Children & Puppetry

This video is a clip from the TV Show "Dinosaurs"

The reason I chose this video to represent the relationship between adult and children's puppetry is because the show itself is a show for both children and adults, having elements which appeal to both, and this scene makes a tongue-in-cheek comment about the very idea of puppetry being for both children and adults.

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This is a link to the website for the Madcap Puppet Theater company

Madcap Puppet Theatre creates and performs original children's theatre productions, and in-school educational programs that include performances, workshops and residencies. These educational productions address issues such as conflict resolution, health, safety, the environment, and social concerns.

Violence in Puppetry

On the topic of violence in puppetry, there is a wide array of forms it can take. It can range from the very docile and comical, such as a muppet on sesame street bonking another one on the head with a rubber hammer, to the very harsh and gruesome, like one puppet murdering another on stage. This great variety allows for violence to be used in a lot of different ways. Whether the purpose is to entertain, inform, or frighten, the manner in which the violence is portrayed makes all the difference. If you had the intent of being funny you wouldn't set the action to eerie, suspenseful music with ominous lighting. If you wanted to inform the viewer on the harsh reality of spousal abuse, you wouldn't have the husband puppet bop the wife puppet on the head with a frying pan. There are merits to each form that violence can take in puppetry, but the one I will be discussing is violence for the sake of comedy.

      In creating acts of violence in a comedic fashion using puppets there are things you can do that can help  make it successful: exaggerate the characters or the movement style, use puppets which are ridiculous or non-human, add comical sounds or music, and so on. In Jim Henson's "Labyrinth" there is lots of violence that is shown for comedic effect, which fits in the general goofiness of the movie itself. The example I'll discuss is a scene which depicts goblin soldiers who've captured a large, dopey ogre named Ludo. As they taunt him and jab at him with weapons fashioned from little sharp-toothed animals tied to sticks, the protagonist Sarah hears Ludo's cries. We discover Ludo possesses the ability to summon rocks and boulders with his voice when he lets out a deep hum and a rock rolls to Sarah's feet. She picks it up and tosses it at one of the soldier's heads. It knocks his helmet around and sets in motion a ridiculous display of the soldiers all swatting at each other, biting each other on the bum with their weapons, and scrambling away "three stooges" style. Ludo is suspended upside down, bound with rope, so when Sarah lets him down he lands on his head with an "Oof!"
     This scene is funny because of how it is portrayed. The characters are cartoonish, they speak in exaggerated voices, there are silly sound effects every time someone gets hurt. Also, the fact that Ludo is a big, loveable, furry lummox and the goblin soldiers are angry, masked, armored goons lets you side with Ludo emotionally and laugh when his enemies are harmed. The lack of any gore or life-threatening injuries also makes this more lighthearted. When Ludo lands on his head, we laugh because he makes a funny sound when he falls, and we see immediately that he gets up and is unharmed. This movie is full of scenes like this and serves as a good example for comical violence in puppetry.

Blog 3: Ol' Crutch-face

My favorite puppet in chapter 4 has to be the one dubbed "Crutch-face" on the top of page 101. It is from American puppet legend Bil Baird, who created it for his 1960's show "Science Fiction". The incredibly simple construction of the puppet is what drew me in. It's interesting how so little can go into making a puppet that has such great character to it. The puppet is a grey-ish kidney bean shape with a little down-turned stitch for his mouth and two cylinder pegs for eyes jutting out the side which are supported by crutches, which serve as his legs. Crutch-face is a marionette puppet and walks around by rotating each of his crutch-legs full circle. Unfortunately I was unable to find a single video, website, or even image of anything from the "Science Fiction" show, let alone Crutch-face himself. However, I can only imagine how interesting it would be to watch the puppet in motion. Crutch-face is an example of how a puppet can make a great character: a simple yet intriguing design, with a little bit of weird. I would love to find some more information on the other puppets from "Science Fiction", namely ol' Crutch-face. Perhaps I'll just keep endlessly perusing the internet...

Discussion Question

"What is important about the types of stories and issues told and explored by puppets?"

"Puppets can tell stories that cannot necessarily be performed by humans, such as stories involving the supernatural or extreme fantasy elements. Puppets are also capable of exploring issues that would otherwise be inappropriate for humans to perform, taking something that could easily offend and make it less so, allowing for the audience to appreciate the message."

Why I Love Puppets

If you were to ask me what opened my eyes to the world of puppetry and really sparked my passion for it, I would have 2 words for you: Jim Henson. Now, like most people I have been well acquainted with the Muppets since I was old enough to form memories. Whether it was Sesame Street, the Muppet Show, or any of the various Muppet movies, I watched them religiously and loved every minute of it. However, these are not what peaked my interest; to me they were comparable to cartoon characters, not living breathing things. No, what really did it for me were two of Henson's movies he created in the 80's, completely outside the world of the Muppets, that some people may not have heard of:  Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal.

I list these two movies together because I honestly can't recall which one I saw first, they were essentially a package deal as far as I was concerned (despite the fact that they have nothing to do with each other); I almost always watched them in tandem. The puppetry in both of these movies was phenomenal for their time, and when I watched them I honestly believed that they were real. Sure, if you were to look at them now you'd probably say that it doesn't look all that convincingly realistic, but to a child (especially one with an imagination like mine) they were pretty damn real. The character design, the quality of their construction, and the performance of the puppeteers in both movies were great. And while it is easy to draw similarities between these puppets and the Muppets, they are clearly in a different league. If I had to say which movie between the two had more impact, it would be The Dark Crystal. Yes, Labyrinth contributed a lot to my love of puppets, but The Dark Crystal contains altogether more impressive and realistic looking puppets. This is largely due to the fact that The Dark Crystal is a more dramatic fantasy movie, while Labyrinth has a certain silliness to it (I mean, David Bowie plays a lead character in the movie). Also The Dark Crystal, unlike Labyrinth, contains no human characters, only puppets. This makes the world much more immersive and makes you forget that there's a whole crew of puppeteers manipulating these things off-camera.

I didn't walk away from these films immediately imbued with a love for puppetry, desiring to go out and start building and manipulating puppets, but the experience of watching these films is an integral part of why I have such passion for puppets today.