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Among the animal kingdom, play is almost universal in infants and adolescents, and humans are no exception. While play can sometimes be more dangerous than helpful in the wild, our children use it in another way: as escapism from real world problems and a method of processing their emotions and thoughts on these problems. Both Molly Knefel’s article Kid Stuff and Butterfly’s posting on two scenes of play from their childhood illustrate this idea, though from two different perspectives.

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Industrial ruins, are spaces on the urban fringe found in most cities. They are wastelands, unkempt parks, alleyways, culverts, and edge lands. They have a rusty aesthetic to them and are full of danger and risk but provide space for low surveillance, carefree play.

In Edensor’s essay, he analyzes play in industrial ruins to have multiple functions. As Edensor explores the routes and manifestations of play, which he categorizes into destructive, hedonistic, artistic and adventurous versions, he makes the claim that play is a way for children to toy with and manipulate adult roles, going beyond simple imitation. Edensor also emphasizes that the environment of an industrial ruin is optimal to experiment with unadulterated freedom. In a web posting on Serendip Studio, under the username isabell.the.polyglot, a contributor recalls a memory of play in which she is freed from the supervision of her mother, and takes the opportunity to try something new that she would not have attempted had her mother been watching.

The problem with play is that it’s childish. Or so people say. Play is more often than not seen as a waste of time, an activity that only immature humans partake in. Adults, on the other hand, are critical of this seemingly useless activity and are envious of a kid’s ability to play so mindlessly. However, play experts Tim Edensor et al. and Robin Marantz Henig discuss in their essays Playing in Industrial Ruins and Taking Play Seriously, respectively, that play is not limited to children. In fact, our whole definition of play is skewed. Play is not the opposite of work; the line between them is blurred such that play is as productive as work and work can be as fun as play.

Elena Luedy

Professor Cohen

E-Sem

9/25/15

Our Own Jungle

For homework we had to read both a post from one of our class mates and an article regarding ‘play’. For this paper I chose “Playing on the Wild Side” by isabell.the.polygot and “Playing in the Industrial Ruins” by Tim Edensor.

Play should be More Praised

Play is for Everyone

            Children love to play. That is an indisputable fact. Children may be unable to play in the traditional sense of the term depending on their situation but that doesn’t stop them from wanting to play, from playing anyways. Children love to have fun and play is one of the best forms of having fun. As Molly Knefel says in her piece “Kid Stuff”, “…children are primed for fun like coiled springs” (Knefel). It doesn’t matter where they are or what their situation is children love to play, to have fun, to laugh, to be silly.

Edensor, Evans, Holloway, Millington and Binnie insist on “A lack of overt regulation is a key attribute to ruins, important in relation to play since this provides a space outside the strictures of ‘healthy and safety’, systematic surveillance and material maintenance. (66)”

When we think back to our fondest childhood memories, we may linger on times of play. Whether this play was by ourselves or amongst others, with toys or with imagination, unstructured or guided – play is a universal pleasure that is equally yearned for between children and adults, regardless of environment. “Kid Stuff” by Molly Knefel, “Taking Play Seriously” by Robin Marantz Henig, and “Playing in Industrial Ruins” by Tim Edensor can illuminate this concept in Butterfly’s post. Stuart Brown, the President of the National Institute of Play, describes play as fundamental to the production of learning, memory, and well-being. This might explain why play is so greatly sought out by both children and adults.

When discussing play it is easy to envision scenes of small children playing with dolls, building iron fortresses of pillows or shooting laser beams out of nerf guns in an attempt to save the world from an alien apocalypse. The ease with which children’s minds wander into the realms of fantasy creates a simple and effective form of entertainment. Each activity mentioned above is a version of “pretend play” or “fantasy play1,” a type of play in which one relies largely on imagination, opposed to material objects and environments.