Since their creation in 1956 shopping centres, or ‘malls’ as they are known, have followed and begun to simulate the architecture and décor of the Las Vegas casinos albeit in a less pretentious manner ‘The fact is that the United States is filled with cities that imitate a city.’ (Eco, 1990:40) Robert Venutri’s view of these gargantuan edifices is nothing more than ‘decorated sheds’ and that the rear of these ‘sheds’ lacked any ‘self-conscious.’ (Virtual Las Vegas, 1995) The development of shopping centres into places of firstly, amusement and secondly, although no less important, shopping has meant ever-growing complexes; like the hyperreal environments of the Vegas casinos, they are designed to distract you from reality for as long as possible.
West Edmonton mall in Alberta, Canada is described as ‘The world’s largest entertainment and shopping centre’ built in 1981 it heralded the realm of the ‘megamall’ where consumer’s time and money disappeared in a whirl of shops, colour and exciting attractions. No wonder that the centre also became a top tourist attraction in the area as only Disney could rival this scale of hyperreality. In fact this behemoth of consumerism could be likened to Disneyworld but on a smaller and more accessible scale. Customers do not have to pay to see any of this, but the hyperreal environment encourages people to have a go ‘the customer finds himself participating in the fantasy because of his own authenticity as a consumer.’ (Eco, 1990:41) Especially at risk from this theory are parents whose children are amazed and excited by the ‘world’s largest indoor theme park’, the ‘world’s largest indoor water park’ or the ‘world’s largest indoor lake’ with submarine trips to the sunken wreck. It is not only the children whose imagination is captured by the hyperreal; adults also partake in the fantasy as they choose which restaurant to eat in on ‘Bourbon street’ a New Orleans themed street where its ‘Mardi Gras seven days a week!’.
This is truly a microcosm of the hyperreal where everything sports the mandatory ‘largest’ in its name and ‘like Disneyland, blends the reality of trade with the play of fiction.’ (Eco, 1990:41) Colourful facades to buildings, clever dressing of the ‘sets’ in this ‘Hollywood-movie’ style setting mean that ‘once the “total fake” is admitted, in order to be enjoyed it must seem totally real.’ (Eco, 1990:43) The architecture here produces a fictional experience which is nothing more than a falsified depiction of an absent reality. This is the concept of Real Virtuality, a sub-category of the hyperreal which presents a physically real experience that is made unreal by the signs present and its complete lack of origin. It seems realer than real, but in this day and age we are never surprised to find out that it is a fake.
I want to talk about Disney briefly as, to many postmodern theorists, when talking about either simulacra or hyperreality ‘Disneyland (California) and Disney World (Florida) are obviously the chief examples.’ (Eco, 1990:40) The Pirates, the Frontier, or Future land; Disney World seems to offer a ‘play of illusions and phantasms.’ (Baudrillard, 1994:12) Much like the ‘Megamalls’ of America ‘Disneyland also has no transitional spaces; there is always something to see, the great voids of modern architecture and city planning are unknown here.’ (Eco, 1990:48) They want to keep you enthralled in the Disney experience which is ‘absolutely realistic and absolutely fantastic.’ (Eco, 1990:43)
Again areas such as Main Street encourage adults and children alike to feel nostalgia for this hyperreal setting which has a sense of ‘belonging to a fantastic past that we can grasp with our imagination.’ (Eco, 1990:43) But with this fantasyland again comes consumer exploitation as ‘their interior is always a disguised supermarket, where you buy obsessively, believing that you are still playing.’ (Eco, 1990:43) Baudrillard toys with the idea that ‘Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real’ (Baudrillard, 1994:12) implying that ‘the America that surrounds it is no longer real, but belong to the hyperreal order and to the order of simulation.’ (Baudrillard, 1994:12) This could help explain why it is that America is saturated with hyperreal experiences that are really trying to persuade us that outside of these, reality is actually real, when in fact
‘Los Angeles is surrounded by these imaginary stations that feed reality, the energy of the real to a city whose mystery is precisely that of no longer being anything but a network of incessant, unreal circulation-a city of incredible proportions but without space, without dimension.’ (Baudrillard, 1994:13)
Baudrillard suggests that it is extreme hyperreality which disguises the fact that what we thought was ‘real’, is in fact a simulation.
Las Vegas is another example of a gross hyperreality; the mere fact that it is situated in the middle of a desert helps fuel the illusion that it is a ‘toy town’ for adults, and what you do has no consequences in the outside world. Las Vegas indeed has been described as ‘not a city like the others, which communicate in order to function, but rather a city that functions in order to communicate.’ (Eco, 1990:40)
The casinos have taken on the themed Disney-like approach with all the wonders of live shows every 15 minutes, holographic and animatronic elements mixed with real actors. This postmodern ‘theatre’ is used as an advertisement to potential customers, enticing them into exotic worlds such as Treasure Island or Circus Circus. Once again boasting such attractions as the ‘world’s only double-loop indoor roller coaster.’ Within these hyperreal environments time ceases to exist and the only pastime costs money; an experience that has parallels with Disney World, but as an adult version where yet again consumers spend excessively in the hope of winning. The Venetian hotel features an elaborate reconstruction of a Venetian street accompanied by a half mile of indoor canal. Replica landmarks and a painted sky, which simulates sunrise to sunset every 20 minutes, add the final touch to this hyperreality devoid of time. These places are saying ‘We are giving you the reproduction so you will no longer feel any need for the original. But for the reproduction to be desired, the original has to be idolized.’ (Eco, 1990:19) As Eco points out ‘Las Vegas is still a “Real” city’ (Eco, 1990:40) and while it was built for entertainment ‘it is gradually being transformed into a residential city.’ (Eco, 1990:40)
Of the examples I have looked at there are similarities in the architecture, for example as I noted earlier Venturi called the casinos ‘Decorated sheds.’ (Virtual Las Vegas, 1995) As hyperreality consists wholly of surface and lacks depth of any kind, so the casino’s and Disney’s ‘Main street’ are largely built from simple box constructions. These are then covered with an elaborate façade, creating the illusion of depth without reality. This disguise generally appear more real than reality; by this I mean that the colours are more vibrant, the textures more noticeable which adds to the overall ambience of the surroundings. The fronts of the buildings are designed to look like something from a story book and ‘Furthermore the levels of illusion are numerous, and this increases the hallucination.’(Eco, 1990:42) Eco suggests that the more detailed the illusion, even if it means faking nature, the more appealing the hyperreal becomes ‘Disneyland tells us that faked nature corresponds much more to our daydream demands’ (Eco, 1990:44) and also ‘tells us that technology can give us more reality that nature can.’(Eco, 1990:44) It is almost ironic that to simulate for example, the pirate battle outside the Treasure Island hotel, requires millions of dollars of technology and special effects to reproduce an era which had so little in comparison. Inside these shells the decor continues in theme, where nothing is out of place and carries the illusion of ‘belonging to a fantastic past that we can grasp with our imagination.’ (Eco, 1990:43) Reproductions of landmarks, historical buildings and ancient shipwrecks are designed and customised to appeal more than the original, if one exists, creating a false ‘context’ or background for these fakes.
There are various responses to these hyperreal environments both critical and in support. Obviously these centres and parks of entertainment are incredibly popular with the public as the rise of the Disney Empire illustrates. People are enticed into these places believing that they control their choices and actions. The truth is that everything is designed meticulously to appeal to all of our senses; to overload them, creating a desire to experience the hyperreal ‘And for a Californian, leaving his car means leaving his own humanity, consigning himself to another power, abandoning his own will.’ (Eco, 1990:48) Eco expresses mixed judgment about whether hyperreality is good or bad but the one thing he is certain of is that it is unmistakably American. Baudrillard’s view that these hyperreal experiences do nothing but distract us from the fact that the surrounding cities are no different provokes interest ‘because people evidently like such environments.’ (Harvey 1989:60) Robert Venturi was
‘even quoted in the New York Times (22nd October 1972), in an article fittingly entitled ‘Mickey Mouse teaches the architects,’ saying ‘Disney World is nearer to what people want than what architects have ever given them.’ Disneyland, he asserts, is ‘the symbolic American utopia,’ (New York Times, 1972, cited in Harvey, 1989)
but whether they decided this for themselves is another question. Although these places give the impression of being places of freewill ‘its visitors much agree to behave like robots. Access to each attraction is regulated by a maze of metal railings which discourages any individual initiative.’ (Eco, 1990:48)
There is obvious exploitation of consumers through hyperreal environments, combining fantasy with the reality of trade but the average consumer seems happy with this arrangement as they feel that they are getting more for their money when the reality is that they are getting less. To some extent all advertising could be said to possess the power to brainwash customers but in the outside world we can choose what to take in. What is different in these hyperrealistic journeys is that people cannot choose what to experience, it is produced in front of them, and the people that visit them help fuel the desire of others to experience it.
Bibliography
Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and Simulation. USA: University of Michigan Press.
Eco, U. (1990). Travels in Hyperreality. London: Picador
Harvey, D. (1989). The Condition of Posmodernity. Oxford: Blackwell.
Marling, K. (1997). Designing Disney’s Theme Parks. Canada: Flammarion
Virtual Las Vegas. (1995) The Late Show Special BBC2
West Edmonton Mall. (2003). Referencing Electronic Sources.
http://www.westedmall.com/