las vegas as carnival, tourism as play
DESCRIPTION
LAS VEGAS AS CARNIVAL, TOURISM AS PLAY. THE LAST RESORT: HELL. Ad Slogans: “Go to Hell,” “You’ll be Dying to Get Here,” “Damned Good Fun” Spectacles: Ever-flaming Fire & Brimstone, Ferry ‘Cross the Styx’ Rides: Drop of Doom, From Here to Eternity, the Bottomless Pit - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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LAS VEGAS AS CARNIVAL, TOURISM AS PLAY
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THE LAST RESORT: HELLAd Slogans: Go to Hell, Youll be Dying to Get Here, Damned Good FunSpectacles: Ever-flaming Fire & Brimstone, Ferry Cross the StyxRides: Drop of Doom, From Here to Eternity, the Bottomless PitCostumed Employees: Croupiers from Hell, Cocktail Waitresses from Hell, Pit Bosses from Hell; His Royal Satanic Majesty
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BUT WAIT, THERES MOREShops: Needful ThingsHellmark CardsSave My Sole ShoesRosemarys Baby ShopDevil May Care ClothingParadise Lost LuggageInferno Hot TubsPurgatory Petes PetsBeetlejuice Julius
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PLUS FOOD, DRINK, & ENTERTAINMENT Souls on Fire DiscothequeHellraisers BarClub LimboDeathwatch Dinner Theatre (Featuring the Corpses on Parade Musical Revue)Faustus FolliesHard Rock and a Hot PlaceBeelzebubbas Soul Food
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SATIRE IS DIFFICULT IN A TOWN LIKE THISThis is not a good town for psychedelic drugs. Reality itself is too twisted (Hunter Thompson, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas)Kaleidoscopic (Jean Baudrillard)Like Thee-Dimensional TelevisionLike a Postmodern Shopping MallAn Uncoordinated Theme ParkFantasy Pseudo-locales Drawing on Myth, Magic, the Exotic, Carnival, & Hollywood
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Liminal spaces
Places on the MarginLiminality:"moments of discontinuity in social space...moments of 'in between-ness', of a loss of social co-ordinates... Liminality represents a liberation from the regimes of normative practices and performance codes of mundane life... (Shields, 1991: 83-4)
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A BRIEF HISTORYOrganized Crime Beginnings: Sin (Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth), Transgression, Dystopia, Excess, Inversion, Carnivalesque -- a place at the margin
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Enter Howard Hughes: The Buyout of the Mobs; Corporatization; MegaresortsMainstreaming/Theming: Hospitality Industry, Hollywood, Franchises, Family
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LAS VEGAS AS FAMILY FARE?: EFFECTS OF CHANGESMore & More Diverse TouristsBut Not the Family Market of Disneyworld or Even of Los AngelesPeople Dont Come To Las Vegas to Gamble (anymore)
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THE INFANTALIZATION OF ADULTS IN LAS VEGASBelk: people wandering from slot machine to slot machine with their cups full of coinslike children in a candy store with their coins clasped hotly in their hands. Those who are dressed in sweatsuitstaking on the look of children in their pajamas. This looks more like a playpen for the middle class and middle aged than the city of broken dreams.
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WHY INFANTALIZE ADULTS?Infantalization Fosters Willing Suspension of Cognitive, Rational, Adult ControlWe are open for experiencesWe succumb to a dreamworld of possibilities (lost to an adult)Thus, Once Infantalized by Magic, Fun, & Fantasy, Adults Make Better TouristsGames Adult Infants Play: Dress-up, Pig Out, Stay up All Night Liminoid Freedom & Transgressive Desire
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The Las Vegas EffectIndulgence & HedonismSome Gamblers Compulsive/AddictedAn Invitation to Excess/GratificationTacky, Shallow, Passive Materialism
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But alsoChildish play nourishes imagination, hope, & unapologetic funConsumers have a deep need for Magic/Fantasy
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CONCLUSION: Consuming the CityscapeCity as Theme ParkCommercial and corporate production of Carnival. Intense and guaranteed experiences at the marginsThe artificial as authentic urban tourism experience