The Themed Space: Locating Culture, Nation, and Self
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)