The other day I was having a conversation with my wife, mother and sister about the demise of imagination and imaginative play--how many children, perhaps because of television and video games, no longer pretend they are anything but themselves, not even to play house. A sad, sad thing. Of course, our lament, like most laments, is premature, but my sister had concrete evidence. She babysits for a family who apparently do not know how to play pretend. Now there may be those who consider this to be an unnecessary skill, and they may be right, but here at Essays in Enchantment we consider playing pretend to be very important. It was one of the chief joys of my childhood, and one which I have not given up. In fact I was going to write a long 'blog post about playing, and how the old enjoyment I got out of playing pretend was carried directly over into role-playing and writing, and that I would write more fantasy fiction, but I'm a better role-player than a writer, but lo, and behold, my brother has already written it. There is a quote from Legend of the Five Rings, a role-playing of Japanese fantasy, which says: "We tell ourselves the stories of heroes to remind ourselves that we too can be heroes." And so it is. Of course, I don't limit myself to role-playing. Just yesterday I was mopping the floor at work at I started singing sea chanties to myself to pass the time while I swabbed the deck on the British Naval vessel I was serving on. Have any of you ever read "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber. Yeah, that is me (although I am quick to point out that there is no similarity whatsoever between Walter Mitty's wife and my own wonderful eternal companion). I have always felt, perhaps incorrectly, that my life was improved by flights of fancy, since such flights helped encourage me in the rest of my life (perhaps unlike Walter Mitty).
Let's be heroes, then! Why should we let the banality of our mundane lives get us down. There is a world of good out there for us to be doing, let's go do it. We should us our imagination to remind ourselves of what it means to be a hero, and then do true heroic actions, such as do good to our neighbours and live according to the pattern set down for us.
Next time, we discuss fantasy movies, derived from fantasy books--advantages and disadvantages. Until then,
Excelsior!
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6 comments:
Play is an important thing for children. I have noticed that the video games that kids play with sometimes lead them to play games at school or other places that we would consider strange. Pretending you're Mario is kinda odd. However given time children I believe inherently imagine and play it is our job as adults to cultivate this. This is not to say video games are bad but they don't constitute real play.
Fondly I remember my youth playing with padded swords in the forest slaying dragons and killing monsters and using our magic spells to solve riddles. It was a good play and was exercise of both body and imagination.
Here here for Imagination and Make Believe
I totally agree with your post.
Some of my favorite pretend games were "Animal Families," "Extreme Survival (Human Version)," and "Animal Families Extreme Survival". "Extreme Survival" was kind of like playing Swiss Family Robinson, only things always went badly for us: blizzards, tornadoes, monsters, disease, starvation, etc. We were dramatic kids I guess. :D
Sorry that Samuel stole your idea :)
I suggested he write that because my dad was concerned, having known a mother whose son committed suicide over his A D&D game. She told him to never let his kids play it, that it was evil, etc.
My sister used to play by herself in the back yard. She would bundle up a doll, or toy, or sometimes nothing up in a blanket and go out in the back yard, wandering around and crying over her poor child in the "rain" and other disasters.
When we played ship, and shipwrecked with the cushions on the floor, Mary (the same sister), always was all alone on a driftwood, with her baby, trying to comfort it.
Aleatha, I think my sister Mary would have loved your extreme survival, because she played it herself; everything was always going badly for her and her baby.
Yep, Mary's game sounds about right. :D
Well spoken, sir! The mind is the best playground. My friends and I fought wars as a child in the gentle hills of my birthplace.
Unfortunately, I think the constant stream of available entertainment available to us today is turning many of us into consumers of imagination rather than producers of it.
But all is not lost for the next generation. My daughter has a secret kingdom that she and her best friend share in the woods behind our home. And, I expect that your own offspring will no doubt, follow in the footsteps of their noble parents.
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