With strings attached: Barthes’ ‘On Bunraku’ from Thunderbirds to Japanese robot animated shows
By: Raz Greenberg
ARTICLE INFO: Volume: 10 Issue: 01:Summer 2024 ISSN: 2459-2943 DOI: 10.18680/hss.2024.0003 Pages: 35-47 Lic.: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 |
KEYWORDS: Animation Puppet theatre Japanese robot animation Thunderbirds Go Nagai |
ABSTRACT
In his 1983 overview of the semiotic aspects of “performing objects,” which focuses primarily on puppet theatre, Frank Proschan criticizes Roland Barthes’ impressions of the Japanese bunraku puppet theatre performances, specifically the separation between the different parts of the puppet operation, which leads to the appeal of ‘the part’ rather than the ‘totality’ of the body accepted in western culture. Proschan argues that such separation is not unique to Japanese performances. However, Bolton (2002), while not arguing for uniqueness, claims that such separation is a part of Japanese culture and links it to the 1995 Japanese animated film Ghost in the Shell. This article examines Bolton’s, Barthes’, and Proschan’s argument in light of the Japanese animate robot shows, where such separation is common, through an examination of non-Japanese influence – the puppet shows, and in particular Thunderbirds (1965-1966) produced by Gerry Anderson in the United Kingdom. The article concludes that, while the Japanese animated robot shows and the Anderson productions that inspired them indeed emphasize the appeal of ‘the part,’ they do so in a manner that challenges both Barthes’ impressions of the bunraku and Proschan’s observations of the relationship between performing objects and animation.
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