Primer of Authenticity
While I hope that what I do and write on this blog is entertaining and enjoyable to interact with, the first and foremost goal of Who is Mark Mathleton is to learn a variety of skills. In order to learn these skills, I believe it is imperative that I research the history, important figures, qualities, varying movements, and any and all integral knowledge associated with the skill. That’s why you got background information about Tommy the Clown in the lead-up to the krumping video. That’s why I linked videos to Tight-Eyez. That’s why I watched Rize and talked about it briefly. Those are the most important figures and pieces of Krump that I could find. If I left those things out, a video of me trying to krump might hold some comedic value in that over the course of three days I didn’t gain that much skill, but it would be bereft of the genuinely earnest attempt I made at learning to krump. By no means does this blog exist to belittle anyone or anything. And so, my journey towards puppeteering begins where any good researcher knows to begin, with a trip to the library.
Below is my story.
But first, a picture of what I doodled while I was researching.
Study Monsters
Yesterday I started researching puppets. I visited my alma mater’s library and raided the section on puppets. Unfortunately, I have a fine from a few years ago that I never paid, so no longer can I check out books. So, I was forced to hang out in the library with all of the undergrad students writing their last minute papers and cramming for tests because I had unwisely chosen to visit the college library during finals week. Perhaps the only week of the year that many students remember the library’s existence.
I sat down with seven books about puppets (none of them of fictional horror stories) across from a girl that most likely thought I was either a) really obsessed with puppets or b) a theatre major. It’s unfortunate that she probably has no idea who Mark Mathleton might be. In any case, it didn’t matter because I was soon immersed in Eileen Blumenthal’s Puppetry: A World History. If you have any interest in puppets at all, I suggest finding this book. She does a masterful job of identifying puppets from all over the world and explaining their significance to the times. It’s well written and easy to follow. There are also some great pictures. Through the research I have done so far, it seems to be the preeminent work on puppet history.
To be able to participate in something that has been around since the Cro-Magnon era (Blumenthal) is truly special. I’m not sure if people that regularly work with puppets ever think about that, but puppets have been everywhere and have entertained all social classes since forever, from Malaysia to Alaska, so interacting with puppets actually joins us to our great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great ancestors. That is uber-hipster retro.
Blumenthal notes that in Western Puppetry, there are six main types of puppets. These distinctions are awesome. When I learned that I would be learning how to puppeteer this week, my first concern was the type of puppet I was going to create. Blumenthal’s distinctions opened my mind to all of the possibilities of puppeteering. Hand puppets, marionettes, rod puppets, body puppets, bunraku style dolls, shadow puppets, Keira Knightley’s, all gave me ideas and really got me excited to start building.
Before that though, I wanted to know what exactly defined a puppet. I was starting to satisfy my need to know some historical qualities, but I still lacked clarity on what exactly made a puppet. For this, I turned to a source that I really wanted to believe in. It was another book I had picked up during my research, A.R Philpott’s Dictionary of Puppetry. I was certain that in this, I could find a suitable definition for ‘puppet’.
Oh, how I was mistaken.
Philpott’s book is set up like any other dictionary, A’s at the front, Z’s at the end. His definition for puppet is that a “[p]erfect definition eludes theorists, historians, puppeteers, dictionary-makers.” Philpott then goes on to list eight different definitions for puppets from various sources. None of which appease him for varying reasons.
At this point, I had to really start questioning how something could exist for so long without a proper definition. Then I thought about it some more, and realized that nothing worth existing has a perfect definition. Puppets, inanimate objects when no one is using them, come to life when operated, and in my experience, living things are impossible to define.
And so, here I am, ready to build my own puppet. I don’t know what they are exactly, but I do know I’m ready to learn.
Check back as I will most likely write something about Jim Henson, and then post pictures, videos, and other media presentations of whatever it is I create. Also, follow me on twitter @MichaelTBrush. Oh, and share this stuff with your friends. If you want. No pressure.
Who is Mark Mathleton? 
A most excellent Pirate’s pun! I say, this blog is intensely edifying!