A performance in which play and danger are a short distance apart

Longtime readers of this blog know that I am a major proponent of play-based learning and artfully serious play (for newer readers, and as a refresher on this concept, please see the archives). In most of my prior musings on play and its artful association, I have approached the topic from the purview of play being a safe and moral endeavor. This is because it largely is. However, there are instances where play can be ethically dubious and even dangerous. When I say “dangerous,” I am not referring to how we are likely to endure minor scrapes, bumps and bruises from playing physical games or using playground equipment. In some circumstances, play can be influenced by antagonistic notions and expressions of violence. This post will address instances when play blurs or transcends the line between being safe and virtuous and dangerous and immoral.

On more than one occasion, my elementary school showed us the 1983 science fiction, techno-thriller film, WarGames at recess time during rainy days. The film’s title is a reference to the term “war games,” which is a tactile military exercise simulating acts of combat. I wish I could pinpoint the exact reason why they chose this particular film. Perhaps it was to impart a message that the burgeoning technology in the form of computers and video games could lead to a significant ethical quandary for our generation and generations to come. I cannot recall whether there were any actual in-class discussions about the moral of the film, but it did inspire me to consider the types of entertainment that I was saturated with. I recognized that there are complex and differing considerations between what is real and what is a game.

The awareness that there can be a degree of discomfort, danger and precariousness within playfulness, is what drew me to Claire Lieberman’s artwork. Lieberman subverts the recognizable forms and functions from childhood toys and games, to symbolically express how themes of violence in mass media, as well as within institutional and childhood environments, can carry significant psychological and physical baggage. She notes that she envisions her work, “as a broad ensemble performance in which play and danger are a short distance apart” (quoted in Becker, 2017). Lieberman’s strikingly pristine glass sculptures of toy guns and installations resembling game boards with ominous game pieces, address the dichotomy between innocence and maleficence, and symbolize how violence in the culture at large permeates into the psyche of children. Lieberman explains that she is “conjuring children’s playthings and re-scripting war toys, with the knowledge that there’s a degree of disquietude in play. It’s the way children work out sublimated aggression. These are playthings that have ‘grown up’ to haunt, provoke, attract and delight” (Becker, 2017).

The positive outcomes of playfulness are well known (see: Gray, 2011; Elkind, 2017; and the myriad of prior Artfully Learning blog posts on learning through play). Through play, children often mimic and fantastically expand upon the environments and relationships they are familiar with. Educational psychologist Dr. Lynn Barnett notes that by engaging in this type of imaginative playfulness, “they learn about themselves, how to get along with others, and how to negotiate conflicts during out-of-school time” (quoted in University of Illinois, n.d.) However, when children are saturated within a world full of conflicts and violence perpetrated largely by adults, it can be confusing and hinder their development. Adult intervention and overarching social, cultural and environmental issues and crises have significant influence on how kids structure their playtime. Lieberman’s installation art featuring a confluence of materials like Jello-O and black marble, and sculptures re-interpreting toy guns through clear glass, highlight the physical dangers that children are faced with while they play, and concepts like adult-initiated violence that shapes how they interpret culture and interact with their peers.

The message behind Lieberman’s glass renderings of toy guns is transparent: in this era of mass chronic shootings, violence is akin to child’s play. In other words, with a gun in hand, it is far too easy to think and act in a manner that inflicts deadly results. Although Lieberman’s sculptures are clearly non-functional as weapons or toys. I had an arsenal of toy guns that looked like the ray guns, zappers and phaser guns depicted in Lieberman’s sculptures. These specific types of toy weaponry permeated our collective culture during the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s. I also remember a time in my childhood when some of these play guns were phased out of toy stores and children’s toy chests. This was especially true for the more realistic looking models or the ones that shot plastic or foam projectiles. I also recall some very serious talks in school about the dangerous consequences playing with toy guns can have. News stories of children shot by police for brandishing toy guns while playing are all too prevalent. And real guns have been a steady factor impacting children’s safety in the one environment where they should be absolutely safe: at school. Instead, school shootings are at an all-time high, with no signs of slowing down.

It is not clear whether playing with toy guns is an action that intrinsically correlates with perpetrating real gun violence. According to several behavioral psychologists, playing with toy guns is unlikely to lead children to become violent as adults (see: Clark, 2022 and Jacobsen, 2012). I can attest to this personally because while toy guns were a part of my childhood playtime, I never developed an interest in actual firearms, and am adamantly against the concept of gun ownership, especially without any semblance of reasonable gun control. Sometimes children play in order to gain control, power and security over things that they are struggling to contextualize. Therapist Michelle Felder notes, through playing children “make sense of things that don’t make sense, they process things that are scary or upsetting and they gain mastery over these scary or upsetting things” (quoted in Clark, 2022). This reflects the aforementioned quote by Lieberman’s where she mentions that her sculptures referencing violent toys is a way for children to work complex, provoking and poignant things out. However, like many issues with controversial implications, the context behind it is key. Guns are unquestionably violent objects. Toy guns may reference the violence of real guns, but the fine line between play and danger can be addressed in a way that will heighten children’s understandings about gun violence. Education and dialogue about gun violence is imperative as a supplement to this type of play. Felder adds that “real guns have consequences that are different than what children experience in cartoons and video games, and a young child’s lack of understanding of the permanency of death makes these conversations about real guns even more crucial” (Clark, 2022).

Jell-O is another material Lieberman uses in her art to contradict and/or compare the sweetness of childhood with the ways children are socially, emotionally and physically molded through growing up and developing in a world permeated with violence. Jell-O is an iconic product that is marketed as playful food. Like rendering toy guns in glass, Lieberman’s utilization of Jell-O explores the hypocrisy and dichotomy of of childhood, wherein children are presented with these materials in a playful context, and at the same time, discouraged from playing with them (I am sure many of us were told not to play with our food at least once while growing up!). Jell-O, therefore symbolizes both play and prohibition of play. It is flexible, sturdy and able to be molded into shapes and forms. These physical properties lend to its significance as a symbol of time, physicality and psyche in Lieberman’s work. The main ingredient in Jell-O, which is gelatin, has another profound purpose and meaning in her work, which relates to gun violence. Lieberman explains that “the FBI uses it to test what it’s like for a human body to absorb a gunshot, so my installation is about one’s own sense of self” (quoted in Linderman, 2011).

Instead of trying to mold children’s behavior and influence them to adhere to our adult-centered frame of mind, we should be supporting their innate sense of independent play. In order to support their intuitiveness with substantial learning and behavioral outcomes, we can design curriculum around the interests and concerns they express in their play. After all, one of the major reasons children play is to render real-world scenarios through a lens and manner in which they assume agency over their actions and consequences. When supported through education that acknowledges the seriousness of their imaginations, the tangible empowerment derived from play can be harnessed to achieve positive outcomes in their behavior and interactions with their peers and the world at large.

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References, Notes, Suggested Reading:

Becker, Noah. “Chaos and Stillness: A Conversation with Artist Claire Lieberman,” Whitehot Magazine, December 2017. https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/conversation-with-artist-claire-lieberman/3838

Clark, Casey. “Is it OK for kids to play with toy guns? Experts weigh in, Yahoo, 16 September 2022. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/are-toy-guns-ok-for-kids-141115172.html

Elkind, David. 2017. The Power of Play: Learning What Comes Naturally. Boston: Da Capo Lifelong Books. 

Gray, Peter. “The Decline of Play and the Rise of Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents.”  American Journal of Play, v3 n4 p443-463 Spr 2011.

Jacobsen, Malia. “Just How Bad Are Toy Guns for Kids?” CHILD Magazine, 8 November 2012. https://www.childmags.com.au/just-how-bad-are-toy-guns-for-kids/

Linderman, Juliet. “Sugar shack: Six storefronts transform into an erotic candyland,” Brooklyn Paper, 6 December 2011. https://www.brooklynpaper.com/sugar-shack-six-storefronts-transform-into-an-erotic-candyland/

University of Illinois. “The Pros and Cons of Being Playful,” University of Illinois Blog, n.d. https://ahs.illinois.edu/blog/pros-and-cons-being-playful