Chapter 1 The Themed Space: Locating Culture, Nation, and Self Chapter 2 Torque: Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, and Authentic Feelings in the Smoky Mountains Chapter 3 Luna Park's Fantasy World and Deamland's White City: Fire Spectacles at Coney Island as Elemental Performativity Chapter 4 From Downtown to Theme Town: Reinventing America's Smaller Historic Retail Districts Chapter 5 Theming as a Sensory Phenomenon: Discovering the Senses on the Las Vegas Strip Chapter 6 The Landscape of Power: Imagineering Consumer Behavior at China's Theme Parks Chapter 7 Theming Mythical Africa at The Lost City Chapter 8 Leisure Space: Thematic Style and Cultural Exclusion in Casablanca Chapter 9 "Above Us Only Sky": Themes, Simulations, and Liverpool John Lennon Airport Chapter 10 Love Hotels: Sex and the Rhetoric of Themed Spaces Chapter 11 How the Theme Park Gets Its Power: Lived Theming, Social Control, and the Themed Worker Self Chapter 12 Behind-the-Scenes Space: Promoting Production in a Landscape of Consumption Chapter 13 The Experience of a Lifestyle Chapter 14 Themed Environments and Virtual Spaces: Video Games, Violent Play, and Digital Enemies Chapter 15 A Politics of Reverence and Irreverence: Social Discourse on Theming Controversies
Scott A. Lukas is a professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Lake Tahoe College.
Georges Bataille once wrote that people need the strange, and now
you too can get your fix of it at Dollywood or Dracula World, a
Star Trek dentist office or toilet-themed restaurant, the Hawg
Heaven Biker Bar or any number of Japanese love hotels. Here are
fifteen anthropological studies of the theming, scheming,
stimulating simulation of today's Vegasified consumerism. The
subject matter of this audacious collection will be appalling to
some and enthralling to others; but the book is riveting reading,
for it is, after all, all about all of us.
*Allen F. Roberts, Department of World Arts and Cultures,
University of California, Los Angeles*
Theoretically rich and richly demonstrated by appropriate case
studies...the ideas are great! Highly recommended.
*CHOICE*
After decades of cultural studies work on themed parks,I was
surprised to be so moved by the freshness and originality of this
collection, while being impressed with the depth of insight and
careful review of a whole generation of literature that it offers.
I have long been impressed by the quirky originality of Scott
Lukas's thought which has left an impressive guiding mark on this
volume of new talent in cultural analysis.
*George E. Marcus, coeditor of Writing Culture*
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