Swazzles of Subversion: Puppets Under Dictatorship

Abstract

Puppets occupy a peculiar and distinct place in relationship to dictatorship. The metaphor of puppetry suggests ultimate control and power over a lesser being. The puppeteer has frequently been cast as a control freak; in Paul Gallico’s book from 1954, Love of Seven Dolls, for example, he exercises supreme power over a community of characters, controlling their actions, desires and fates: a dictator in a small world. But puppetry is peculiar and unsettling also because, conversely, puppets represent the struggle for freedom; there are numerous examples throughout literature and film which metaphorize this relationship between control and freedom.² The popular puppet, moreover, is one that traditionally represents the absolute refusal to conform: cousin to the Commedia zanni, s/he subverts authority through trickery, ignorance, naivety, or simple blatant insubordination. Puppets emerge at times of political crisis in many guises: appropriated by all sides of the political spectrum, they have been used variously by national governments to bolster their political or moral ideologies;³ by protesters using the ‘otherness’ of the puppet to represent the ludicrous nature of dictatorship; and by people wishing to escape censorship, blaming their actions on the puppet. They have been used not only as instruments in the hands of ideologists, but also as vicious and sharp satirical voices.

Second World War: Mr Punch appears in battledress and gas mask performing to British troops; Jack Ketch, the hangman, is transformed into Hitler and is duly hanged by the ingenious Mr Punch.¹ Carnival in Viareggio 1991: carnival elsewhere in Italy has been ‘cancelled’. The floats are ready to parade in the streets despite the threat of the first Gulf War. Giant puppet figures of Saddam Hussein alongside world leaders adorn the floats, emphasizing the absurd politics of the international crisis. June 2013: anonymous Syrian puppeteers lampoon the dictator through satirical protest in an effort to drum up peaceful protest. Assad is a gross caricature. The artists hope that, by using puppets, they will be able to remain anonymous.