Europe as Adult Theme Park
Mar 3rd, 2005, 05:42 PM
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Europe as Adult Theme Park
Just yesterday I read a disturbing article about admirers of Josh Groban and how older people such as myself are drawn to him. The author spoke of Grobon's "hyper-desexualization for an older crowd" that is attractive to woman and men twice or more his age. The author also suggested that some drawn to Groban are likely also drawn to an "idealized, homogenized Europe of old travel brochures-Europe as an adult theme park." I can not help but think not only about my quests, but of the many I have read on this website. It seems to me many of us are "guilty" of searching for and "finding" these limited theme park aspects of Europe as an escape from all that goes on in the US, especially with the present political climate.
Mar 4th, 2005, 06:21 AM
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Although I don't have an opinion on Josh Groban or Americans leaving the U.S. because of the political climate, I do think there is something to be said for the 'theme park' view of Europe.
I fight against it but I can't deny that I am sometimes looking for that caught-in-time kind of experience when I travel. Particularly in England where we have travelled a lot.
I remember once being taken to task on this board by an English person because I described some of my favourite things about England and they included 'chocolate-box' villages and walking home from the pub smelling night-scented stock, etc. I was accused of wanting things to stay in some kind of time warp (may not have been the exact words, but that was the sentiment).
As indignant as I was at first, with reflection I had to admit that, with many other things, I do love those bits of England that don't seem to change. (Our last trip I was incensed to find caesar salad and fries on the menu.)
And the English, probably more than any other country, seem to have a knack for resurrecting/renovating/redoing things in a way that ensures that they don't change. Which I have taken to mean that many English like those things, too. But if it's only being done for the tourists, people like me, well that's sad. Very sad.
I fight against it but I can't deny that I am sometimes looking for that caught-in-time kind of experience when I travel. Particularly in England where we have travelled a lot.
I remember once being taken to task on this board by an English person because I described some of my favourite things about England and they included 'chocolate-box' villages and walking home from the pub smelling night-scented stock, etc. I was accused of wanting things to stay in some kind of time warp (may not have been the exact words, but that was the sentiment).
As indignant as I was at first, with reflection I had to admit that, with many other things, I do love those bits of England that don't seem to change. (Our last trip I was incensed to find caesar salad and fries on the menu.)
And the English, probably more than any other country, seem to have a knack for resurrecting/renovating/redoing things in a way that ensures that they don't change. Which I have taken to mean that many English like those things, too. But if it's only being done for the tourists, people like me, well that's sad. Very sad.
Mar 4th, 2005, 06:47 AM
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I am not sure what do you mean by "the present political climate?" Nor do i know to what you refer to when you suggest you are trying to escape things in the US. That said, we often take vacations to escape our everyday life. It may be nominally selfish, but we understandably want the places to which we travel to be wonderful and perfect, whether a tropical island or a European city. I do not think you need to feel guilty about this. In my experience it is the European community and countries that are strictly preserving many of those "theme parks." Indeed, by visiting them, you help to continue that preservation.
Mar 4th, 2005, 07:23 AM
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I'm afraid that I don't know who Josh Groban is, so I may be missing the point, but isn't the point of travelling to experience new things? To get a thrill? To have fun? To forget about your day to day life?
So who cares where you go or why you go there? I don't travel to Greece to spend a fortnight living the same life that I do at home. I don't travel to the States to watch Eastenders and whine about the tube or the drizzle. I don't travel to India to eat burger and chips.
If someone wishes to describe my travels as being like going to a theme park then hooray for theme parks! May they all be less crowded, with shorter queues and a hell of a lot cheaper!!
So who cares where you go or why you go there? I don't travel to Greece to spend a fortnight living the same life that I do at home. I don't travel to the States to watch Eastenders and whine about the tube or the drizzle. I don't travel to India to eat burger and chips.
If someone wishes to describe my travels as being like going to a theme park then hooray for theme parks! May they all be less crowded, with shorter queues and a hell of a lot cheaper!!
Mar 4th, 2005, 07:43 AM
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Some of my favorite places on both continents (Europe and North America) have a definite element of the thing that theme parks strive for... this is admittedly a lame word choice... but I'll call that thing "coolness". And it's important to remember that the themes park are striving to emulate the coolness of the real world places, not the other way around. Neither Schloss Linderhof nor Hearst Castle were created for tourists... but what more appropriate fate is there now than to "curate" them? - - and yes... manage them with many of the same methods as theme parks, for the optimum enjoyment/edification of as many people as possible... to see/experience/learn from the human inspiration that put them there.
Are the cliff dwellings of the American West a theme park? Is Burg Eltz? They weren't created for people to "go look at" like paintings in a museum - - though that does seem like the best thing to do with them now.
I'm not sure what the author (cited in the original post by fitzwillie) was getting at - - but if it is a modernday cutural malady, then this forum may be one of the best available antidotes. Many voices here lead the less experienced - - those who have just gotten up the confidence to go to Italy at all - - to go to Venice and enjoy (the "theme park" of) sitting out in Piazza San Marco listening to the "battle of the orchestras" - - but then we also give advice on how to put three days in Venice to best use, so that you can make time to explore the Brenta Canal, or Bassano del Grappa, or Malcesine. If that means that you can make a "theme park" out of all of the Veneto - - well, then... I can concoct a theme park experience out of southern Indiana too.
Best wishes,
Rex
Are the cliff dwellings of the American West a theme park? Is Burg Eltz? They weren't created for people to "go look at" like paintings in a museum - - though that does seem like the best thing to do with them now.
I'm not sure what the author (cited in the original post by fitzwillie) was getting at - - but if it is a modernday cutural malady, then this forum may be one of the best available antidotes. Many voices here lead the less experienced - - those who have just gotten up the confidence to go to Italy at all - - to go to Venice and enjoy (the "theme park" of) sitting out in Piazza San Marco listening to the "battle of the orchestras" - - but then we also give advice on how to put three days in Venice to best use, so that you can make time to explore the Brenta Canal, or Bassano del Grappa, or Malcesine. If that means that you can make a "theme park" out of all of the Veneto - - well, then... I can concoct a theme park experience out of southern Indiana too.
Best wishes,
Rex
Mar 4th, 2005, 09:28 AM
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If anyone's interested, here is a link to what I presume is the article being referred to:
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050...;s=hajdu030705
A subscription is required, and I don't have one, so I haven't read it except for the first paragraph, which is free.
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050...;s=hajdu030705
A subscription is required, and I don't have one, so I haven't read it except for the first paragraph, which is free.
