Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:25:25 -0800 To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org From: The Independent Eye <eye-AT-independenteye.org> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Puppetphobia/Fear of puppets Seems like this would depend a lot on whether it's in performance or in an exhibit. Also, the nature of the eyes. With rare exceptions, a frozen puppet looks like a staring corpse. Personally, I have a touch of fear when I see things that look like dead people - including my own puppets, sometimes - but not when I see dead people. With clowns, I think it's more the nature of the energy that's projected, and not necessarily related to how "aggressive" it is. I'd walk around the block to avoid even a benign pseudo-clown like Ronald Macdonald, but I'm drawn with delight to a vile aggressive creature like Leo Bassi. There, I guess, the repulsion or "fright" is about a human being encased in an artificial botox persona. As a kid, I watched Howdy Doody and loved Claribel - not sure which one I saw, but definitely an aggressive anarchist. As an adult, I happened to see an old video of the show's last performance, with the legendary final focus on Claribel's face, and Claribel speaking his first-ever words, "Hi kids." I read later that the actor had played it for years, was enormously moved by this moment. For me, this slow zoom to extreme close-up, to the point of seeing stubble under the whiteface, and these words disgorged up from the dark belly of Cthulu, was (and remains) for me a landmark of true horror, a real nightmare-provoker. Not, I think, what the poor guy was trying to convey. It was like some horror movie where the guy's face breaks off and you see what's underneath. This was worse, like the man emerging from mucus. Others, of course, may remember it utterly differently. If I'd seen that as a kid, I might have loved it. I saw Nixon's "Checkers" speech when I was just 11 and thought he was the next Abe Lincoln. How time flies - or goes phloot! In both cases, puppets & clowns, it's probably a memory of some past trauma rather than what they're actually seeing at the moment. Peace & joy- Conrad _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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