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When we experience landscapes of fantasies,
these places
often become larger (more important) than reality,
and we return
home to remake our reality
fit the fantasies. We have become the manipulators of our
manipulated
experiences!
Lecture notes for this section.
In this course, three places illustrate especially well the
geography of fantasy:
1)
Hollywood -- where
TV and movie
directors
and actors create places and landscapes
a)
Universal Studios b) Sunset Boulevard
c) Homes of the Movie Stars
2) Disneyland -- where children and
adults can "meet" cartoon characters and "play" on real fantasy landscapes:
over 30 other large-scale theme parks exist
in the United States
3) The Wild West and the Cowboy Culture -- where
the illusion of American values lives on
a) Tombstone b) Jerome
c) Dodge City d) Cowboy Hall of Fame
The Wild West and the Cowboy Culture illustrate particularly well how facts and events are filtered, screened, and interpreted by particular individuals, groups, and institutions to fit certain values and contemporary viewpoints of race and gender relations, nationalism, states' rights, foreign policy, etc. Dominant institutions continually "invent" history and geography to justify and explain "romantic" or "heroic" struggles which manipulate people. In a free society, these fantasies and myths must be continually challenged to get at the "truth"-- the more perspectives from contrasting and often conflicting viewpoints, the more likely that a people can truly think for themselves. Another strange twist in the popularity of the Western Cowboy was created by Karl May, a German fiction writer who had never been to the USA but wrote extremely popular western novels, particularly in Germany -- 100 million copies sold to date, translated into 30 languages!
| | |
| Television: | "Television is chewing gum for the eyes." -- Frank Lloyd Wright |
| "Why should people pay good money to go out and see films when they can stay at home and see bad television for nothing?" -- Samuel Goldwin |
The cowboy myth enshrines general American values:
individualism
freedom
restlessness (mobility and change for its own sake)
To which Zelinsky, in The Cultural Geography of the United States, adds:
mechanistic vision of the world -- love of guns and technology in general
messianic perfectionism -- in religious, social, and/or political ("American Way of Life") ways
The Ogden Corporation has open eight American Wilderness exhibits as part of what they call "shoppertainment." For $10, customers view 60 different animals species in 6 different wilderness settings, traveling through desert, forest, mountain, valley, and seashore ecosystems. Artificial trees and plants have been added as well as hidden canisters that emit natural fragrances. After the tour, customers are returned to their natural habitat, the mall, where they can shop at the Naturally Untamed Boutique or eat at the Wilderness Grill. The experience is ideal, says Ogden VP Johanthan Stern, for "people who prefer nature in small doses." [Source: Wisconsin State Journal, 7/8/1997.]