Part 1: The movie introduced many concepts regarding the concept of play from Cas Holman, an award winning toy maker. One of her concepts is that children should be able to build upon the toys and not play with a stagnant toy. This includes making toys and play educational where they learn how to overcome challenges. In her building block toy, it allowed for self-creativity which is vital definition to Holman’s concept of toy being that it should be imaginative and not be restraint of material. Essentially the definition of play that Holman provides is that play is something natural that allows for exploration of one’s imagination. It is something that allows imagination to build and builds imagination.
Having read the readings as well as read this text, I’m highly influenced by Toy as Culture in my belief of what play is. I believe that our notion of play has changed like a paradigm shift throughout time. While it’s romanticized as this exploration of one’s imagination or as educational, the privilege of playing is an existential issue having to do with hierarchy, power status, and economic prowess. Of course it is understood that one may not feel that these embark on play in modern day, it is important to realize that play is a privilege for those without struggles. In this sense, I agree that play is imaginary, educational, and not-serious, but I do not agree that play is naturally those concepts. The doctrine we live in the world today blinds our vision of the habits of the past, in which our modern world regards as primitive. Play, in it’s most natural form, is primitive. It is not the evolution of play theory, of hierarchal domestication, nor is it a truly peaceful. We regard cultural play of the past as violence, but from a natural point of view, it is play. Play cannot be one singular term that overlays all of the play in history, but it can be defined as the engagement of oneself with the natural surrounding environment and zeitgeist in a non-serious manner or with playing intent. How one is engaged with play is their style of play, but it would be incorrect to deny cultural play as non-play due to personal belief of play.
I believe that a board game called “Catan” is my favorite toy as it allows for strategy that can be used by players to win the game. Every time the game is played, there are different dynamics that one must consider in their strategy to play the game. For this game, I have to play with one to five more friends which allows for social interaction as well as consideration for how the game can be won. This game was created in 1995 by Teuber which was initially for the purpose of escapism from reality. The target users are teenagers and it is still in the market, being one of the most sold board games in the world. This toy actually has to do with Toy as Culture reading as playing games is actually a privilege. Moreover, this game also has to do with the Ludic theory as it has to do with play as education. Honestly, I don’t think there’s much connections to the readings in general, but if I have to pick it’d be that it connects with the imagination that is a trait of play. Playing board games often provide restrictions, but it also needs the player to think about the imagery occurring in order to have the game function. Without imagination, the game would seem listless as there’s nothing being thought up.
Leave a Reply