Dehumanise your pets

Dear reader,

I never said this blog will be about ventriloquism only. More "on a gut level". So today I want to write something "non-ventriloquial". Although it's not that far away from ventriloquism.  But more on that connection to ventriloquism later.

The other day I watched a live program "Dog - German, German - Dog" with the german "dog whisperer" Martin Rütter. He's quite well known over here. This week a magazine had him on the title page even. He's the guy you call, if you need help with your dogs.

In his live program he mentions a phenomena: we talk to our dogs as we would with other humans: in full sentences. I don't know how you talk to your pets in english, because I'm used to hear it in german all the time. So I can't exactly give you examples here. Also the english way of talking to pets may be different than german as a whole just from the language itself. But what Rütter says certainly is true for german speaking people talking with pets.

I never had dogs myself. But just the other day I realised I sat with my guinea pigs and realised I said something to them - yes, in full sentences - as if they were able to understand me. Then I thought of the humanisation and said nothing.

One of the guinea pigs has cysts on her ovaries. It means hormonal fluctuation and especial: jumping on the other female guinea pig! Of course the best time to do it is in the middle of the night... At first Nelly was quite shy. By now she became braver. Sadly so, I almost dare writing. Because the first couple of times she was quiet after I banged my hand on the frame of the bed. Shoutings like "Be quiet now!" or something like that I don't say anymore. I noticed the other day that this again would be humanisation... and it wouldn't help with her anyway. First off it's not her fault she has those hormonal fluctuations, secondly she's brave enough now that my shoutings, no matter what I'd shout, wouldn't keep her away from the other one. Parts of this wrongdoing we all do with dogs, we also do with other animals. And maybe even with animals, which couldn't react to what we say the way a dog could act to what we tell him to do. What worked quite effectively for me lately was to go to the cage and maybe nudge Nelly with one finger or at least get my hand near her. Not in a threatening way, just sticking my hand in the cage. She's not that brave to be close to Bibi then. This helps at least for a moment. (The hormone injections help, too.)

What's all of this got to do with ventriloquism now? Sometimes I have Gaston, my bat, with me in our groups at work. Just the other day I had Gaston on my hand when I opened the door for a daughter, who came to take her mother back home. As she saw Gaston she reacted with, "Oh what a cutie he is!" Others went further asking, as if it really was an animal, "What's his name?" Maybe even followed by a quick, "It's a 'he', isn't it?" No! It's an "it" and a hand puppet!  Of course I never said that to any of those, who asked me. The questions about his name are more difficult. The catalogue sold him as "Gaston", my colleague at work called him "Gomes" from the start and most of the time he's not addressed by name at all. So basically he's a kind of half nameless Gaston.

This humanisation and personification also with (hand) puppets is what vents use. It's this fact that helps creating the illusion... and the misdirection of the vent, should his or her lips move a bit although the figure is "speaking". I don't quite remember where I read it, I think it was in Edgar Bergen's book, but others certainly point it out as well: if a vent is not very good at saying a certain letter or a word without moving his or her lips, you can let the figure make a distinct movement of some sorts. If the audience isn't looking at the figure already, the distinct movement of the figure will bring the whole attention away from you and to the figure.

There's an interview with Rasheda Ali and Ronn Lucas on youtube. At first he's alone, but when he has brought Buffalo Billy out of the trunk, asking questions is suddenly more difficult. Should she ask Billy directly or talk with Ronn Lucas about Billy? "Who am I talking to?", she asks at one moment.  Ronn Lucas, who is used to that, takes it with humour, "That's the problem with ventriloquists."

Jay Johnson as well as Paul Winchell can tell stories about being part of a tv production acting as a ventriloquist and the sound of the puppet talking didn't record well, although the sound of the other actors recorded well. For both of them it was pure luck that they eventually found out the guy holding the mic to record the sound of the dialogue turned the mic to the puppet any time it had a line to say, instead of pointing the mic to Jay Johnson respectively Paul Winchell. This is how real an illusion can get and a vent can not hope for more, after all this illusion of bringing a inanimate figure to life is what makes a good vent. Maybe the vent should talk to the "mic guy" before filming, where he should keep his mic when the figure is "speaking". but that's what the anecdotes of Paul Winchell and Jay Johnson are for, to warn budding film and tv ventriloquist stars about possible "sound problems"... ;-)

Our pets however may be better off if we dehumanised them more. Aren't you, Nelly? Bibi?

Until next blog,

sarah