A Romp in the Devil's Playground

There are many misconceptions about the Amish that are propagated by the mass media: Hollywood portrays them as extremely backward, they are often seen as closed and confining, and their lives seem to be built around rigid traditions that make little sense in a modern world. However, in the film "The Devil's Playground," we are presented with another side of the Amish; perhaps, it is this side that can make us more aware of our ills as a capitalist society.





All eight parts of this movie are on YouTube. The entire film revolves around the activities of Amish youth during Rumspringa, where they are given an indefinite amount of time to experience the outside world - the Devil's Playground. When translated into English, this time off from Amish life is "running around," which most of the youth do. They have wild parties, stay away from their parents, speak and dress "English" (or non-Amish), do drugs, even land in jail. Their untamed natures seem to be expected: Amish children are banned from attending school beyond a certain age due to the vanity that education purportedly instills in children. Hence, half-educated children are brought forth into the world, and such children can often fall into the traps of drugs and capitalism. Capitalism has its trappings and good things - but the Amish youth may not be aware of these advantages and thereby go for the underground.

In this film, Amish youth are shown as either wayward or well-bred, providing a good balance to the film. No one is entirely blameworthy nor blameless; Amish children, like any group of children all over the world, are actually a diverse bunch. There are those who go into drugs, those who stay home and are obedient to their parents; there are those who leave the church, those who stay in it; there are children who find their way back after years of running around in the world, and others who are still thinking about their destinies. Once they enter the Amish church, they no longer have the freedom to leave - they must make a decision based on their "adventures" in the outside world.

The diversity here is no longer about color or disability, age or education - it is about thought processes in children who are forced (perhaps shackled) to their "ethnic" group. The diversity exists in their ability (or lack thereof) to handle stressful situations, their adherence to religious norms, their ways of coping. Even in the white and spick-and-span, seemingly homogeneous and strict world of the Amish, there are differences that must be addressed. Will a single place of worship solve these differences? Are these differences actually problems that must be solved?

The film itself is thought provoking in that it shows the different sides of the Amish - sides that most people do not know exist. Here, the powers that hold them to their religion no longer hold: these children try to create their culture, their underground method of control, their way of coping. Does it succeed? Sometimes. Does it make them better? Maybe. Can it shed light on our own faults as a capitalist society - yes.