Adventures in Theming #1

THEMED SPACES

Disneyland, Walt Disney World, the Las Vegas Strip, Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios, Six Flags, Goldfield Ghost Town, Colonial Williamsburg, Times Square, and Tijuana's Revolution Avenue are destinations noted for their use of theming and immersion.

Tiki bars, colonial villages, Western ghost towns, and living museums are templates of themed spaces and are thus integral to understanding themed design.

LESSONS FROM THEMED DESIGN

Tiki bars and clubs were designed to resemble an imagined South Pacific, usually with an implied Oriental or nautical motif. Like I mentioned in a different entry, Tiki culture wasn't exclusive to the continental United States. Keep the motif in mind. It's understandable to have the Tiki lifestyle tied to Spanish-Caribbean-Mexican motifs. For example, some Mexican resorts rely on the straw umbrellas for bars and thus evoke a Tiki vibe.

Colonial villages aren't always living museums and not all living museums are colonial villages. For example, Mount Vernon, which was George Washington's plantation, is technically not a living museum because living museums have actors demonstrating the activities of yesteryear. As an extension, the living museums seen in the English countryside are often villages that operate as tourist destinations, often competing with the draws of places like Stonehenge (I have yet to see Stonehenge, but next trip I'll hopefully visit) and London (now talk about a tourist destination!).

The debate over hyperrealism was quite entertaining, but when it was applied to the commodification of history in terms of a place's actual history, it was very disheartening to me as a fan of the ghost towns available in the Southwestern United States and even across the border in Northern Mexico. That being said, I figure that a place's history is part of the draw. Granted, all these places have history and relevance to the discussion, but when looking at how a town like Tombstone or Goldfield (just outside of Apache Junction, Arizona) can be marketed as an example of a major part of history, especially a major trend in one's national historical narrative, it outshines the modern fixtures (often more so examples of compliance with the building codes and safety regulations than anything else), the tourist "trap" angle, and the atmosphere of the place as being another "Disneyland" that was built within the past seventy years to profit off of the perceived history or even real history of a place. Luckily, the Disneyland Park in California has no reason to do this and thus can't do this. While it is very much a realization of a Hollywood mogul's dream and is seen cynically as a massive, well-themed studio lot, it has no references to the immediate area of Orange County or that area's history other than the adjacent theme park that opened in 2001. In fact, nearby Knott's Berry Farm with its world-famous ghost town (that actually used some of the remains of the silver-mining town of Calico) also falls into the same issue as Disneyland, but one must figure that the settlements of Anaheim or Buena Park all had a "ghost town" vibe prior to heavy development. I call it the "ghost town" dilemma because it poses the question of whether a historically significant space's commodification of said history distorts the history of the place or whether the allure of the place, which typically allows for nearby development and investment, disqualifies it from being a "ghost town" from an etymological perspective.

Criminals of Geography. This refers to the type of themed experience that gives a time and place to drive the story along with the imagined characters of that setting. What I mean is that typically we associate the Caribbean with the Golden Age of Piracy. We obviously associate cowpokes with the Wild West (the North American Frontier), Vikings with Celtic or Scandinavian countries, banditos with the American Southwest and Mexico, and the Renaissance with Europe. Attractions, such as the Pirates of the Caribbean at the Disney parks and the Western River Expedition planned for Disney World are both excellent examples of the "criminals of geography" concept as they not only based the attraction in the context of a historical setting, but with emphasis on the morally dubious characters who would inhabit such a place.


This concludes our adventurous lesson in themed design and be sure to return for the second part.