Caught in Play: How Entertainment Works on You (review)

Have you ever cried at a movie or jumped up, shouted, and pumped your fist when your team scored a goal during a close game? These are examples of the experiences that Peter Stromberg refers to as "caught up in play," which he argues is much more than simply having fun; it is formative of our identities and fundamental to our social order. Caught in Play is a significant work that investigates the psychological and social forces that are at play in the experience and influence of contemporary Western entertainment.

Peter Stromberg introduces his subject with an event from a video of gamers in the midst of a game. Why does one of the players physically kick when his enemy is merely virtual? What is the player's state? What are the meanings of being that deeply engaged in activity? His argument is that the state of absorption that is experienced in many forms of entertainment is similar to trance or ecstasy, and that most of us in these states are aware of the different realities that we are moving in and out of but that nonetheless these states are forms of entrainment; in this way, entertainment enculturates us to a particular notion of self and relationship to our social worlds.

Stromberg orients us with general questions about entertainment and its role as amusement, diversion, or ritual, but immediately directs us as well to the question of losing ourselves. Entertainment "is a social and cultural process through which values and commitments are generated" (13)—some of those commitments are to products and images, fueling a cycle of identity seeking and construction that can never be fully satisfied. He next turns to romantic realism, which is both like and unlike the real world, a contributing factor in the construction of unattainable desires. Consumer culture has its roots in romanticism, which also fed the development of the valuation of passion and the capacity for absorption, seen in art, literature, and other venues such as museums. It comes as no surprise that modern advertising grew out of these ideals as well. As a counterpoint to this, he then explores role playing games, showing that "a player may be immersed in and partially transformed by the game while maintaining an almost flawless footing in the world of the everyday" (54). In this section, he also brings in deictics as a method of analysis; the way the players speak about others, themselves, and their roles reveals their shifting relationships with the different realities that they are negotiating.

At this point, Stromberg takes us more deeply into the psychology of imitative states and other forms of identification fundamental to contemporary forms of entertainment, such as role playing. Simulation theory, joint attention, imitation, and synchronization are necessary to building a coherent social order. These states are not all exclusive to the human animal; one of the psychological characteristics that is unique to humans is Tomasello's concept of "extended imitation"—the ability "to recognize other humans as intentional entities like themselves" (77). These and other capacities allow us to imagine other realities and also mediate social interactions.

Stromberg refers to his chapter on psychological states as "looking under the hood;" here he takes us to the world of inner states, including hints of their neuro-scientific underpinnings. From there he takes us to the "bird's-eye view" approach. This chapter investigates meta-action and symbolism, as well as the question of whether entertainment is ritual or play. For him, entertainment fits more clearly as a form of play. These two chapters also address the sociology of play; Durkheim's collective effervescence and emotional contagion are central to his argument: "In contemporary society, our ideals are generated through processes very similar to those Durkheim describes" (106).

The next issue is how we, as conscious and intentional beings, navigate some of these forces; he looks first at romance and then at addiction (tobacco and alcohol). For example, while women who read romance...