In looking at the physicality of puppets their possibilities are endless. Their structure needs no functional skeleton or structure other then what is needed for their character, what ever that happens to be.
The puppets that struck me the most were the gargantuan and the minuscule.
Gargantuan puppets are always so technical impressive to me. Something that can tower above us and be manipulated with such ease.
The same goes for the minuscule puppets. They are also technically impressive to me making such small movements to create a delicate and intricate character.
As the chapter states Gargantuan puppets have been used in almost every culture known to have puppets. Often times to show importance of a character or a godlike creature. Another use for gargantuan puppets is for monsters or other looming creatures.
A quote that I thought very nicely described the feeling giving off by gargantuan puppets is "They Harness the audience's imagination to extend through these physical barriers."
One of my favorite miniature puppets from the chapter was the puppet made by Hobey Ford, an Appalachian puppeteer, that was so small that they could swim laps in across a tea cup.
These smaller puppets bring thew audience in and are most often used for small intimate audiences.
These extremes in large and small in the puppetry world I find create some of the most effective uses for puppets as being different then real live is a part of what puppets do best.
The quote that you gave an example of in your post, is one that really stuck it to me in the chapter as well. "They Harness the audience's imagination to extend through these physical barriers." I think this really embodies the message in ch. 4 about Characters. I find that smaller audiences and smaller puppets creates such an intimate setting that I find very intriguing.
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