Italy without Borders: Simulacra, Tourism, Suburbia, and the New Grand Tour
2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 65; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1179/016146210x12593180344450
ISSN1748-6181
Autores Tópico(s)Geographies of human-animal interactions
ResumoAbstractThis essay explores three Italianate simulacra that stand in for 'Italy': 1) the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, 2) Mediterranean Harbor at the Tokyo DisneySea theme park, and 3) the luxury suburb of Sorrento at Dublin Ranch in northern California. Methodologically, it engages the tenets of anthropological participant-observation and ethnographic documentation. It confronts physically reconstructed images of Italy and corresponding forms of controlled socialization re-presented under the gloss of tourism. By juxtaposing these simulacra, this essay deliberately creates a montage that reveals new ideas about modern Italy. Specifically, these simulacra mark the transformation of imagined community into touristic commodity, a type of Italian hyperreality, and everyday practices of power covered up by a patina of leisure.Keywords: ITALYTOURISMSIMULACRUMSUBURBIALAS VEGASTOKYO DISNEYSEAMONTAGE
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