The Power of the Playing Cards
Television convention suggests playing cards may be more durable than I thought. The English upper classes of Downton Abbey are trying to hold on to nineteenth century formality, but the writers' introduction of a game of poker lightens the mood. Much of the world with which the ad hoc command of the 4077 on M*A*S*H is familiar may have been left stateside when they were shipped to Korea, but poker offers a reminder of home, and an environment where a corporal without a high school diploma can outsmart a captain with an M.D. When writers want to convey camaraderie extending into the rarefied environment of The West Wing, the playing cards come out along with the trivia questions. Even after centuries of hypothetical progress in pragmatism in the Star Trek universe, the senior officers in Star Trek: The Next Generation find that cards provide a safe space.
Insight into the value of a usually serious community at play is much older than the television which borrows its conventions. Deuteronomy 6:7 says our best opportunities to interact over what matters most may take place when we sit in our houses, when we move from place to place, and in the routines for waking up and bedtime. Similarly, the archetypal depiction of the English elite boarding school or public school, Tom Brown's School Days offers the reader the same suggestion. The narrator says that given the choice between whether to supervise boys in their studies or at play, he would prefer to do the latter. There is, it seems, more opportunity for genuine connection when pretenses are down and the anxiety of status is less of a factor.
We still aspire to this ideal of just enough community with just enough structure. The real estate shows parade those mortgaging themselves for space to entertain. How many, then, must spend the hours they dreamed would be devoted to informal influence instead getting and spending to keep up with that mortgage, or save up for a bigger space to entertain which is similarly seldom used? Tired, or at least tired enough to be tired of other people, I suspect the same technology which brings us the individualized sense of charm of the worlds from Downton Abbey in the early 20th century to the Star Trek universe in 2370 makes space for informal, genuine connection more fleeting. Where we find, or found, our recreation in low key activities in the semi-public sphere, interruption was expected. Serendipitous connections added to the charm. In the media bubble of our own choosing, we may be playing cards or idealizing Mayberry, but we are making it increasingly clear that we want to screen out what doesn't instantly suit us.
I'm searching a little more for real life stories and a little less for ideally and continuously filled screens in 2017. Three different flesh and blood people I encountered this week may eventually make it into this space, a brief status on the power of the playing cards resonated readily with the Facebook communities for various shows mentioned. Perhaps those longing for narrative are peaking past our gadgets after all with some awareness that we use them in order to clarify what we want most in our real relationships. Reminded by our shows, perhaps we will seek that real connection among ourselves.
Insight into the value of a usually serious community at play is much older than the television which borrows its conventions. Deuteronomy 6:7 says our best opportunities to interact over what matters most may take place when we sit in our houses, when we move from place to place, and in the routines for waking up and bedtime. Similarly, the archetypal depiction of the English elite boarding school or public school, Tom Brown's School Days offers the reader the same suggestion. The narrator says that given the choice between whether to supervise boys in their studies or at play, he would prefer to do the latter. There is, it seems, more opportunity for genuine connection when pretenses are down and the anxiety of status is less of a factor.
We still aspire to this ideal of just enough community with just enough structure. The real estate shows parade those mortgaging themselves for space to entertain. How many, then, must spend the hours they dreamed would be devoted to informal influence instead getting and spending to keep up with that mortgage, or save up for a bigger space to entertain which is similarly seldom used? Tired, or at least tired enough to be tired of other people, I suspect the same technology which brings us the individualized sense of charm of the worlds from Downton Abbey in the early 20th century to the Star Trek universe in 2370 makes space for informal, genuine connection more fleeting. Where we find, or found, our recreation in low key activities in the semi-public sphere, interruption was expected. Serendipitous connections added to the charm. In the media bubble of our own choosing, we may be playing cards or idealizing Mayberry, but we are making it increasingly clear that we want to screen out what doesn't instantly suit us.
I'm searching a little more for real life stories and a little less for ideally and continuously filled screens in 2017. Three different flesh and blood people I encountered this week may eventually make it into this space, a brief status on the power of the playing cards resonated readily with the Facebook communities for various shows mentioned. Perhaps those longing for narrative are peaking past our gadgets after all with some awareness that we use them in order to clarify what we want most in our real relationships. Reminded by our shows, perhaps we will seek that real connection among ourselves.
Or settle for the vicarious experience of the shows? Playing cards are also the mainstay of would-be illusionists. Pick a card, any card...
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