Imagination Lost: A True Toy Story
When I was a child toys were a huge part of my life. I had GI Joe, Transformers, and Star Wars toys laying all over my room. The toys themselves were designed well and pretty durable considering I took them in a multitude of environments. There was something about playing with toys that was special as opposed to simply collecting them. It never occurred to me or any of my friends to leave an action figure in its package or to keep the original box in pristine shape. I saw playing with toys has a game of participation. It was chance to create a storyline and use my limitless imagination. I created worlds and characters that had not previously existed. Whatever I imagined became a reality. There were continuing storylines that went on for years and it was exciting to spend my free time just being a kid. Childhood is something to behold. It is probably the most powerful experience any of us will ever have. There is a simplicity and beauty to being a kid. The mind thinks differently, perhaps it is the way we should think in adulthood. Think simple with a big imagination and things will certainly get accomplished. Something terrible has happened to childhood in recent times. Imagination has been stolen and replaced by video game consoles.
When I was a child toys were a huge part of my life. I had GI Joe, Transformers, and Star Wars toys laying all over my room. The toys themselves were designed well and pretty durable considering I took them in a multitude of environments. There was something about playing with toys that was special as opposed to simply collecting them. It never occurred to me or any of my friends to leave an action figure in its package or to keep the original box in pristine shape. I saw playing with toys has a game of participation. It was chance to create a storyline and use my limitless imagination. I created worlds and characters that had not previously existed. Whatever I imagined became a reality. There were continuing storylines that went on for years and it was exciting to spend my free time just being a kid. Childhood is something to behold. It is probably the most powerful experience any of us will ever have. There is a simplicity and beauty to being a kid. The mind thinks differently, perhaps it is the way we should think in adulthood. Think simple with a big imagination and things will certainly get accomplished. Something terrible has happened to childhood in recent times. Imagination has been stolen and replaced by video game consoles.
As I watch generation after generation grow, it is apparent that children need to be entertained and modern toys seem to do all the entertaining. Kids are not required to use toys as a vehicle to their imaginations. Instead, toys are used as vehicles to earn a way into their parent’s wallets. I cannot walk into a toy store and buy a toy for $1.99 anymore and have a child be satisfied. Nowadays, we spend five to six hundred dollars on a video game console. Video games themselves are not to blame. Parents however need to shoulder some of the responsibility for the sad state of childhood. In my neighborhood, kids do not play outside anymore, pick-up games are a rarity, and I haven’t seen a tree fort or secret club pop up anywhere around my wooded property. I have to believe that sports clinics and the X-Box 360 are doing ALL of the thinking for today’s youths. There are exceptions to the rule, but it is hard to swallow that “childhood,” in all of its glorious splendor, has been hijacked by corporate terrorists.
The impact of toys on my life has been very substantial, but it wasn’t just toys that made being a kid special. It was the use of my imagination. There were things that existed in my head that did not exist anywhere else. I had an Atari and it was cool, but not as cool as my GI Joe Base or my Death Star playset. Pac-Man could never be a substitute for Roadblock or Optimus Prime. I recently stood in a collectibles store and I saw some of my old toys in glass cases staring at me as if they were saying, “Where have you been?” It was a true Peter Pan moment. I am now an “old man” by most childhood standards and my imagination isn’t what it used to be. I still catch a glimpse now and again of childhood and it feels so good that my eyes well up with tears. I cannot wait to have children some day and stand in their bedroom. It is my hope that it will no longer be a glimpse into childhood, but a permanent stay through the eyes of my kid. I will be able to go “home” again and I will surely bring my toys with me.
Thanks to Wayne Keller for giving me the idea for this article
3 comments:
I could not agree with you more. Of the qualities I admire (loyalty, love, kindness, humor) I have a special veneration for imagination and creativity. Especially in children. Children's imaginations can be expansive, and theatrical. When a child tells a story that he/she has imagined there is always some detail that is mind blowing. Yet, I have noticed recently, when children draw, if they can't draw a character exactly how they see it on television....they give up. Cultivation of imagination and creativity is a solitary art, and in a time where communication technologies are lightning fast, we have less time to commit to such things. Who has time to play when computers can do it for me? Play, sadly has become like work to many children.
Parents are to busy being condescending micro-managers in their children's lives these days. They are so busy integrating children into their own self important bullshit worlds, that they take less and less time to spend some time in their children's world. Instead they enlist the help of technologies to do this job.
On the corporate end of things, there is no money in imagination, and why should there be? Everyday there are thousands of future media whores being born! Corporate America don't want kids reading, or spending time with their toys in the creation new worlds when their are thousands of shiny, colorful digital devices that provide these new worlds for them! Go forbid our children go without these items! We might be thought of as bad parents!!
However, I think most adults underestimate kids. Which is why I have such a tough time with most adults and never wanted to be one myself. I think if we spent less time meddling in the lives of children giving them what we think they want, perhaps they will take what they need and make up the rest as they go along. I imagine that would be a pretty wonderful thing.
It is the Chocolate Factory effect for people like you. Beautifully written and well said Chris.
All our 80's toys are on the way back. not just as next generation versions but with the accompanying movies and all. Transformers success will spell greenlights for GiJoe, Smurfs, HeMan, and more. GiJoe is the only one I really want to see. And really hope they don't screw up. It has to be like X-Men / X-Men 2 where they introduce a few core characters and focus on 1 of the good guys and 1 of the bad guys. Don't use too many stars or they'll have trouble getting them to return. And save more good characters for sequels. Otherwise the Batman overkill will happen. The other key is they have to actually kill subcharacters to make room.
So if they start off with the originals. The cast could be as follows...
Snake Eyes: Ken Watanabe (Letter from Iwo Jima)
Scarlet: Vera Farmiga (The Departed)
Stalker: Djimon Hounsou (Amistad)
General Hawk: Ed Harris (Pollack, The Rock)
Flash: Tobia Menzies (Brutus from "Rome")
Rock n roll: Kevin McKidd (Vorenus from Rome)
Zap (dies), Grunt (dies), Clutch (dies)
Short Fuse (dies)
Cobra Commander: Daniel Craig (Casino Royale)
Storm Shadow: Tsuyoshi Ihara (Letters from Iwo Jima)
Firefly: Miguel Jimenez (Oz/BandofBrothers)
Destro: Dominic Purcell (Prison Break)
Baroness: Famke Janssen (Xmen)
They'd have to do the Snake Eyes origin story. And focus on Cobra Commander with Storm Shadow and Firefly as the main underlings. Destro / Baroness can be introduced but I'd save them for the superior sequel. Along with Roadblock, Spirit, the Crimson Guards, etc.
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