Where and what is Hollywood?
· "Chiefly between our ears!,"
according to Erica Jong, How to Save Your Own Life, "in that part
of the American brain lately vacated."
· Hollywood is a metaphor
for Beverly Hills--many of the TV and movie stars and the people
associated with these industries once lived there.
·
Ben
Stein, The View from Sunset Boulevard: "U.S. life on TV represents
the
distorted view of an elite of guilt-ridden Los Angeles-based writers and
producers."
Popularity of Disneyland
· attendance in 1955: 3.8 million
visitors
· attendance in 1972: 21 million customers
-- more than the attendance at all major league baseball
games; twice the attendance at all NFL football
games
· one
day record: 82,000 in 16 August 1969
· total up to 1983:
250 million visitors have passed through Main Street
Disney World, Orlando, FL: Reality and Fantasy
· Florida legislature created Reedy Creek Improvement District
in 1967
· district is exempt from local and state zoning laws, land
use, building codes
· district has power of eminent domain
·
controls all services: water, sewage, roads, transportation
· tax-exempt
bonds issued to build park--lower interest rates than from banks
·
tried to keep as many economic activities (hotels, golf, camping, restaurants)
as possible within the park (28,000 acres, size of Liechtenstein)
· whereas in Disneyland, a much smaller park, most economics outside
park
· only 100 full-time residents: Disney officials and top managers
· no schools, huge savings for district
· yet 30,000 employees
in park: must commute long distance for affordable housing
·
contradiction: Walt Disney Company espouses free enterprise, except
in its own markets!
· company state
· EPCOT: experimental
prototype community of tomorrow--one planner said: "I have seen the future
and it does not work."
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Other theme parks: over 30 large-scale theme parks in
United States
alone Tennessee, Nashville: Grand Ole Opry or Opryland [torn down about 1997]
Southeast Ohio: Bibleland
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Florida, Orlando: Splendid China
Japan, Tokyo:
1) Disneyland, licensed by
Walt Disney: 10% royalty of tickets; 5% of food sold
2) Western Village, a Japanese theme park: 80-foot replica of Mount Rushmore
cost $30 million to construct!
France, Paris: Euro Disney
Germany, Ruhr valley: Warner Brothers' film-leisure park planned
London, United Kingdom: Vinopolis
devoted to the joys of wine for 400,000 visitors/ year
attractions: ride a scooter with a televisual windscreen through Italian vineyards; fly a jet over Australia's grape kingdom
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Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 1 May 1997; last revised on 29 November 1999.