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.
