From: "William E. Elston" <william-e-AT-elston.net>
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2010 13:44:55 -0800
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Who is a puppeteer? What is a puppet?


I have seen puppet and ventriloquist acts where the "puppet" was an inanimate object that was never animated. It remained inanimate, but was imbued with "life" by the performer's and the audience's imaginations. In such a case it is the imagination that is being "manipulated". Such things are even more common in ritual, where behaviors and traits of objects are inferred as part of the ritual narrative. I recall a puppeteer on the Ed Sullivan show whose "puppet" was a box. A voice emanated from within that represented the unseen inhabitant of the box. In performance, as in all art, Coleridge's "suspension of disbelief" plays a large part.

-William Elston
 
On Jan 8, 2010, at 1:26 PM, malgosia askanas wrote:

> Well, I would say (in line with what been suggested here) that 
> "manipulating an object like a puppet" ("puppeteering an object", so 
> to speak) means animating it - i.e. endowing it, through one's 
> actions and in the context of a performance (live or recorded, 
> including film) with certain capabilities, movements, features and 
> roles normally associated with animate beings.  In fact, I would take 
> "puppeteering" as the primary concept, and then define a conventional 
> puppet (an object that "is a puppet", rather than just "becoming a 
> puppet" for the duration of an appropriate manipulation) as a 
> specialized object created and equipped for the express purpose of 
> being puppeteered.
> 
> -m
> 
> At 3:55 PM -0500 1/8/10, Hobey Ford wrote:
>> That is true Malgosia.  I guess the confusing thing is what does
>> "maniipulated like a puppet" really mean?
>> 
>> On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 12:41 PM, malgosia askanas <ma-AT-panix.com> wrote:
>>> It seems to me that a car, a brick, an image, or any object can
>>> _become_ a puppet if and while it is manipulated like a puppet.
>>> Just as a meadow, a table-top or a street corner can become a theater
>>> if and while it is used as a theater.  No?
>>> 
>>> -m
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>>> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
>>> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
>>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
>> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
> 
> _______________________________________________
> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
> 

_______________________________________________
List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
Archives: http://www.driftline.org