Welcome to Learned, a short, weekly look at language, education, and everything else under the sun. I’m Joel, linguist and professional slacker. This week, we're finding a third place.
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There’s a through line that can be drawn between the 1939 Disney cartoon “Mickey’s Trailer,” the Jetson’s 1960s vision of the house of the future, and Luc Besson’s 1997 classic The Fifth Element. And it is this: all three stories envision a version of the home that can be transformed by the push of a button into a different kind of space. Mickey’s Trailer opens by showing the trailer re-absorbing the surrounding garden, fence, and even sunny-sky backdrop into itself before, over the course of 8 minutes, the interior changes from bedroom to bathroom to dining room all at the touch of a button.
Why are kids’ cartoons so full of things that transform? Why are they still so cool even as a bitter, jaded, adult?
I still want to live in the Jetsons’ future. You can keep your jetpack, I want a briefcase-car.
Then, in the Jetsons, we see George’s car get smaller and smaller as various family members are dropped off before it finally transforms into a briefcase, letting George carry it away into work. And this push-button convenience radiates out to everything else in the cartoon. Need something, anything at all, just push a button. Finally, in The Fifth Element, we spend a good portion of the first world-building act in Korben Dallas’ (Bruce Willis) apartment. Although much less rosy-eyed than the other two, the push-button convenience of having one’s space transformed from bedroom to kitchen to living room is still present and even comedic.
At the moment, I spend a lot of my time in the same room of my house because work, time with my friends, time for hobbies, and even time with distant family is all tied to my computer screen. I find myself wishing I could transform my physical space with the push of a button.
Just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic landing on us, I was in search of a third place - someplace that wasn’t my house and that wasn’t my classroom (either of them); someplace I could just kind of hang out for a while and not be working or family-ing. I thought I was making some progress by getting re-acquainted with my local library, renewing connections at the local pub, and joining a gym. And then everything went online and downhill.
So, let’s back up. What do I mean when I use the term “third place?” I’m co-opting it a little bit from its original intent, but third places are meant to be places in the community where people can gather outside of the two main social areas, the home and the workplace. Sociologists argue that third places are essential in community building and can do a lot to combat social ills like isolation and tribalism. For myself, I envisioned it more as a place where I can be alone in public; I want to be around people, I just don’t want anyone to talk to me.
The Fifth Element is just about a perfect movie. Fight me.
What I wouldn’t give to be able to turn my one room into a third space just by pushing a button. Push the button and there’s my workstation, complete with books and pens and keyboard all ready to teach and create. Push the button again and there’s a family room, full of sofas and toys and games perfect for bringing the family closer together. Push it one more time and now my room is a gym with a large t.v. and treadmill and weights. Hell, push it once more, just to flesh out the fantasy, and now my one room is a personal library and listening room…
It’s not that I don’t have other rooms in my house. What I don’t have are rooms available on my command, suited to exactly my taste and my wants and nothing else. The family room mentioned above is a good example. I have a family room in my house. It’s rather nice. But it’s not mine. It is, naturally, the family’s with everyone else’s junk all over the place.
But what about the social aspect? The point of a third place is to be social, even if, as in my case, my sociability is limited to my striking presence. Having a transformable room doesn’t allow people into your third space; it doesn’t allow for sociability. But, going back to our cartoons and sci-fi operas, another commonality is that they all allow for spaces to be shared. Honestly, short of dimension hopping and bending the time-space continuum I’m not sure how my transformable third space could be your transformable third space but I’m willing to try.
In the meantime, I’ll settle for finding ways to change the scenery inside my room so that my workplace, family space, and third place don’t all look exactly the same.
New issue of the Glossary will be out on Friday. Until then, stay safe, stay sane. Learn something.
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Joel