The bit about the fake courtyard reminds me of a movie theater in my hometown where the inside of the theater was built to resemble exactly what he described, a courtyard in a small village, with the softly illuminated windows of houses looking down on you as you watched the movie under the stars. (It has small lights all over the ceiling and simulated clouds drifting over) In the early 1900s when it was built someone from Rome would no doubt have sneered at the fakery, but a hundred years later it’s been carefully preserved and is still in use for concerts and events where people love it. Some of my fondest movie watching experiences took place there, all of which is to say that all of our culture and memory is dependent on someone deciding to build some shit and said shit surviving long enough. Maybe in a hundred years people will be going to that “fake” plaza with their kids and telling them how they came with their father and grandfather, who’s to say?
If you don’t have twenty minutes to read this one, allow me to summarize: people with money have tastes (not necessarily “good taste,” but tastes) and enterprising individuals start businesses to sell these people what they want. That is almost literally it.
Seriously the most pointless drivel I've read in some time. I skipped to the end after about a third of it to see if he had a point or any sort of conclusion. He doesn't.
I'm not even sure how he personally feels about tourists, american or otherwise, with how frequently he went back and forth between complaints and what seemed to be understanding or even a desire for it to continue.
There was a particular paragraph in here that really stuck out for me, and it was about that sense of tourism as a form of espionage. I lived in Amsterdam until recently, so while I may not know the exact sensation described by the author, I do know the general sensation of living in a city not built for me, but for transient visitors in search of a particular idea of what that city is supposed to be. It stuck with me.
There's elements of this article I don't agree with, but the general sense of living in the world's largest open air museum, that stuck with me hard, and I thought was well worth sharing.
The author repeats himself a lot, like literally the same sentence in subsequent paragraphs. I thought my device was glitching and jumping back up the page until I realized that he’s just not a good writer and didn’t edit his work properly.
This is actually fairly basic Public Relations and Branding material. Destinations, if they have any agency and awareness of their perception, become what those visiting want. A popular example is Disney parks, they will try to balance nostalgia with new experiences. To the point that parts of Disney become museum-ified, essentially a recursive self-museum where the product is not what can be experienced today necessarily but what the person remembers experiencing 20 years ago.
In terms of destination towns there's a risk of this self-awareness without good artistic direction and intent becoming Flanderization and self-parody with no ongoing point or meat. Basically the idea of homemade traditional food at holiday markets might keep holiday markets feeling magical long after the legacy and from-scratch treats have been priced out of the market. The perception can stick around, and people don't even realize the value proposition has changed.
Well when Walt died, there was a huge pause in creative direction and there was kind of a split between The Vision as a set historical thing versus the Vision as an ongoing creative force. Parts of WDW and other parks are structured as Disney museums, because for purists the most valuable and real parts of Disney are the parts Walt envisioned. There are a lot of videos on YouTube that break this down in basically infinite detail. Spaceship Earth is as much as or more of a "vintage look at an old man's view of the future coming out of the past" as it is actually that trajectory.
That was a lot of text but it doesn’t say much at all, because it’s just poor writing. Or poor editing.
I don’t think the writer really knew what they wanted to say: tourism changes a place? Well yes - tourists have certain expectations which are different from locals, but they also lack the experience and knowledge of what is genuine specific about somewhere.
But the things he talks about are not unique to Americans. Not at all. If he left Rome for somewhere popular with Europeans he would see that they bend reality in the same way.
Wut? So Americans suck because they are curious and ask too many questions. And Americans suck because they don’t ask any questions. And Americans also suck because they were hoping for something specific that wasn’t available and expressed mild disappointment. Got it.
I am sure there were more points made here but damed if I could figure out what they were.
What’s truly sinister about a “for tourists” based economy is it allows businesses to be unaccountable. If a local eats at a restaurant and the food is bad even mid (overpriced) the local won’t return. They’ll also tell the people they know. However, if a non-local who doesn’t know any better eats at a restaurant and it’s bad there isn’t really any repercussions for the restaurant and likely the tourist won’t know the difference.
I’d have to find the original article where I first read about the idea because it was a great read.
this might be true before Google maps and other review places where common. now it's very easy to granularly determine the quality of restaurants without ever going to them. I'm in a tourist city right now, when deciding between two places I have never been I looked at ~50 pictures of food from both places and read the reviews.
In this environment one person's really bad experience could tank the reputation of a restaurant. if they mess up once and that review gets locked in people will be reading about it years later.
Yeah but there's "this was bad" and "this didn't meet my expectations". And the second one has a whole bunch of stuff tied into it, some of which is cultural in touristy places. I lived in a very touristy place for a while, and there were always reviews of places with somebody complaining about something that was just the local way of doing it.
SessileRaptor | 4 hours ago
The bit about the fake courtyard reminds me of a movie theater in my hometown where the inside of the theater was built to resemble exactly what he described, a courtyard in a small village, with the softly illuminated windows of houses looking down on you as you watched the movie under the stars. (It has small lights all over the ceiling and simulated clouds drifting over) In the early 1900s when it was built someone from Rome would no doubt have sneered at the fakery, but a hundred years later it’s been carefully preserved and is still in use for concerts and events where people love it. Some of my fondest movie watching experiences took place there, all of which is to say that all of our culture and memory is dependent on someone deciding to build some shit and said shit surviving long enough. Maybe in a hundred years people will be going to that “fake” plaza with their kids and telling them how they came with their father and grandfather, who’s to say?
NoSoundNoFury | 3 hours ago
From what I remember, the gargoyles were added to Notre Dame after Victor Hugo described it as having some in his Hunchback of Notre Dame novel.
Similarly, the Scottish kilts were a rarity until Walther Scott described them as traditional and symbolic.
I think I read that in The Invention of Tradition once, but i would have to look into the book again to make sure.
joseph4th | 2 hours ago
I think I remember reading that kilts only really took off after the English banned them.
TheOGRedline | 2 hours ago
Punk Scottish
jwd52 | 3 hours ago
If you don’t have twenty minutes to read this one, allow me to summarize: people with money have tastes (not necessarily “good taste,” but tastes) and enterprising individuals start businesses to sell these people what they want. That is almost literally it.
knoland | 2 hours ago
Someone please assign this man an editor.
WiglyWorm | 50 minutes ago
Seriously the most pointless drivel I've read in some time. I skipped to the end after about a third of it to see if he had a point or any sort of conclusion. He doesn't.
I'm not even sure how he personally feels about tourists, american or otherwise, with how frequently he went back and forth between complaints and what seemed to be understanding or even a desire for it to continue.
Wingzerofyf | 8 minutes ago
so enshitification?
[OP] Quouar | 4 hours ago
There was a particular paragraph in here that really stuck out for me, and it was about that sense of tourism as a form of espionage. I lived in Amsterdam until recently, so while I may not know the exact sensation described by the author, I do know the general sensation of living in a city not built for me, but for transient visitors in search of a particular idea of what that city is supposed to be. It stuck with me.
There's elements of this article I don't agree with, but the general sense of living in the world's largest open air museum, that stuck with me hard, and I thought was well worth sharing.
Katvin | 4 hours ago
I found your comment intriguing but the article was a tough read. A lot of words without saying much.
SessileRaptor | 4 hours ago
The author repeats himself a lot, like literally the same sentence in subsequent paragraphs. I thought my device was glitching and jumping back up the page until I realized that he’s just not a good writer and didn’t edit his work properly.
MFRobespierre | 2 hours ago
I noticed this as well and thought I was going crazy until i backtracked and re-read.
[OP] Quouar | 3 hours ago
And that's fair. The writing style and wordiness is an element I don't agree with, even if I enjoyed the piece as a whole.
Phyltre | 3 hours ago
This is actually fairly basic Public Relations and Branding material. Destinations, if they have any agency and awareness of their perception, become what those visiting want. A popular example is Disney parks, they will try to balance nostalgia with new experiences. To the point that parts of Disney become museum-ified, essentially a recursive self-museum where the product is not what can be experienced today necessarily but what the person remembers experiencing 20 years ago.
In terms of destination towns there's a risk of this self-awareness without good artistic direction and intent becoming Flanderization and self-parody with no ongoing point or meat. Basically the idea of homemade traditional food at holiday markets might keep holiday markets feeling magical long after the legacy and from-scratch treats have been priced out of the market. The perception can stick around, and people don't even realize the value proposition has changed.
mkdz | 3 hours ago
Can you provide some specific examples with how this happened with Disney?
Phyltre | 3 hours ago
Well when Walt died, there was a huge pause in creative direction and there was kind of a split between The Vision as a set historical thing versus the Vision as an ongoing creative force. Parts of WDW and other parks are structured as Disney museums, because for purists the most valuable and real parts of Disney are the parts Walt envisioned. There are a lot of videos on YouTube that break this down in basically infinite detail. Spaceship Earth is as much as or more of a "vintage look at an old man's view of the future coming out of the past" as it is actually that trajectory.
weird_account | 3 hours ago
Man waits in line behind American family.
This must be cause by American Tourism.
raftsa | 2 hours ago
That was a lot of text but it doesn’t say much at all, because it’s just poor writing. Or poor editing.
I don’t think the writer really knew what they wanted to say: tourism changes a place? Well yes - tourists have certain expectations which are different from locals, but they also lack the experience and knowledge of what is genuine specific about somewhere.
But the things he talks about are not unique to Americans. Not at all. If he left Rome for somewhere popular with Europeans he would see that they bend reality in the same way.
YoungRichKid | 2 hours ago
God this is hard to read, so much about absolutely nothing
Ashamed-Childhood-46 | 2 hours ago
Wut? So Americans suck because they are curious and ask too many questions. And Americans suck because they don’t ask any questions. And Americans also suck because they were hoping for something specific that wasn’t available and expressed mild disappointment. Got it.
I am sure there were more points made here but damed if I could figure out what they were.
psych0fish | 3 hours ago
What’s truly sinister about a “for tourists” based economy is it allows businesses to be unaccountable. If a local eats at a restaurant and the food is bad even mid (overpriced) the local won’t return. They’ll also tell the people they know. However, if a non-local who doesn’t know any better eats at a restaurant and it’s bad there isn’t really any repercussions for the restaurant and likely the tourist won’t know the difference.
I’d have to find the original article where I first read about the idea because it was a great read.
arah91 | 2 hours ago
this might be true before Google maps and other review places where common. now it's very easy to granularly determine the quality of restaurants without ever going to them. I'm in a tourist city right now, when deciding between two places I have never been I looked at ~50 pictures of food from both places and read the reviews.
In this environment one person's really bad experience could tank the reputation of a restaurant. if they mess up once and that review gets locked in people will be reading about it years later.
FesteringNeonDistrac | an hour ago
Yeah but there's "this was bad" and "this didn't meet my expectations". And the second one has a whole bunch of stuff tied into it, some of which is cultural in touristy places. I lived in a very touristy place for a while, and there were always reviews of places with somebody complaining about something that was just the local way of doing it.
PWNYEG | an hour ago
“These American tourists are crowding my city with the conviction of soldiers facing the Nazis.”
Ummm, no.
Yami350 | 30 minutes ago
I loved that this described the invasive species currently occupying Brooklyn perfectly
fouoifjefoijvnioviow | 3 hours ago
They would be eating pootsie if we didn’t give them the gift of our cuisine