October 2, 2015 - 15:46
Elena Luedy
Professor Cohen
E-Sem
9/25/15
Our Own Jungle
Whether it is as adults or as children, we all ‘play’. As isabell.the.polygot mentions in “Playing on the Wild Side” we enjoy pushing our limits even as children. As adults some search for even more dangerous ways of playing, as Tim Edensor discusses in “Playing in the Industrial Ruins”. Both Edensor and Isabell.the.polygot talk about their act of play being dangerous and freeing. Often times as children the moment we feel safe in an environment is the moment we decide to take a risk. As part of our human nature we strive to test our limits, always pushing ourselves further. We think of children as being reckless, although the times we as children did something daring we learned important lessons of safety from them. It is through play that we find the happy medium, pushing ourselves far enough to grow yet avoiding any dastardly consequences.
Isabell.the.polygot’s story is an example of what Edensor calls Adventurous and Expressive play. “One day, I decided that I would be adventurous and walk along an elevated portion of the sidewalk that was about two feet off the ground, put there so that people could sit along the path. I climbed up all by myself without my parents noticing, and began to walk along it. I wanted to see how long I could go before my mom found out and pulled me down.” (Weebly 2015). In this story Isabell.the.polygot knows that her act of play is dangerous, which is why she expects her mom to come and tell her not to do it anymore. This is similar to the article we read, because the individuals playing in the industrial ruin know what they are doing is risky or illegal but decide to do it anyway. This could be part of the human desire to push ourselves, we find the danger a thrill that crawls up our spine and seeps into our hearts, pumping as much adrenaline as blood.
In the industrial ruin individuals feel that the space allows them to test their limits, to see what level they are at. “Such disordered space also provides a location for play that entails risk and danger through encounters with unstable structures and surfaces, requiring balance, agility and bravery beyond that encountered in managed play spaces or activities, such as climbing and abseiling, where health and safety regulations restrict the level of risk.”(Edensor 70). Edensor talks about the skill needed to navigate the unsafe landscape, the more dangerous the course the higher the badge of honor. As adults play in the industrial landscape they may try increasing the peril they put themselves in. This is similar to Isabell.the.polygot’s experience. “I started to run and dance along it, experimenting with all the different ways of walking that I knew.” (Weebly 2015). Both Isabell.the.polygot and the people in the industrial ruin desire to test their abilities to see what they are capable of. It is interesting to note that although the activities isabell.the.polygot and those in the Edensor article are much different, not much is different between them. They both seek treacherous adventures, to see just how far their limits can stretch.
Often society looks down upon older individuals ‘playing’ as we see these activities as harmful or a distraction from their work. Conversely, society allows our children to be free and encourage them to explore their different interests. For example one child may have both Barbies and Legos, two toys that do different functions. The Barbies are fun to dress up in outfits and the Legos are a good way to learn architecture. However if a fashion designer expressed interest in architecture they would most likely be told to stick to their field of study, and vice versa. We look at adults who want to stretch their horizons as crazy, but also secretly admire their daring. When someone tells you they want to do something like white water rafting or skydiving we often tell them it’s too risky and advise them against it. They are however just being like the young isabell.the.polygot, trying to test their limits and see what they are capable of.
The same principle could be applied to marathon runners or any other similar athlete. What we as adults come to learn though, is exactly how far we should go, so we do not get hurt, such as little isabell.the.polygot. “Everything started moving slowly around me, and I still remember my mom's look of panic as I fell off the ledge and onto the hard pavement. I went down face first.” (Weebly 2015). It is only through pushing ourselves to the brink that we learn when to draw the line. It can be theorized that once isabell.the.polygot became hurt she no longer desired to do the same trick on the sidewalk. As humans we are often taught through pain to ourselves or another that something is too dangerous to try. Unfortunately, even with the older individuals, such as those in the industrial ruin, more serious pain can be inflicted, perhaps even death in extreme cases. Hopefully not only the individuals that suffer the pain understand the important lessons they learn from the pain, but those who come into contact with the one suffering learn as well.
In Edensor’s essay he discusses how adults play in ways that are fundamentally the same as how children play. Isabell.the.polygot’s essay reflects on her own childhood experience of play, one that is not so different to the way adults in an industrial ruin play. It is through playing and flirting with danger that both adults and children alike discover their limits and learn from their failures. It is important to stay connected to our childhood of learning through playing. Without this play we has humans would remain static, never evolve in our own sense of being.
Works Cited
Edensor, Tim, Bethan Evans, Julian Holloway, Steve Millington and Jon Binnie. "Playing in Industrial Ruins: Interrogating Teleological Understandings of Play in Spaces of Material Alterity and Low Surveillance." Urban Wildscapes. Ed. Anna Jorgensen and Richard Keenan. New York: Routledge, 2011. 65-79
Gerbig, Isabell. "Playing on the Wild side." Web log post. Serendip N.p., 21 Sept. 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.