This is easily one of the best video essays on puppetry that I’ve ever seen.
Of course the ideas that it is expressing aren’t terribly new – in many ways, this is really just a wonderful summary of what many of us have been talking about online since the dawn of the “puppet internet” – but it’s so refreshing to watch a video that does such a thoughtful, articulate and accessible dive in to the art and theory of puppetry.
Possibly the only thing that this essay gets wrong is its title. The idea that puppets have somehow “returned” after the rise of digital imagery is a common misconception. Puppetry never actually went away. What puppetry has been doing for the past decade is slowly moving back to the forefront of popular awareness thanks to work like War Horse, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and, yes, Baby Yoda (or “The Child”). I think that everyone can agree that no matter how we describe it, it’s a very good thing.
Special thanks to Heather Henson for sharing this via social media!