Devils Playground Film Analysis

Essay by Jennifer5293College, UndergraduateA+, November 2014

download word file, 5 pages 0.0

Devil's Playground is a documentary on Amish children in the Rumspringa stage. The movie shows the lives of kids who were debating whether or not to commit and join the Amish church. Devil's Playground centers on mainly 2 main characters and their interactions with others in and out of the Amish community. The main character is a boy named Faron Yoder, an 18-year-old preacher's son. Faron was heavily involved with drugs and dated an "English" girl in the beginning of the documentary. He was later arrested for drugs and involved in a set up to avoid his jail time. After he was revealed to be involved with the set up, he had to break up with his American girlfriend and move back in with his Amish family. He cleaned up and found an Amish girlfriend, Emma. Emma decided not to join the church and moved to an Amish community in Florida.

Faron and Emma broke up at that point because Faron wanted to join the church. Faron, then, gets back into drugs and partying. He later moves to Florida to be with Emma and clean up.

Another main character was Velda. She felt very depressed during Rumspringa and did end up joining the Amish church. After returning she decided that the Amish life was not for her and she left. She was shunned from her family, which she believes was their last way of showing her, that they loved her. She lives on her own, works for herself, and was accepted into a Christian college in Texas. Velda is very involved with the Christian Religion, but claims that the rigid Amish life depressed her. She does not have much contact with her family, but she does not regret leaving the church.

The movie shows many other kids experiencing...