Blog response #4

Even though Punch and Judy is perceived more as a comedy than something that is real, it does represent real actions.  Nobody really likes Punch, he abuses Judy, and has unacceptable behavior such as dropping a crying child to make it stop or killing someone for being annoying.  Even though he does not use good decision making practices, he is known for being abusive, and people have grown accustomed to it. 

The way Punch handles different situations sometimes bring humor to very harsh times.  He can take a situation that is bad, and perform it in a way that brings a small amount of humor to the problem.  Using Punch and Judy allows the puppeteers to take an issue such as, a husband physically beating his wife, and present the issue to the public, and use it as a public awareness method.  Doing this, it shows people the issue that is out there, and gives people a wakeup call, but at the same time keeps it where there is not really an emotional attachment between the puppets and the audience. 

Because Punch is a rather well known puppet, and has his own reputation, people do not take him seriously.  And since he is not taken seriously, they can use him to shed light on public issues without it being such a heavy issue. 

I think it is important to use puppets that can perform important issues that would be very difficult emotionally for human actors to perform, because you can use these puppets to show people important information, and when the puppets are brought to life, you do start to believe in them, even though you know that they aren’t real.  Puppets provide a very important role in helping make society aware of different issues that we have in the world.  They are a way of showing things across different cultures as well. 

Check out this link to a Punch and Judy performance:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyLsO6LpLSI

Blog Response #3

After reading about many different characters in chapter 4, I was drawn back to the part about "The Sneeze of Hercules"  The puppet was supposed to be percieved as being so big that all you saw of the puppet while it was on stage was its large nose or giant hand.  I like the idea of this puppet because it leaves your mind wide open for you to use your imagination about what the rest of the puppet would look like, you can make him look however you want, and that allows for the audience to be involved with the puppet show.  This puppet was made this way to show how large the puppet really was, and to make it "fit" into the show.  And again it allowed each person to picture the entire puppet in their own minds however they saw fit for the production.  The traits that the large nose or giant hand conducted through the show was its overall size, so that you could imagine how big the puppet was actaully supposed to look like.  I thought that the idea of making the puppet so large that it didn't fit on the stage or even in teh building, was a great idea.  They could have made the puppet as big as what would fit, and then made everything on a much smaller scale to try adn get the same effect, but I think the way that they did was much better becasue they the audience could compare the size of the puppet to themselves, and it again makes the audience a part of the play.

Blog Response #2

Example #1:  The Water Puppet show was super awesome.  I was amazed at all of the background preparation that goes along with it.  I found it interesting that each puppet had its own name, and they all needed to refer to them the same way otherwise they did not know what each other was talking about.  I found it very interesting that it was choreographed to a symphony.  He used rather simple items such as cloth, feathers, and streamer like materials to make the different puppets in the water tank.  The style he used, where there is no words, just puppets set to music was something that I had never seen before, and was definitely a great way to express it.  The different movements he used with the puppets were great, and how he brought the puppets to life varied; whether it was from the puppeteers moving them with sticks, or just moving the water through the tank and letting the puppets react in their own way.

Example #2:  Ralph Lee is very impressive with his mythical type of puppetry.  He uses masks, and humans as puppets.  They come in different sizes, from the giant woman on the wagon, to the mask and hands on the black curtain.  He works with each of his puppeteers to help them fully understand and show the personality and characteristics of each puppet.  He uses such a small stage, yes his puppets are in various sizes.  His performances are captivating.  His performances some across as an “old” mystical puppet show. 

Example #3:  I was amazed by the size of his puppets.  Many of them were reflective of the Chinese origin, with the giant dragons, and snakes.  Michael did an awesome job of using different colors to promote the story, and he used the size and color and movements to allow people to see the puppets from a long ways away.  I also found it very cool, that he was able to make something so bit in size, to be light weight, and comfortable for the puppeteers or wear and maneuver. 

Blog Response #1

I have very little experience with puppets and puppet performances.  The video we watched during class was one of my first experiences with them.  I was rather surprised with how life like Igor was able to make the puppets.  He brought character and personality to each one of the puppets that he had.  He made each of the puppets with his hands, and yet each one of them had a different background.  Some were more comical, while others were more cuddly and loving, such as the white clown with the young girl.  That girl believed that the puppet was real.  To be honest I was a bit skeptical in the beginning of the video on how this guy was going to make the puppets seem real, and even though I knew that they were made out of wood, and were being controlled by strings, seeing the people in the video interact with them, really made me look past the wood, and that Igor did an amazing job of bringing the inanimate objects come to life.

Igor used different types of music to bring these puppets to life; some were faster beats, while others were slower, and more serious.  Each of the puppets also had a different way of carrying themselves, and even though Igor had control over them, and was responsible for their movement, he also said that they would change how they worked by changing their clothes, or simple washing their jackets. 

I think my favorite puppet that Igor had was the two-legged thing with the really long nose.  It kind of looked like an anteater maybe…I loved its personality that Igor brought to it.  It was a fun puppet, where he would pretend to eat out of the children’s hands, and then would sit in the hands of others.  I loved how once it would pretend to eat out of one child’s hand, the rest of the children would hold out their hands to feed it too, even though they didn’t have any food in their hands and they knew the puppet wasn’t real.

The statement that puppets are not just for kids, but they are for adults as well, was very true in this case.  The adults that stopped to watch Igor and his puppets had just as much fun as the children did.  For some of the people that were regulars for Igor’s performances, they made it into a family outing.  For being one of my first experiences with puppets, my eyes were opened to the idea of bringing things to life, and it was just a glimpse into the idea of puppetry.

Igor impacted a lot of individuals of all ages, and after he died, the community came together to remember him.  They showed videos of some of his performances, and there were other puppeteers there performing as well.  And to top it all off, his “stage” was turned into a memorial for him, and numerous of people were there for the dedication of it.  Many people cared, and loved Igor, as well as his puppets.