October 10, 2014 - 15:45
Selena Martinez
Esem
Paper #6
October 10, 2014
Food as Play, Play as Food
Margerie’s short posting explaining that her playtime was eating, struck me as very unusual simply because it was not a method of play that I was familiar with. She wrote, “The only time that I could play is during the interval between after school and when my mom pick me up. There are so many delicious food near campus, so I usually used this time to satisfy my stomach. Eating is my way to relax.” By comparing this posting with the article “Ravens at Play”, I was able to recognize different dimensions of play on an independent and interdependent scale.
Within this short posting Margerie explains how many restrictions were placed upon her, “…my family is strict on “plays": no computer games, no TVs more than 1 hour a day, and no novels.” These regulations reduce the full capacity of interacting with various types of :activities and people. She also goes onto explain how the limited distance between her house and friends or family members often left her alone. With these circumstances Margerie’s only play time was after school before her mother picked her up. The factors that allowed this to be play time were the absence of supervision, reduction of regulations and instructions and the addition of pure pleasure. With no one deciding her actions for her, Margerie was able to experience freedom to experiment, interact and relax.
In the article “Ravens at Play”, Debbie Rose and her friends Stuart Cooke and Thom van Dooren, cross paths with a coyote. Debbie’s emotions fuel her desire to want to feed this creature, but later it is revealed through Stuarts consciousness of ongoing issues with humans intruding into other species worlds, that this contact zone should be avoided. Debbie, Stuart and Thom state, “We couldn’t play in good faith, because while the game was a transient moment for us, it was a trajectory toward death for him” (pg.341). By Debbie feeding this creature, she is allowing this animal to become dependent on humans and by creating this trust, she is falsifying the impression that humans will not be a physical threat upon them.
While this interaction of feeding the coyote can be depicted as an act of play, it is one in which these authors advise to avoid. When coming into the contact zone there are various factors to keep in mind. Depending on the species, one should be familiar with its history, safety issues with the actions that may take place, and the possibilities of the relationship forming. These can assist in creating limits on play. Similar to Margerie’s parents with their restrictions, there is an importance for basic guidelines to exist.
The difference between the type of play going on in both of these scenes is that Margerie’s is more of an independent contact zone while “The Ravens at Play” is interdependent. With Debbie, Stuart and Thom having a personal encounter with these other creatures, they are faced with a multitude of direct ethical questions on the actions of their play. Margerie’s focuses on a direct impact on her before her actions are able to impact others. With an absence of restrictions and supervision, she is able to relax and enjoy a quick meal before heading home. Through eating this meal she is entering a variety of distant contact zones with the person who designed the meal, prepared the meal, charged her the meal, the people who own the establishment and so forth. So while her play is simply an act of satisfying hunger for relaxation she is actually impacting various other lives maybe not in a direct manner such as Debbie, Stuart and Thom, but the contact is there.
Play can vary for every person, but key aspects that take part in this are the species or people entering the contact zone, limits of play, and whether or not the contact is interdependent or independent. The impact behind the action may not be obvious, but there is a lot beneath the immediate contact in play that influences many positively and negatively.
Work Cited
"Playing=Eating!" Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.
"Cultural Studies Review." Cultural Studies Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.