The Spatial Settings of Puppet Show and Dominant Ideologies： A Media Ecology Perspective

• Main Authors: Chiao-Fu Chen, 陳喬富
• Other Authors: Jyh-Ming Yang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/hu2f34

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 資訊傳播學系碩士班 === 101 === This research uses the case study of Taiwanese puppet show to analyze how the operation of puppet show changed over time and how the spatial settings helped shape the dominant ideologies. The core belief in this study lies on the idea that the impact of a medium is profound and oftentimes invisible; the making of puppet show, in terms of arrangement of stage and creation of puppet characters, rely on the manipulation of technical and technological factors in space. This research treats the operation of puppet show as a medium and argues that the changes on medium helped form the changes in ideology. It is the idea of Marshall McLuhan who proposes that message is the message and medium is the extension of man. His viewpoint was emphasized in this study. In the case of Taiwan puppet show, it can be also observed that, in the period of some one hundred years, the operation of the shows had moved from outdoor to indoor stage, in the period since the late Qing dynasty to the Japanese ruling era. The early changes came along with political considerations and had a great influence on the message the show conveyed to the audience. Later in the TV Era, this popular folk art was less dominated by political power but was much driven by commercial market and capitalism. Margaret Wertheim argues that new media help bring about “new space” and will help shape new perspective on how we view the world. This current study is a footnote for Margaret Wertheim viewpoint. Furthermore, some communication theorist, like Neil Postman, maintains that technological revolution triggers changes on media culture. This study stands for a case illustrating how puppet show, once a medium to demonstrate thankfulness to the god, gradually became an entertainment for the public. Puppet was once created for the god, politics found its use in expanding their power, and capitalism utilizes it for the pursuit of profit.