tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post4087632596766907701..comments2024-03-28T03:10:23.679-07:00Comments on Polemarch: Performative WargamesThe Polemarchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-34008595338056496642015-05-25T10:23:19.201-07:002015-05-25T10:23:19.201-07:00Excellent post. Sorry I'm coming to read it s...Excellent post. Sorry I'm coming to read it so long after posting. I hope this reaches you.<br /><br />What you have written echoes a lot with my thoughts on staging participation wargames. In that the battle or engagement being recreated is really (to borrow your analogy) just the stage. The real performance is not replicating what actually happened in history - the real performance is the game played by the players and other participants. Having a great gaming, visual and social experience is, for me anyway, very much what the hobby is about. And yes, those experiences are subjective (though hopefully influenced by objective hard work - historical research, nicely painted figures and terrain).<br /><br />If that approach becomes your focus, the battles being recreated can be looked at in a slightly different way. History then becomes just the starting point for the experience, with the social interaction paramount.Sidney Roundwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14795563060856586670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-8901416494955702732015-03-23T02:38:53.019-07:002015-03-23T02:38:53.019-07:00Ooh! we demand at least a YouTube video of that co...Ooh! we demand at least a YouTube video of that coffee.<br /><br />I think there is a high degree of, um, 'luvviness' with performance and interpretation, and a good deal of doing stuff just to shock (like Macbeth on motorcycles) or gain publicity. But occasionally, an interpretation can work and speak into a situation today. Human nature has changed little, even if our politics and technology is different.<br /><br />And,.of course, some things can be more radically updated. My favourite is the headline for Othello:<br />'Weapons Misuse Inquiry Launched After Death of Officer['The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-80061443031250286562015-03-23T02:34:06.374-07:002015-03-23T02:34:06.374-07:00I agree, but I suppose that what might be interest...I agree, but I suppose that what might be interesting is how we arrive at that horizon which we find acceptable. I suspect that our personal horizon is moderated somehow by the culture and society we live in, but it is hard to say how, exactly. <br /><br />One of the interesting things to do with movies is to watch something link the Aardman 'Chicken Run' film. The watch it again and concentrate on the background. There is a lot going on. So the audience can, in fact, entirely alter the experience of the film, for themselves. No wonder the Oscars are controversial most years.The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-6139896145134990922015-03-21T05:24:07.059-07:002015-03-21T05:24:07.059-07:00I had a very cynical friend (now deceased, but - v...I had a very cynical friend (now deceased, but - very strangely - he was a professional folk musician) who maintained that the concept of interpretation was a scam invented by conductors and stage directors. I don't believe he was serious of course, but I do believe that interpretation sometimes becomes an end in itself. I have once, for example, witnessed Macbeth performed on motorcycles in the Edinburgh Festival - very much a niche product, I would say, in which the motorcycles loomed rather larger than the Bard.<br /><br />A step-through re-enactment (to demonstrate our understanding of a real battle, for example) is maybe slightly different in concept, but a "normal" wargame might correspond to an interactive version of Macbeth where the audience (would they have to be children?) were equipped with dice, and they could decide whether he died, who dunnit, all that. (Now I have thought about it, they would either have to be Miss Bentham's class from Beaconsfield Primary, or else they would have to have paid £30 a ticket for the privilege.)<br /><br />I am off now to have my second coffee of the day - I think I shall have it with honey - no - maybe mayonnaise - I shall let the dice decide - and I shall drink it in the style of Oscar Wilde. Aha. Anyone who wishes to watch may do so.MSFoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14470241067504971068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-80585936825697759762015-03-21T04:59:13.562-07:002015-03-21T04:59:13.562-07:00For those of us that wargame as a hobby, I think w...For those of us that wargame as a hobby, I think we normally choose to play within our comfort zone or personally chosen horizon. I have occasion crossed it by accident, failure to fully understand what was proposed or in order to put being social above other concerns or even more rarely, intentionally as an exploration.<br /><br />Like plays though that horizon is individual not social/cultural so for some current wars, even "dirty" ones are fine, for others they must be sanitized and disguised and for still others even that is unacceptable.<br /><br />As a side comment, one would think that movies would be fixed but since it interacts with me each time I view it and I sometimes see or hear or notice different things or perhaps have had a different experience that causes me to reinterpret it, even movies remain a petformance that is a bit of a different experience each time.Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04053555991679802013noreply@blogger.com