Abstract:
Puppets are very tied to people, not just because of their often anthropomorphic form or that they are sometimes literally connected with strings, but because the puppet/puppeteer dynamic creates a system, related to and powered by the movement of humans. This system is able to communicate to the viewer ideas and stories to educate or entertain. I will identify the relevance of puppetry to animism and how research about the uncanny and the vitality of objects supports the significant role puppets play in connecting humanity to
material. I am interested in the interaction which exists between person and object. Puppets are inanimate objects which can be moved and performed, meaning they can be used as a tool of communication to explore any conversation in reality. There are many types of puppets across different cultures around the world. Some of these include, but are by no means limited to, string puppets, rod puppets, and hand puppets. Some historians locate the earliest documentation of puppetry in India, while others locate them in Ancient Greece (Jurkowski par. 2). Early evidence of puppetry suggests they were used for re-enactment or story telling involving entities where humans could not take on these roles for fear of putting themselves in danger, the puppet has “a power to give form to gods and demons, to the spirits of the dead; it is a tool to convey the substance of ancient truths” (Gross 5). Charlotte Graham describes puppets as being not just reserved for children, incorporating adult subtexts and “acting surreptitiously as agents and facilitators of dialogue that explored and exposed polemic issues of the day” (1). European marionettes, a type of string puppet, are usually doll-like figures with articulated joints. Each body part is attached to a string which, when pulled, creates movement. Rod puppets use long sticks attached to the puppet’s body parts to be moved and animated. Karetao, which are traditional Māori puppets carved from wood, are often animated using hand-held rods to support the figures and muka cords to pull and animate the articulated joints. James Webster’s karetao-pūoro (singing puppets) also feature the ability to make music like a wooden musical instrument. He explains in an interview with Laura Bootham of Radio New Zealand that “some of them have taken the form of instruments that you can use as puppets, but you can also play them as instruments so these puppets have a musical voice” (par. 8). Charlotte Graham describes the significance of karetao as “agents of spiritual and physical healing”, being a lost art form revitalised by current artists such as herself with her exhibition Ngā Karetao (2005) (3). Jim Henson brought puppetry to mainstream media, particularly in America, with his foam and fabric hand puppets called ‘muppets’. Muppets are often controlled using two puppeteers, the main performer controls the left hand and mouth while a support puppeteer controls the right hand.