DG writes about my entry describing the tragic fate of Iggle Piggle in the childrens’ TV programme “In the Night Garden…”:
This is a kids program i think you read to much into it.i would suggest you find more constructive things to do with your time.”
True, but that is like saying that “The Wasteland” by TS Eliot is “just a poem”. The interesting thing about “In the Night Garden…” over other childrens’ TV shows is the various levels of meaning that are put into it.
I don’t have much choice when watching the show as I am often attending my young daughter and she loves to watch Iggle Piggle and co. So instead of just vegetating, I started to take notice of it and certain themes became apparent. Whereas the concept of “The Teletubbies” is fairly simple: there’s a group of four aliens who may or may not be on Earth, but who are monitoring the planet and learning our ways thanks to repitition and regular broadcasts from children of Earth to them via their viddy-screen stomachs. Easy. “In the Night Garden…” is more complicated than that and has more symbolism.
We already know that Iggle Piggle is living within a dream when he enters the Night Garden, or the place of dreams. We can also deduce that Iggle Piggle and co are constructs of a higher intelligence, the baby at the beginning of the show who each night falls asleep and dreams of Iggle Piggle alone on the sea. But did you realise that the constellations are the key to some of the major characters in the show?
When the camera pans up at the start of the show (and down at the end), each constellation in the sky represents a different element of the show. And if you pay close attention some of the elemnts have flashing lights on them that spell them out in the sky. For example, the Pinky Ponk. the Ninky Nonk and the bridge all have lights on them which can be taken as true physical representations in the night sky.
Whereas we would look up and see the constellation of Orion (and his belt) or Ursa Major – the Big Dipper or the Plough – we give these constellations names because they follow a rough outline of similar items on Earth. In these examples, a man or a plough. So we can assume that the characters in the TV show are named and dreamt up by Iggle Piggle as he lies in his boat and looks up into the night sky. He sees the Ninky Nonk et al – even the Tombliboos house – in the night sky as starry representations and when he falls asleep they become physical representations to him when he enters the dream world of the Night Garden.
Meanwhile, lets look at the characters themselves. What is Iggle Piggle? Is he real or does he represent one of the human baby’s soft toys come to life? This is a tricky question to answer but I am of the mind that he is in fact a toy come to life and this probably relates to some clever marketing by the creator. The toy exists outside the programme and also exists inside the show, so you have this natural exophoric relationship between character and his soft toy alter-ego. The same can be said of Upsy-Daisy – Iggle Piggle’s fictional girlfriend (because in his real world, he is alone, but in his dream world he has a girlfriend) is obviously not of the same species and features what appears to be a drawstring device near her belt. This is a similar device that you would find on a doll to pull to make them speak – so therefore Upsy-Daisy is definitely a toy come to life. They also share a common language and dialogue.
The character of Makka-Pakka represents the parental role combined and made reality. This androgenous creature is Ma-Pa rolled into one and cares for those in the garden, cleaning, washing and tidying. It is easy to think of him as a subservient role, but in the child’s world this is mother and father rolled into one, the slave to the child. And this is the behaviour that Ma(kka)-Pa(kka) has to emulate. Who else would tend the garden.
The Tombliboos represent the opposite to Makka-Pakka and these creatures are obviously meant to represent the younger child and the baby. Their strange behaviour and tendancy for complete unawareness and their reponse to constant prompts means that they haven’t yet developed to the level of Upsy-Daisy or Iggle Piggle. They are to be nurtured and cared for. Hence the constant repitition of daily chores like cleaning teeth and changing Tombliboo trousers.
The Pontipines and their neighbours, the lesser seen Wottingers, represent the formal family unit where strict discipline and rules are evident. They appear and return home to the sound of a bell and the parents are keen to keep an eye on any wandering children. Where as Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy represent randomness of behaviour, these characters are order in the chaos. They have certain predictable behaviours and often can been seen as a microcosm of our own world and the frustrations that modern life brings: for example, they always seem to be chasing the Ninky Nonk and failing to get aboard on time.
Music plays a very important part to the show with each character having a theme and a song to sing. This aids the watching child’s language development through repitition. Each theme often appears elsewhere in the show and sometimes is echoed by the Tittifer birds, who also signal the end of the show and time for the characters to return to sleep (and for Iggle Piggle to wake up in his world).
The two major characters aren’t actually living creatures but apparently sentient vehicles in the shape of the Ninky Nonk train, which appears to defy the laws of gravity and have separate travelling sections for each of the characters of the show, and the Pinky Ponk, which appears to be modelled on a zeppellin airship. Both these vehicles are adorned with lights which are meant to represent their stellar appearance in the “real” night sky as constellations.
Of course, like the Teletubbies, Iggle Piggle is the innocent abroad, the visitor to the Night Garden and the child can relate to him, discovering new things at the same time in this dream world. Unusually, at the beginning of the show he is ordered to take down his sail in order to travel to the Night Garden – the idea of stopping the boat to travel is an oxymoron, but of course he’s not travelling at all, he’s dreaming. That takes us back to the beginning.
But what of the Narrator? Is this the voice of god? This character I have the most problem with as he appears in all three worlds: the world of the real, the child at the beginning; the dream world of Iggle Piggle in his boat; and the hyper-dream world of Iggle Piggle’s Night Garden. Of course, he is just a narrative construct to move the story along, but the romantic idea of Derek Jacobi as the voice of God in the Night Garden is too tantalising to resist.
So there you are: there’s plenty of other things to spot in the programme and the more you watch and the more you question, the more things become revealed. If you have any thoughts or ideas about the show, drop me a line via the comment link.
Of course, it is only a TV show, but I’ve got ten minutes to kill and I can’t think of anything else better to write about as my life is pretty dull at the moment!
Here’s a link to my thoughts about the Tragedy of Iggle Piggle.
