Characters, from 'Jack the Giant Killer', Plate 2 for a Toy Theater 1870 - 1890

Editor: Here we have “Characters, from ‘Jack the Giant Killer’,” a print dating from the late 19th century by Benjamin Pollock, housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It feels like a stage set, all these characters lined up in their theatrical costumes. How do you interpret this work within its cultural context? Curator: That’s a very insightful observation. This print is actually a sheet of characters for a toy theater, a popular form of entertainment in the 19th century. What do you notice about the way the figures are presented? Editor: Well, they are all very flat, almost like paper dolls. And they all seem to be based on stereotypes - like from a pantomime. Curator: Exactly! The toy theater was deeply embedded in the popular culture of the time. Pollock’s prints made theater accessible to a wider audience and helped shape how narratives like Jack the Giant Killer were understood and visualized by the public. What implications do you think this form of accessible theatre had on cultural development and imagination at the time? Editor: So it’s not just an image, it's a mass-produced object influencing a cultural landscape, and also recycling pre-existing ideas, creating a new narrative. Fascinating. Curator: Precisely. Consider how images like these played a role in democratizing access to storytelling, but also reinforcing the socio-political structures in their stereotypical casting of the characters. Editor: I never considered how the theatre was influencing people at the time, so creating a miniature, portable and affordable version of this must have created ripples throughout Victorian society. Thank you! Curator: And thank you, this print shows how a seemingly simple artifact can be a window into the cultural values and anxieties of an era.