Blumenthal explains the different areas of the body that "hand" puppets are controlled by. The typical notion is that hand puppets are controlled through the puppeteers hand. The fingers control the head and arms of the puppet. Puppet characters can also live on the fingers of the actors. Another variation of the hand puppet is the Mitten Head. This is where my brain started to create a web.
Mitted Heads come about when a manipulator's thumb animates the character's lower jaw while the other four fingers make a malleable face. This statement brought me back to my middle school days. I began to think about how I used to draw a face on my finger, using my thumb as the mouth, I would create a character I controlled with my hand. I related that memory with the information I had just read. I believe that when I drew that character on my finger, I had in a sense created a puppet.
As I read on, I came across a greater realization that really made me think about what a puppet really is and just how many classifications and breeds there are. Blumenthal states, "puppets have lived on nearly every part of the human body. Sergei Obraztsov used his elbow for a baby's heard." (p 39) My memory took me back again to when I was younger and playing with my friends. We used to draw eyes on our chins, lay upside down, cover the rest of our faces, and used our mouths as the rest of the character's face. The picture below displays this game we used to play.
Since I realized that this variation of puppets could technically be used on any part of the body, I began to consider if this "face puppet" would indeed be considered a puppet. Or is it a mask? If this silly game we played really is a puppet, then what breed would it be classified under?
I still go back and forth as to whether this character I used to create is a mask or a puppet.
I think it's pretty cool that a puppet can be any part of the body. And the fact that you've technically been playing with puppets since you were in middle school is pretty legit. When thinking about all of the things we used to draw on ourselves back in those days we lose the fact that what we were actually doing was creating puppets.
ReplyDeleteMy attention went to the Hand puppets as well and I think it's awesome how you were able to think back and relate the text to your days in middle school...until I read your post I had forgotten about drawing a face on your finger and using your thumb as a mouth!
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