The female puppet master Jiang Si Mei and the study of her puppet theatre company

• Main Authors: Li-Lun Lin, 林莉倫
• Other Authors: 戴寶村
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/57469933126922315751

碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 台灣文化研究所 === 98 === This thesis is mainly about the life story of the first generation of female puppet master in Taiwan—Jiang Si Mei, and the development history of Si Mei Building puppet theatre company founded by Jiang Si Mei. The thesis includes six chapters, introduction, the historical and cultural aspects of Taiwanese puppet show, the leading character of Taiwanese puppet theatre company—the puppet master, the leading lady in the theatre world—the first female puppet master, Jiang Si Mei, “Like mother, like son”—True Happiness puppet theatre company and New Happiness puppet theatre company, and the conclusion. The first chapter is introduction, contains the motives and object of the research, research methods, references review, and the arrangement of each chapter. The chapter is mainly to elaborate the basic structure of the thesis. The second chapter is the historical and cultural aspects of Taiwanese puppet show, including the historical background, the cultural characteristics and present situation, as well as the cultural phenomenon. This chapter explains how puppet show has transformed and evolved after transferring to Taiwan. The third chapter is the leading character in Taiwanese puppet theatre company—the puppet master. It introduces the puppet master in Taiwanese puppet theatre company, how to bring up a puppet master, and how does a puppet master devise a strategy. This chapter helps to better understand the puppet master in a puppet theatre company and illustrate the importance of the role. The fourth chapter is the leading lady in the theatre world—the first female puppet master, Jiang Si Mei. It introduces her individual background, her career track, her glory times and her trial along the process. Through an in-depth interview, we understand how a female puppet master learned to control her own destiny in a puppet show industry surrounded by male peers. The fifth chaper,“Like mother, like son”—True Happiness puppet theatre company and New Happiness puppet theatre company. It introduces the operation of the puppet show theatre company, the conflicts between tradition and modern, the fusion of tradition meets innovation, and the cultural heritage of the puppet show theatre company. Through an in-depth interview, we discover the three-generation puppet show theatre company have created a stage of conflict and integration, and have found a balance between old and new, tradition and modern, which can be a great inspiration for other puppet show theatre company of today. The sixth chapter is conclusion, it gives a generalized summarization of the thesis, and provides viewpoint of the development of Taiwanese puppet show nowadays. Hopefully, the old puppet masters can successfully passed their craft on to the next generation.