Puppet Articles
Can Puppets Compete in Today's Tech Savvy Culture?
Churches, Schools,
children’s programs, and many other groups have used puppet
programs to educate
for years, but with the growth of modern technology, are they still
effective?
Modern technology has
brought great teaching and learning enhancements that are appealing and
attention grabbing. Compare the special effects in movies and TV
programs today
with the ones from ten or twenty years ago. The advances are amazing.
The
effects are often so realistic; they blur the line between reality and
entertainment. The same is true for today’s video games. In
most role playing
games, you don’t just play a part in the game—you
become the character and experience
the game.
Children and teens are
used to this realism in the media they’re exposed to. So,
again, the question
arises: Are puppets still a viable teaching tool in our society?
The answer is yes.
Puppets have a universal appeal to all ages. A recent
"America’s Got
Talent" season supports this statement. The winner was a ventriloquist
using a variety of hand puppets to entertain millions of people each
week
during the competition. I did a You-Tube search on “Terry
Fator” and came up
with 147 video selections. The first one had almost four million views
in a
five month period!
Another search on
You-Tube using the word “puppet” yielded 61,600
video possibilities. One of the
videos, added eight months ago had over 26,000,000
views—that’s over 100,000
views every day. Seven out of the initial twenty had over 1,000,000
views each.
When you see the above
results and factor in how often TV programs and movies use puppets,
it’s
obvious that puppetry is still effective.
Let’s examine why puppets have such appeal and
teaching ability.
First, as stated
above, puppets have a universal appeal. You’ll find them in
most cultures and
societies around the world. When I was part of a traveling puppet
ministry, it
was fun to watch the expressions of the people when they entered the
church or
auditorium. Just seeing the puppet stage often brought a smile to their
faces
and I could sense the anticipation building as they waited for the
program to
start. More often than not, it was adults who came to us after the
program to
ask when we were coming back again.
Second, people enjoy
stories. Most movies and TV programs are stories that are acted out for
people
to watch. It’s becoming common place for newly released
movies to make millions
of dollars the first weekend they run. Why? Marketing efforts portray
them as
stories that you need to see and experience. Marketers take advantage
of
people’s enjoyment of stories.
Puppets also benefit
from that trait. Puppet plays are simply the process of one or more
puppets
acting out a story for the audience to enjoy. You can have the puppets
act out
the play for entertainment purposes or to teach important truths.
This leads to the next
reason…Puppet shows allow for audience interaction. If you
want to teach a
specific truth through the puppets, before the play ask some key
questions that
the story will answer. In other words, give them something to look for
while
watching the play. Then, after the story is finished, discuss the
answers with
the audience. By doing this, the audience isn’t simply
watching for entertainment
purposes. They are actively watching—looking for the answer
to your questions.
As they watch and begin to relate to the puppets through the story, the
truth
has a greater chance of impacting them.
Here are four more
reasons. Puppets are great visual aids, they add variety to your
teaching, they
add enjoyment to learning, and are fun to watch.
Puppets are and always will be an effective teaching and entertainment tool. They are already incorporated into our tech savvy culture and will continue to entertain and teach. But, we can learn a lesson from technology. The shows and movies that are the highest quality tend to acquire greater numbers of viewers. Puppeteers and puppet teams that maintain high-quality puppetry standards will also draw audiences and have opportunities to share their message. As you use puppets to entertain or instruct, you will help your audience to understand what it means to experience puppets.