Surprising fact: the oldest form of puppetry is one that doesn’t involve puppets.
Well, kind of.
I had always assumed that puppetry was invented when some bored (or perhaps just unemployed) actor picked up a sock and struck up a conversation with it. The act of manipulating an inanimate object, infusing it with life and personality, is something that feels like it could have evolved out of simple childhood play.
But the earliest form of puppetry is, according to experts, “shadow play.” This dates to at least a thousand years ago in China, and perhaps even further back, when our cave-dwelling ancestors may have used the light of a fire to tell harrowing tales of bunnies escaping from foxes.
The key difference between shadow puppetry and typical puppetry in that there is separation between the audience and the puppet. It is the puppet’s shadow that is ‘performing,’ and the puppet itself is merely a tool.
I find that fascinating. It speaks to our desire to be transported, through storytelling, to another world. It’s not enough to hear about the rabbit and the fox; we want to see their shapes appear and disappear, be simultaneously tangible and abstract.
There are two reasons for this current puppet obsession of mine. First, this Wednesday is World Puppetry Day. So…you know…clear your schedule. But more significantly, the video for this beautiful song by Little Dragon is a great example of the incredible intricacy, whimsy, and flat-out magic of shadow puppetry.
It’s rare for a video to capture the beauty of the song it accompanies without stealing its thunder, but the all-Swedish collaboration between director Johannes Nyholm and Little Dragon is a gorgeous exception.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The repeating piano line perfectly captures the feeling of being lost conveyed by the video.
2. Singer Yukimi Nagano has an extremely versatile voice. Here, it has a biting edge to it. Compare that to the bubbly version of her voice that appeared in this track by Koop. Like a puppeteer, she wears whichever voice suits the mood.
3. It fades in and fades out, like a shadow slowly coming in and out of focus.
Recommended listening activity:
Using sidewalk chalk to trace someone’s shadow.