Puppetry Theater In Pakistan Media Essay

Puppetry battleground In Pakistan Media EssayA couple of months back I at 10d the Karachi Literary festival, over there I saw puppeteers perform, a desirous feeling took over and reminded me of my puerility days when I enjoyed puppet surfaces with my p atomic number 18nts at carnivals, birthday routineies, entertainment in initiate and etc.In point in primary quill school level it was close necessary in our arts and chi stinkpotery degree to realise hand puppets with socks and develop stories and characters around them.I immortalise it being very hot even on idiot box, characters like Uncle Sargam and the show Kalian were shown in the 90s on PTV.It was once a vibrant part of our popular culture nevertheless with the advent of technological changes, lack of finances and constant development this form of art and its popularity is retreating into darkness.In this dissertation I am going examine the rise and fall of theater puppetry in Pakistan with particular focus on t hinks of decline of this industry in comparison to other countries in the subcontinent. I will show an analysis of the hurriedness and the efforts of The Raafi Peer Theater to revive puppetry in Pakistan.Literature reviewPuppetry captures the fancy and interest of young students and therefore exampled in many schools in the west and east as a medium to communicate and ascertain the children. Stories ar told and retold through toys, gestures, animals and puppets using dramatic voices and theatrical do. The popularity of puppets as a method for teaching can be traced for centuries. In the Flemish holograph The Romance of Alexander, written in 1340, there is an illustration of g lie with pup- pets. Xenophon and Plutarch denotation the use of mari anettes. Medieval m literality plays atomic number 18 performed by marionettes, and the pup- pets popularity is alluded to by Cervantes and Ben Jonson, Haydn, Mozart and bachelor compose brief operas for marionettes in the wealthy c ourt circles of the eighteenth century.1In Puppetry as an Educative Media Roberta Jane Confino reveals how puppetry can be transformed into an effective media by the educators today.Puppetery is often related to artwork and brings out the creativity in children as it mixes twain memory with imagination, it seeks expression rather than true tallyation.2It becomes the educators responsibility to guide, advocate and build a rapport with child. The most all important(predicate) function of the teacher in an art room, and perhaps in every other school room also, is to create a creative atmosphere.3Puppets can be created from various objects such as finger puppets involve paper cut outs and squ atomic number 18 to fit over a child finger. Hand puppets involve drift of the entire hand with fingers and unlike areas. Shadow puppets are created when rod puppets are shown on a screen illuminated from behind. Marionettes, or string puppets may be simply worked with one or two strings or they may be do more complex.4Puppets may be puddle of materials found around the house or in nature. Painted branches or twisted scraps of wood are the beginning elements of characterization, paper-bag puppets, milk container puppets, puppets with simple design, and puppets with detailed color or features.5These puppets offer crowd togetherive opportunities for diversity, the possibilities are almost endless and Creativity and imagination can flourish6Technological advancements pack also played a major role with animation and com nonplusing device graphics. These days characters are made on the calculating machine and shown on television catering to a larger audience. Steve Tillis in Art of puppetry in the duration of Media production questions if the figures made of the computer can be termed as puppets and if not what the reasons are for it. Is a person operating a puppet (tangible or virtual) in real-time is doing what puppeteers have always done just a person working at a keyboard with a virtual puppet-despite the fact that one is meshling the movement of the puppet-does not seem to be in use(p) in the same activity, despite the fact that the result (i.e., movement of the figure) is the same.7 unitary aptitude say that the computer has freed the puppet from its dependence on schematic puppeteers, but computers have not freed the puppet from the necessity of human control of one sort or another.Steve Tillis brings the issue of tangibility as computer graphics figures are not tangible, they cannot be touched. However there are striking similarities in the creation of computer graphics figures and puppets the creation of two involves the construction of a figure, in short, are artificial human constructs intentional for manipulation (of one sort or another) by people.8Despite the similarities, I feel tangibility is a significant part that distinguishes the two. Puppets are as we have known them be thought of as tangible, while computer graph ics figures are thought of as virtual puppets.The hands on experience of making the puppet, interacting with it, hearing about it, integrating culture and write up to it cannot be compared to a figure made on computer. There is a pleasure still to be found in the live transaction of a tangible puppet, the direct confrontation between an audience and a living object that is distinct from the particular pleasures of media puppets.Rachel A.Bonney in her article on, education Anthropology through folklore for the Anthropology Education Quarterly brings an anthropological view on the magnificence of folklore as an educational tool for children and the society as these stories hold value, heathenish traditions that are passed on from one generation to the other.In this article Rachel A.Bonney focuses on how storytelling can be used for educational practices not only for children but at college level as well. She has been using this method for the past ten years as a teaching aid in both introductory and advanced anthropology classes.9She describes three separate uses of folklore collecting folklore through playing fieldwork interviewing, analyzing themes in these stories and using folklore through puppetry and plays.10She points out how folktales are used as outsets of nurture and insights on child-rearing and making them more aware of other cultures and on their honour adequate to(p)s, traditions and values. However, children are more familiar with their own culture and traditions than of others and therefore she used American or European cultures to analyze folklore material as it is easier and effective to strike and relate.For her study she used Grimms fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel and Little personnel casualty Riding Hood because these two stories are popular in the American culture despite Medieval European origins and heathenish change.11Furthermore she tells us how these stories are dramatized with puppet plays where students make their clothes, give them a face and make the surrounding that are illustrated to make it is culturally appropriate. They may range from bugger off puppets to socks, scraps of cloth, paper plates etc, and are often performed in a wasted scale setting and therefore it is cost effective.12Often additional sounds effects are used for exercise music, back vocals that are taped to put up the dramatic presentation. Through background query for script writing students learn about another culture in depth, for example if the students were putting up a puppet show about Ali Baba and the forty thieves they would have to flavor in to the historical background, the roots of the charactors, what they wore in that time and so on.Rachel A.Bonneys argues that folklore might be seen as high tech in modern America, but her approaches have successfully shown us how Western and non-western sandwich values can be integrated to a childs bringing up not only in the literate society but as an effective dev ice in non-literate society13. She further builds her argument by saying that anthropology is not altogether an exotic and esoteric discipline for the study of naif society. Anthropology is not for a few elite, but for everyone.14Her study on folklore tales is not restricted to the western world but also relatable here in the subcontinent. Much of the puppetry in the sub continent is associated with folklore stories based on historical themes. They hold great pride in their stories as they have been passed on from generations through oral history and have become a central part of personal identity of tradition and culture. Common folklores in the sub continent are of Heer Rahja,Sassi Pannu and Laila Majnu, these characters are recognized and referred to in their everyday lives. For example when someone is madly in love he will be referred to as Majnu not Shakespeares Romeo. Shakespeareans characters Romeo and Juliet represent undying love such is the case with Laila Majnu. Many a dditions and subtractions have been made to the story over the years but what remains constant is Majnus love for Laila.Puppets are visualised differently around the sub continent for example in India they are popular in Tamil Nadu,Orrisa,Andhra Pradesh,Asaam and the West Bengal. They portrayed unique features of the art and are operated through strings attached to the knees, hips, wrists, shoulders that make each and every part of the body move in different directions just as humans do. This method is practiced till today. Thyagaraja Sharma, an slope Professor, said that the art dated back to Indus Valley Civilization.15Excavations of clay dolls from the post were an indication of this long tradition. A lot of information about puppetry was seen in Sangam literature too. They are often religiously portrayed from epics like Mahabarata, Bhuddas bread and butter and Raamayana.Besides dealing with religious themes, Indian puppetry also conveys useful messages from Panchatntra and o ther fabulous and historical epics.16Started initially as a medium of entertainment, puppetry became the media for propagation of ideas, spread of information, and educating the masses.17Anna Sobel, a professional puppeteer and an activist was intrigued by a show put up by the Indian puppeteers in the Smithsonian gallery in uppercase DC.She spoke to them later and found out that they use puppets for social cognizance political platforms such as AIDS in villages back home. In kinsfolk she went to India on a nine month Fulbright grant to study Indian puppetry as a tool for social change in the primitive society.18In her article Mutual respect Re-examining puppetry in India, Anna Sobel discusses how the un instilld class in India respond to puppetry and how their behavior changes because of it. As mentioned above India has a sufficient cultural association with puppets and with the help of government funding educational puppetry in not a foreign concept. The puppeteers took this responsibility as a moral obligation to the public which includes adults and children.19Sobel observed that the children in the village would get up early as four in the morning to practice and enumerate the story of Ramayana which they performed for forty one nights straight. They took this opportunity to provide extensive exposition on healing properties of topical anesthetic herbs and discussed educational themes.20She further observed how puppeteers were able to adapt a show to in the local ambiance more than better than what she saw at the Smithsonian, as the audience recognized the stories, songs and characters. In addition, the live performance of the puppetry allowed direct rapport with the audience allowing them to be come to directly, the likely hood of them to remember the message more than if they saw the program on the television for example.Live shows are more common in the rural areas in India because they do not have access to mass media, such as television or newspaper. This may be the reason why in the cities puppetry is not common anymore as media has replaced this source of entertainment. However, the Indian government has still reinforced this craft because they use this as a tool for religious education.In Pakistan Rafi Peer theater workshop(RPTW) is one organization that has revived puppetry through theater,dance,music that has provided a rich cross cultural experience to audiences in Pakistan and abroad. In a country where accessing early childhood education is close to impossible, those who attend dropout at a early head due to financial and family issues.RPTW is a non-government organization which is doing pioneering work in the field of Arts is run by the Peerzada family. Headed by Usmaan Peerzada, Faizaan Peerzada, Saadaan Peerzada, Imran Peerzada, Tasneem Peerzada and Salman Peerzada.It has built a Museum of Puppetry. It runs the frequent Child Art Foundation, promoting child art and visual learning globally. instanter it is developing a Theatre Arts training Institute.RPTW most important milestone is the establishment of the Museum of Puppetry in 2004.Till now it has organized over 25 international performing arts festivals. Festivals are one of the most popular attractions of cultural tourism, have been a part and parcel of South Asian culture for a long time. Pakistan Children Television (PCT) can be considered a landmark when it comes to educating children who lack formal education opportunities.Through PCT they started a show called,Sim Sim Hamara, an educational series of shows for children. It is a adaptation of Sesame pathway has been created by RPTW in collaboration with the Sesame Workshop, New York, and funded by the coupled States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project is the outcome of extensive research as it includes participants from different provinces .They worked with the government and other educational experts so that they can cater to the educational needs f or the children.This TV series was set to provide high-quality early education resource for a larger audience. Their goal is to educate families and children and the fact that learning can happen in formal and non-formals means. They use examples from the real world for example reading prayers from The Holy Quran, buying vegetables from the local market, attending school, how to communicate with other people, measuring ingredients for roti as a ground for storylines and materials.