the weight of play

humans at pain?

The trailer for Humans at Play begins as promising as any Nextflix documentary trailer could. The voice of Idris Elba booms out: We humans love to play. The series attempts to answer the question: Why do we play?

And like most things that attach themselves to seeking meaning, this doc becomes mired in the meaning that it seeks while missing the point all together. So far, I’ve watched people get gored by bulls, cry, whale and whimper in agony, get hit by sticks and generally have a miserable time.

If the documentary series were enacting a movement with its content, it’s not drawing me in. Instead, it seems to delight in holding up signs that show me just how damn serious this play stuff is. And? It misses the point.

It misses the point because of the direction it moves. Instead of moving towards delight, mystery, joy, discovery and resilience, this one moves towards, pain, risk, disappointment and the horrible, irrational, extremes we go to in order to play.

Sure. That’s part of humans at…