Process vs. Product

Developing Identity

A study conducted in 2007 observed and documented a group of young children and their responses to a spontaneous group of narratives. The study centered on how the children were able to construct “meaning about their world and their place in it” (Ahn and Filipenko 2007, p. 279). There were three key takeaways from the study, which categorized the ways in which the children processed and interpreted the information in the narratives: engendering, crossing texts and re-configuration, and re-construction/ re-imagination. Each of these focus areas represented different components children use “in the process of forming a self-identity” (Ahn and Filipenko 2007, p. 279). The authors stress the long-term implications of developing that self-identity through narrative play by comparing children’s play methods to adult interactions in the real world. “Narrative not only provides a blueprint for making sense of the world; it also guides action within that word. In other words, while narrative is a mode of representation, it is, at the same time, a mode of action” (Ahn and Filipenko 2007, p.287).

The importance of building original narratives and using creative, imaginative impulses to develop stories not only allows a child to share ideas, but to investigate problem solving methods while also thinking critically. Children must find ways of interaction that foster friendships, achieve common goals, and remain fun and engaging. Through this imaginative play, they are laying foundation blocks for useful, practical, and essential skills in the real world.

Exposure Generates Curiosity

Animation artist Tess Martin described her inherent curiosity in the process of puppetry, which ultimately manifested itself in her adult work. She discusses a personal experience at twenty years old, in which a live puppetry performance influenced her decisions as an artist in frame-by-frame animation techniques. “I had never seen inanimate objects brought to life this way, and I loved being able to see how it was happening- the mechanism was not hidden, but was instead a feature of the performance. I returned to art school and began making little puppets out of wire and paper and animating them one frame at a time under the camera” (2015). This personal testimonial helps outline the effect of live performance art on creative inspiration and an analog understanding of storytelling mechanics and methodologies.

Historical Evidence

Soth (2019) sheds light on a popular, albeit brief, form of entertainment from the 1800s, which centered around the idea of bringing live theater into the home. Paper Theaters were printed images that came sold in a small book format, designed to be cut out and assembled into a stage, actors, props, and scenery for miniature self directed performances. The theater sets also came equipped with simplified scripts, based on current popular performances. Soth points out the impact these innovative products had on the children of the time:

Despite the scripts, it’s easy to imagine how these stories would have expanded in the hands of children who played with them- how the plots would zigzag, how the characters would migrate from one story to another, how scribbled additions would enrich the pre-drawn scenery (Soth 2019).

Soth (2019) references a few renowned storytellers of the era, and their own fond childhood recollections of the paper theaters, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Jean Cocteau, and Richard Wagner. Children were drawn to the open-ended creative freedom involved in their storytelling processes. Soth (2019) describes the allure, stating, “The magic of the paper theater was not that it allowed children to replicate a beloved play in their home; it was that it provided them with the raw materials either to copy or create, to follow or subvert, as they saw fit.” Soth’s article quickly and succinctly demonstrates the power of self-directed storytelling through miniature paper models as a doorway to creative exploration and development early on.