Poll: Can puppets be more than comedy?

[rogerdonaldson]

The story so far....

A few months back, The Escapist had their 3rd Annual Film Fest, and there was a bizarre puppet vid that won the Most Original Concept category, "Dr. Mario Says Eat Mommy's Pills". It was a big shock to us (the tiny production company that made it), and some folks even commented that they wanted more of that particular neurotic puppet.

Well, we went broke and had to hock stuff to do it, but he now stars in his own 70 min. movie, titled "Only Interstellar Pinball Lives Forever". And it's just as weird as the short was. The trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha2fHGEdCdk

But we just gotta wonder: taking an actual Sunday School puppet with an oddly anxious face (that still looks kinda Sesame Street-ish), re-purposing him to star in a surreal, blasphemous existential fairy tale about the fear of death....can it even work, or does seeing a "puppet" immediately section off the serious parts of a viewer's brain, and they just can't help but assume "this is wacky"...? Anyone have any examples to the contrary?

 

[Dags90]

But we just gotta wonder: taking an actual Sunday School puppet with an oddly anxious face (that still looks kinda Sesame Street-ish), re-purposing him to star in a surreal, blasphemous existential fairy tale about the fear of death....can it even work, or does seeing a "puppet" immediately section off the serious parts of a viewer's brain, and they just can't help but assume "this is wacky"...? Anyone have any examples to the contrary?

None of you have heard of Avenue Q?

 

[Matt_LRR]

But we just gotta wonder: taking an actual Sunday School puppet with an oddly anxious face (that still looks kinda Sesame Street-ish), re-purposing him to star in a surreal, blasphemous existential fairy tale about the fear of death....can it even work, or does seeing a "puppet" immediately section off the serious parts of a viewer's brain, and they just can't help but assume "this is wacky"...? Anyone have any examples to the contrary?

None of you have heard of Avenue Q?

while avenue Q deals with some weighty topics - it is entirely a comedy piece, and explicity uses the ridiculousness of puppets as a springboard for both it's message and comedy, so, it doesn't -really- apply.

-m

 

[Dags90]

while avenue Q deals with some weighty topics - it is entirely a comedy piece, and explicity uses the ridiculousness of puppets as a springboard for both it's message and comedy, so, it doesn't -really- apply.

-m

It's very much serious though, and there really isn't any crazy slapstick, they're just characters who happen to be puppets.

 

[Matt_LRR]

while avenue Q deals with some weighty topics - it is entirely a comedy piece, and explicity uses the ridiculousness of puppets as a springboard for both it's message and comedy, so, it doesn't -really- apply.

-m

It's very much serious though, and there really isn't any crazy slapstick, they're just characters who happen to be puppets.

They're characters, who happen to be puppets, in a comedy production, that jokes about serious topics.

So, does it transcend simple comedy? sure. Is it a serious drama? not at all.

-m

 

[Folio]

Ever heard of The Dark Chrystal from Jim Henson?

You know, the guy who made the Muppet Show and Sesame Street?

He made an epic movie, not for jokes at all.

 

[Dags90]

The point being that:

does seeing a "puppet" immediately section off the serious parts of a viewer's brain, and they just can't help but assume "this is wacky"...? Anyone have any examples to the contrary?

Is not a given. It's a serious comedy, and it was taken seriously.

 

[Matt_LRR]

The point being that:

does seeing a "puppet" immediately section off the serious parts of a viewer's brain, and they just can't help but assume "this is wacky"...? Anyone have any examples to the contrary?

Is not a given. It's a serious comedy, and it was taken seriously.

I'm not sure how one defines "serious comedy". It was a comedy that did social commentary, but it was pretty wacky. Slapstick? no - but wacky, for sure. I just don't think it's a very good example of puppets used in a dramatic, on not inherently comedic way.

The Dark Crystal, or maybe Labrynth would be more reasonable examples.

and because I'm never going to have another opportunity to post this:

-m

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

I won't deny that they can't, but it will will be extremely difficult to take a puppet seriously.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Ever heard of The Dark Chrystal from Jim Henson?

You know, the guy who made the Muppet Show and Sesame Street?

He made an epic movie, not for jokes at all.

This would be /thread, but I'm going to throw in a mention of Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back as well. You can't get much more serious than that little muppet, at least once he stopped testing Luke and started acting serious.

[small]Oh, and you mispelled Crystal[/small]

 

[Folio]

I wondered if I spelled it wrong. Thanks. But were those the only serious Jim Henson puppets? The goblins in Labyrinth were a bit of comical relief and the Turtle suits were Henson's too. Or the Dinosaur suits, that... was a sitcom... Er...
Thunderbirds! Team Amer... no, Wallace and Gromit? No... Coraline? Is there a line between puppet and stop-motion figurine?