What does miming symbolize?
Asked by
dopeguru (
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October 27th, 2017
Mime, miming, with makeup on and all that. Is there a history to this art form that can be used to show it as a symbolism of something?
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I came across this article, which suggests that, with the notable exception of Marcel Marceau, mime has never really taken off as an art form.
The history of mime should be pretty easy to look up. I expect it’s quite an ancient art.
Perhaps (just guessing here) it originated as entertainment form in settings where there was no sound amplification. Or (just guessing again) it has its history in religious rituals where the words were best left to the gods’ authorized mouthpieces. Or both. In Hamlet, the play-within-a play actors mime the play before acting it out with dialogue.
Mime may use some symbolic forms and gestures, as do, say, ballet, hula, and puppet shows, but I doubt that mime itself symbolizes anything.
There are records of mimes throughout Western and Eastern history. In medieval times they were called mummers. IIRC pantomimes in ancient Greece. It’s a form of dramatic performance.
As for “can be used to show it as a symbolism of something”, of course. It’s art. The limit on what art can symbolize is only the limits of the imagination and symbolic vocabulary of the artist and each member of its audience.
There is no single “mimes symbolize X historically”, just as it would be reductive even if anyone chose to say that about any other art form.
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