***A quick reminder that early bird reduced price tickets are only on sale until Monday July 8th!***
“So, just 20’s? No fairies, vampires, wizards? No supernatural elements?” In the development of Elysian Revel over the last couple years, I’ve often thought about or been asked ‘but what if with some magical elements?’. There is nothing wrong with bringing magical elements into a historical setting, but for the purposes of what this game is about, the idea has always made me feel a little sad.
The more research I’ve done on the era, the more I’ve read about incredible people doing incredible things, the more it’s left me convinced that bringing something supernatural into it could dilute the absolute vibrance and spirit of the real people of the era.
Did you know there was a movement of radical anarchists in education, based in Stelton NJ, which emphasized self-determination above all else? No tests, grades or mandatory classes; instead, they actually thought to ask children what they’d be interested in studying. It started in the 1910’s in St. Mark’s Place in New York, later moved to New Jersey, and existed into the mid-1950’s until it was eventually shut down.
Did you know there were fake opium dens in NYC’s Chinatown entirely set up to be tourist attractions? They created fake “dens of debauchery” for rich (mostly white) looky-loos to see after they had been written about in so many penny dreadfuls. “Slumming” tourists would be taken to these fake dens, often be shown a fake fight, and then be taken to a Chinese restaurant. While today one might be unsettled by such seedy representation, isn’t there something also brilliant and subversive in providing an experience for very prejudiced people, taking their money, while also, unbeknownst to them, introducing them to real Chinese culture through food?
Did you know that Drag Balls were a hugely popular social part of the Harlem Renaissance? The Hamilton Lodge Ball was an annual cross-dressing ball in Harlem that started all the way back in 1869 and saw the height of its popularity in the 1920’s. It was one of the few integrated spaces at the time, and while cross-dressing was officially illegal, the events, which drew over 8,000 people, even had security provided by the NYPD! It was only in the more repressive 30’s when they were finally shut down.
The way we are often taught about history is via the myth that people in the past were far more conservative, or didn’t have any of the same ideas and imaginations that we have today. The myth claims that they weren’t fighting against the same structures that we face today, when nothing could be further from the truth. The more I learn about what actually happened in the 1920’s, the more I’m fascinated by the resilience, the brilliance and ingenuity of the actual history.
When we represent historical eras in fiction, it’s very tempting to add a supernatural element for an escapist flair. But even when great artists use the magical realism of the supernatural, they do so to help us emotionally understand what a certain moment may have felt like. I worry that if we only engage with the past aesthetically and fill it with the supernatural, are we erasing the struggles and triumphs of real people who could show us true magic – their transformation of human culture and thought that we are still feeling 100 years later?
Written by Joseph Mastantuono Edited by Samara Metzler special thanks to Ericka Skripan.