wish it was always
>> for improvement.
>>
>> Decades ago I visited the home of former President Thomas
>> Jefferson, and asked the lovely white lady in charge of admission,
>> what information did they have about Jefferson's black relatives?
>> It was all lies and a communist plot, the end!  That basically is
>> what I was told.
>>
>> Nowdays there have been Jefferson family reunions of Black & white
>> descendents, and the article I read read so long ago in Ebony
>> Magazine turned out NOT to be lies or a communist plot. We can
>> always hope that truth will eventually surface. But we also have to
>> keep things in context.
>>
>> As long as the war in Iraq continues, healthcare diminishes,
>> children continue to be left behind and hungry, homeowners are
>> dispossesed, our military gets umpteen tours of duty, and the
>> dollar value drops  I don't think we are in a position to be overly
>> critical of what people did in 1909/1910.
>>
>> ALAN COOK
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: SuzPuppetCosmos-AT-aol.com
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2008 10:51 AM
>> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Avoiding racism in caricature
>>
>> Hi Creaturise
>> I think  the symbolism strikes responses
>> sometimes good sometimes not so good
>> because of experience or  inexperience and  ignorance.
>> We either know too much
>> or not enough lol.!!
>> But that should never stop the messenger!
>> Years ago for a Library I made a line of story puppets
>> and performed then gave them the characters.
>> It was a basically white protestant community.
>> My George Washington was black (I have his picture before  costuming)
>> One of the audience said
>> "Was George Washington a 'colored guy'"?
>> I told him no but this actor is and he is doing a good job  isn't he?
>> They agreed.
>> I am Northern Italian with ancestry of Turkey
>>  and I never did care much for stupid  rules.
>> Suze
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> In a message dated 5/6/2008 10:15:24 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
>> creaturiste-AT-primus.ca writes:
>>
>> Hi  all.
>>
>> The current discussion about minstrel shows brings me to think
>> again on a
>> recurring topic in my creative process.
>> For a long time in  the past, I was blocked, something prevented me
>> from
>> doing puppets other  than "white", for fear of shocking or being
>> erroneously
>> called a racist. I  was affraid of caricature-like and grotesque
>> features to
>> be interpreted as  a generalisation, as a mockery of a large group
>> of people.
>>
>> Today I  realise what a waste of time that block was! so many
>> faces, so many
>> fun  shapes could have been learned and applied! I know for a fact
>> I am not,
>> nor could ever be racist. I love human variety too much, am
>> fascinated by
>> it.
>> I'm of confirmed "mixed origins" myself, with ancestry from French,
>> Scottish, American, and Native American. I often wished one of
>> those could
>> show more, so that I could be a bit more "exotic", but I'm already  
>> too
>> "diluted".
>> LoL.
>>
>> When I do a caricature, I am mocking a specific  person, maybe a
>> specific
>> type of person, according to their inner  characteristics. An evil
>> greedy man
>> can be of any group. It still hard to  avoid cliches, because of
>> the large
>> amount of them in pop culture. Not too  long ago, I realised that
>> no matter
>> what I do to represent these inner  traits, I'll resort to physical
>> attributes, because that's just how humans  perceive things:
>> through symbols
>> and associations.
>> And no matter what I  do, I can't be making everybody happy. Some
>> will find
>> offense. Someone  could actually find a puppet of mine that looks
>> like them
>> (without my  intent)! There always seems to be a few "offended"
>> that would
>> censor  you.
>>
>> I've been lucky so far in regards to censorship. Maybe it's
>> because my
>> creatures have not been specific-enough to identify them to an
>> ethnic group.
>> Most of them are fantasy creatures of strange colors, far  enough
>> away from
>> anygroup to not cause any stir.
>>
>> I'll probably  start making portraits in modeling clay soon, as a
>> study of
>> the human  face. I might even put those skills to work, start
>> offering a
>> puppet  portrait service, caricatured or not.  So I'm glad that
>> self-imposed
>> block of mine is almost entirely gone!
>>
>>
>> What do you think are  the causes for people's anger towards
>> interpretation
>> of human  features?
>> What else does that bring to mind?
>> As always, I'm very  curious!
>>
>>
>>
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