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Puppets)
A puppet is a
made or found object, usually but not
necessarily representing a character,
used in play or a presentation. There
are many kinds of puppet and they are
usually sculpted or modelled, sometimes
simple in the extreme, and sometimes
highly sophisticated artifacts. A puppet
may be operated directly by a puppeteer,
or indirectly - by the use of strings,
for example, or by other mechanical
contrivance or even remotely by
electronic guidance. Puppets moved by
strings are also known as
marionettes (from the medieval
Passion play figure attributed to Marion
or the young Mary, the mother of Jesus)
or worn in costume. Puppets may also be
animated by using
stop motion animation.
A general distinction
between a puppet and an
automaton is the former is mostly
operated live and the latter is mostly
programmed (for example a coin-operated
automata-show or piano-roll sideshow
figure).
History of the
Puppet
Persian
puppetry
There are two people
involved in the performance: a musical
performer and a person called morshed.
The dialogue is between morshed and the
puppets. The method of performance, its
characters and the techniques used in
writing the puppet show make it unique
and distinguish it from other types of
puppetry. Also, a new genre of Iranian
puppetry emerged during
Qajar era. Puppetry is still very
popular in Iran,
Rostam and Sohrab puppet opera being
a notable example.
Asian puppetry
Puppetry flourished
in
China, originally in pi-ying xi,
the "theater of the lantern shadows",
or, as it is more commonly known today,
as
Chinese shadow theater. In
Taiwan,
budaixi is prevalent.
Japan has many forms of puppetry.
Perhaps the most internationally famous
is the
bunraku, where the puppets are
operated by three puppeteers in full
view of the audience.
India,
Java,
Vietnam and
Thailand also have a strong
tradition of puppetry. In Thailand,
Hun Krabok, rod-puppet theater, is
the most popular form of puppetry.
Vietnam developed the art form of
mua roi nuoc, a water puppetry
unique to that country. In Java,
wayang kulit, a form of shadow
puppetry, is popular.
European
puppetry
The roots of European
puppetry grew from the
commedia dell'arte tradition.
Travelling performers who practiced this
"low culture" art often performed in
half-masks or with puppets.
The strong Italian
tradition of marionettes flourished in
the 18th century, producing many
skillful performances, including the
tragedy
Dr. Faust. Many of these
marionettes survive to this day, and
allow students of the art to marvel at
their highly defined controls.
In the 19th century,
the marionettes of the master
Pietro Radillo became even more
complex. Instead of just the rod and two
strings, Radillo's marionettes were
controlled by as many as eight strings,
thus increasing the control over the
individual body parts of the
marionettes.
Another grand
tradition of this time is that of the
opera dei pupi. This form of
puppetry, made popular in
Sicily, used rod marionettes,
operated from above by a combination of
strings and metal rods. The subject
matter drew from the medieval epics of
the
Charlemagne knights. These ongoing
dramas unfolded over many performances.
Kinds of
puppets
-
Marionette - a puppet
suspended and controlled by a number
of strings held from above by a
puppeteer. Strings are sometimes
attached to rods above which the
puppeteer can use to control various
parts of the puppet's body.
-
Supermarionation - an
electronic variant with control
wires substituted that connected
internal mechanisms in the puppet.
-
Supercrappymation - Dubbed by
Trey Parker and Matt Stone as the
type of
Supermarionation used to film
Team America: World Police. As
it's name suggests, it is filmed in
a way to make it look more
intentionally cheap and rudimentary
than is necessary.
-
Hand puppet - a puppet
controlled by one hand that occupies
the interior of the puppet. Larger
varieties of hand puppets place the
puppeteer's hand in just the
puppet's head, controlling the mouth
and head, and the puppet's body then
hangs over the entire arm; other
parts of the puppet (mainly arms,
but special variants exist with
manipulatable eyelids, the mouth may
also open and close); these are
usually not much larger than the
hand itself. A
sock puppet is a particularly
simple type of hand puppet made from
a sock.
-
Muppet - A term referring to
some of the puppets constructed by
the
Jim Henson Company. Often
erroneously used to refer to puppets
that resemble those of
the Muppet Show or built by
the Henson Company.
-
Black light
puppet - a kind of puppet that
is operated on a stage lit only with
black lighting which both hides
the puppeteer and accentuates the
colours of the puppet.
-
Light curtain
puppet - Puppetry is performed
by puppeteers dressed all in black
performing on a stage with a black
background. (Most commonly the
background and the clothes are made
of black velvet). The lighting is
specially done so that there is
essentially a line on the stage,
where on one side there is light and
on the other is darkness. The
puppeteers push the puppets over the
line into the light, while the
puppeteers are unseen because they
blend into the black unlit
background. Puppets of all sizes and
types may be categorized under this
umbrella term since this form allows
a wide range of puppets, controlled
by one or many puppeteers. From a
small bee controlled by one
puppeteer to a majestic dragon
controlled by ten. The original
concept of this puppet form is
traced to Bunraku puppetry where the
light technique was first used.
-
Sovlaki -
First developed in Medieval Greece,
this form of puppetry functions by
amputating the fingers of the
puppeteer and replacing them with
wooden figurines. These are
attatched by leather straps tied
around the wrists. Sovlaki often
retold the stories of the Gods of
Ancient Greece. The protagonist was
often a grotesquely carved demon,
and stories have been told of the
narrator eating chicken beaks while
performing ritualistic exorcisms.
The puppets are said to have "come
to life" during the performance.
Forms of this today include "The
Sovlaki Convention" in a peasant
yard in Greece, and "The TT
Travelling Troupe" which is said to
be the most disturbing of all puppet
shows.
-
Bunraku - Originally
developed in
Japan over a thousand years ago,
a form of puppetry where puppets are
controlled by individuals dressed
all in black. Originally, the
puppeteers dressed all in black
would become invisible when standing
against a black background, while
the torches illuminated only the
wood carved puppets. While the
traditional Bunraku theater is found
mostly in Japan, the modern use of
the Bunraku would be in black light
or light curtain puppet theater.
-
Ventriloquist
dummy - A puppet operated by
a ventriloquist performer to focus
the audience's attention from the
performer's activities and heighten
the illusions. They are called
dummies because they do not speak on
their own.
-
Rod puppet
- A puppet with articulated joints,
similar to a marionette, but
operated from below by stiff rods,
rather than from above by strings.
"Punching Puppet" toys are rod
puppets. Punching Puppet Trivia: the
head of the Punching Puppet Nun
(from
Archie McPhee / Accoutrements
and
American Science and Surplus,
primary Punching Puppet Nun
suppliers) is the same head from the
older
Margaret Thatcher Punching
Puppet, prompting a claim of
Anti-Catholicism by the
Catholic League
(citation).
-
Marotte -
A simplified rod puppet that is just
a head and/or body on a stick. In a
marotte à main prenante, the
puppeteer's other arm emerges from
the body (which is just a cloth
drape) to act as the puppet's arm.
-
Shadow puppet
- A (usually) 2-dimensional rod
puppet that is operated behind a
screen. A light source projected
from the rear creates a shadow of
the puppet on the screen that can be
seen by the audience.
-
Water puppetry
- A puppet form almost exclusively
done in Vietnam. The puppets are
built out of wood and the shows are
performed in a waist high pool. A
large rod supports the puppet under
the water and is used by the
puppeteers to control them. The
appearance is of various puppets
moving over water. The origin of
this form dates back seven hundred
years when the rice field would
flood and the villagers would
entertain each other. Eventually
villages would compete against each
other with their puppet shows. This
lead puppet societies to be
secretive and exclusive, including
an initiation ceremony involving
drinking rooster blood. Only
recently were women allowed to join
the puppet troops.
-
Wayang -
Indonesian puppet. The
Indonesian archipelago has many rich
puppetry traditions.
-
Human-arm
puppet - also called a
two-man puppet, it is similar to
a hand puppet but is larger and
requires two puppeteers; one
puppeteer places a hand inside the
puppet's head and operates its head
and mouth; the other puppeteer wears
gloves and special sleeves attached
to the puppet in order to become the
puppet's arms, so that the puppet
can perform arbitrary hand gestures.
-
BuDaiXi -
Chinese puppet show, somewhat
similar to the Japanese ones, with
people in the background (or
underground) controlling the
puppets. Some very experienced
puppeteers can perform them with
various stunts (e.g. somersault in
the air).
-
Digital puppet - Digitally
animated figure that is performed by
a puppeteer in real-time using a
data input device and rendered by a
computer using computer graphics
software.
-
Finger puppet
- An extremely simple puppet variant
that fits onto a single finger.
Finger puppets normally have no
moving parts and consist primarily
of a hollow cylinder shape to cover
the finger.
-
Push puppet - A push puppet
consists of a segmented character on
a base that is kept under tension
until the button on the bottom is
pressed. The puppet wiggles, slumps
and then collapses.
-
Giant puppet
- often used in parades and
protests, these figures are at least
the size of a human and often much
larger. One or more performers are
required to move the body and limbs.
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