Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:19:19 -0400
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
From: malgosia askanas <ma-AT-panix.com>
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] The Case Against Bad Puppetry


To me, it looks like "Ask Blackie" - the show that seems to have 
particularly gotten your goat - has an essentially educational 
ambition: to provide factual informational tidbits about various 
aspects and elements of black culture,  or aspects stereotypically 
associated with black culture, to members of that culture.  It 
attempts to package this in a way that it thinks will be perceived as 
"cool" by its intended audience and will make the "education" go down 
most smoothly.   In that, it seems to me no different  than other 
shows that package education in some pop-culture or infantilizing 
disguise so as to make it more palatable.   The ultimate question 
then is: does it serve its purpose, is it effective at educating?   I 
certainly have no feel for whether "Ask Blackie" is effective at what 
it is trying to do.  As puppetry, it is indeed undistunguished - but 
is that really relevant to the purpose of this particular show?

-m


At 3:51 AM -0400 4/24/09, Andrew wrote:
>I get a lot of submissions for my PuppetVision Blog and see a lot of what
>I've dubbed "YouTube puppet video cliches", shows or videos that rely on
>shock value; puppets having sex, swearing and drinking/doing drugs. I'm
>hardly a prude, but my frustration at seeing this has built over time and
>ended up coming out in post I've dubbed "The Case Against Bad Puppetry" -
>http://www.puppetvision.info/2009/04/case-against-bad-puppetry.html
>
>I'd be curious to hear other people's thoughts on this.
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