Triangulation & Referencing

        Before our first tutorial, we were given the task of writing 500 words which demonstrated triangulation or theories or debate within our area of practice. This exercise would also demonstrate our ability to write in the formal style expected for our essay. Although initially quite daunted, as I feel like there is far more I need to learn about the world of puppetry, it was encouraging to begin writing down the ideas and acknowledge some of the debates which will form the core of my project.

           There is a great deal of debate amongst practitioners and theorists as to what constitutes a puppet. In its most basic form, a ‘puppet’, like its French equivalent ‘the marionette’, could be described as a vessel, either figurative or abstract, into which a player, manipulator or actor imbues a sense of character, life and animation. While ‘marionette’ has come to mean one specific style of puppet, that which is operated by a number of strings, puppetry manifests in numerous forms, from rod to shadow puppet, from silhouette to glove. All of these are traditionally recognised techniques that conform to the definition of puppetry as ‘a representation and distillation of a character…brought to imagined life through the agency of a human player who inspires it and controls it directly. The control may be through corporeal contact…or via strings, wires, wooden or metal rods’ (Francis, 2012, p.13). Meanwhile, A. R. Philpott looks beyond the physicality or indeed mechanics of the puppet to consider its purpose: ‘it is not a “doll”…Dolls are for personal play: puppets are essentially theatrical in function’ (Philpott, 1969, p.209).

                  Francis’ definition would seem to focus upon figures manipulated before an audience in real time, which would call into question the validity of numerous contemporary incarnations of the puppet. Cinema of the past 50 years has drawn upon the influence of puppet theatre, with practitioners including Jim Henson bringing to life fantastical fables such as The Dark Crystal through the use of elaborate puppets manipulated on set by puppeteers, in much the same way as they would be viewed on stage. However, as audience expectations and technology have evolved, so too have the means by which the ‘theatre of the impossible’ (Vella and Rickards, 1989) is portrayed on screen. In this medium, puppetry has gone through an evolutionary process, encompassing stop motion animation, animatronics and CGI.

                  The potential for all these forms of animation to be included in the realms of puppetry is acknowledged by Steve Tillis, who argues that ‘[if] the signification of life can be created by people, then the site of that signification is to be considered a puppet’ (Tillis, 2001, p.175). This revolutionary definition would not only welcome the aforementioned art forms, but also allow discussion on whether cell animation may also qualify as a branch of puppetry. After all, each method relies upon the manipulation of a figure by a skilled human controller. In describing the process by which a CGI character is brought to life, Tillis draws undeniable parallels with puppetry, contending that ‘the creation of both involves the construction of a figure imbued with articulation points that is then given surface design features. Both, in short, are artificial human constructs designed for manipulation (of one sort or another) by people’ (Tillis, 2001, p.178-179).