TEXT LINK:
This reading by Dennis K. Orthner was primarily about leisure activities and the effects of ‘free time’ and ‘play’ on the family, mainly, whether the increase of focus on play will increase the families strength and enhance the family experience. While this is not exactly what I am looking for in my work, I found this reading informative in a sociological and anthropological way to give my relationship with my own family some context, and potentially reasons behind aspects of our relationships dynamic. Something that I found interesting was the way in which Orthner talked about the use of play enhancing the families understanding of each other, ‘The realisation of the other beyond the constraints of a particular role improves the level of understanding and offers further possibilities for exchange’. This reference to the ‘roles’ that family members fit into is very relevant to my own work, the way in which as a sister or brother you may fall into the role of being more dominant or submissive, equally with being a younger or older sibling. Moreover, Orthner has implied the effects of play, and behaving in a different role, as enhancing the empathy and understanding of one another. When children play, this is most likely an important stage to developing their cognitive ability to feel empathy for another person, which is very important in regard to siblings, understanding each other and therefore having a better or more wholesome relationships. This is very relevant to my previous work with self portraiture, dressing as Rowan, and ‘playing’ his role in order to enhance my own empathy of him. Trish Morrissey uses this ‘role play’ aspect in her own work; putting herself in the role of the mother in other families in order to empathise with other relationships, and in tern learn more about their role and her own role in terms of motherhood. Gillian Wearing uses this method in her on going work, Family Stories, as she wears very realistic masks of her family, literally becoming them in order to change her role and increase her understanding of her different family members. I feel that this use of ’emulation’ (Prophecy Coles) and ‘role play’ is an effective way in real life to understand other people around you, and also an interesting tool to use in photography, to visually represent yourself in another role in order to convey this ‘playing’ of another person.
Orthner also referred to situations of play that could be applied to my own life, and therefore be an interesting thing to explore. He refers to the idea of ‘doing things together’ or ‘Parallel activities’ where the family will engage in a mutually including play activity that has no dominant or submissive role. Orthner states that this form of play is suggested to be an important form of understanding, being about to be strong yet also understanding that the other person(s) are also a strong role, or equal role at least. This got me thinking about the idea of broken homes, where the parents have split up, and there are half-siblings, and the effect of play this would have on children and therefore the effect it may have on their relationship. Children’s play is very much about confidence, and comfort, if a child is uncomfortable they will be less likely to pay freely and be as creative as they can be. A broken family, with children from different parents would effect their play, and therefore relationship, due to their confidence. For example, a child with both parents present will be more comfortable than a child with one parent present, and one adult who is not their parent, therefore, their level of comfort and confidence in play would be effected. This could then lead to less cognitively developed play, which in tern would decease the chances of ‘role play’ ’emulation play’ and empathetic play’ which could then have an effect on the children’s relationship with understanding each other, later in life.
These theories are very interesting and I have enjoyed reading them and thinking about the effects of play on empathy on family and siblings. I feel that it has been relevant in my own family context from a sociological and psychological way which in tern has lead me to think about these issues in terms of my own family, but also the way in which this could be applied to other, similar families. This reading has been informative with the theory of empathy and role play, and I feel that it has related very well with my previous photographers research as well as my own experimentation with empathy in my self portraits.
REFERENCE:
Orthner, D. K. (1975). Familia Ludens: Reinforcing the Leisure Component in Family Life. The Family Coordinator , 175-185.
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