Bunraku

Today we watched a couple of videos on Bunraku. It was super interesting seeing this world theater tradition because I had never heard of it before. It was puppets with people in all black behind them. The people were holding different sticks to control each body part of the puppet. It was very physical and looked super choreographed and well rehearsed. I could tell that this theater tradition takes a lot of time and effort to master. The costumes on the puppets were very bright and usually contained lots of red. The sets were small in size but very elaborate and filled with color and patterns. I really enjoyed this theater tradition because of how mesmerizing it was to watch and learn about. The main convention for Bunraku is movement. Movement is essential to bunraku, it is what makes the puppets move and flow so well together and create the story.

When watching the other mini research presentations, Greer’s on Chinese Shadow Puppetry reminded me a bit of bunraku. I think that seeing the use of puppets again and there being such an emphasis on movement reminded me of bunraku. Learning about Chinese Shadow Puppetry was really interesting and I truly enjoyed watching the video about the old man who had been training in Shadow Puppetry for years. I was truly amazing to see how he had mastered the quick and precise movements that are needed for the Chinese Shadow Puppetry to work.