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Nov. 28, 2004 Eventually even the most gauche American trends tend to filter their way into Canadian culture, sometimes with surprisingly little resistance. Although the roots of the mind-numbingly successful boom in reality television can be traced back to Japan, many other undesirable movements in popular Canadian culture can be credited to our neighbours in the South. Take for instance the concept of “traveling” to different countries and experiencing a myriad of cultures without ever having to leave the good ol’ U.S of A! Whoever came up with this idea must be given credit. After all, a pretty fair percentage of the American population doesn’t have a passport. This included George Bush Jr. until he became president the first time around. It’s evident that the country’s isolationist ideologies permeate beyond the political realm. In fact, the very psyche of the American people also appears to be isolationist. They travel and experience life within the greater context of the American Dream. As travel writer and self- professed “vagabond” Rolf Potts explains, “Americans will always be captive to the American Dream, and that means most Americans will stay at home.” I recently explored the Paris Las Vegas website for a closer insight into American travel habits. The Earthcam located there promised to give live shots from a portion of Vegas strip that has been reconstructed to look like an authentic Parisian street. I scoffed at their description of the “breathtaking views of the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, and Arc de Triomphe” that awaited me. As my computer has been working with varying degrees of success these days, it took a few moments for the live shots to appear on my screen. When they did, I found myself staring at a drizzly roundabout jammed full of cars circling what looked eerily like the authentic Arc de Triomphe. Here I must clarify to you that I’ve never been to Vegas but have spent a fair amount of time in the French capital. The webcam shot was definitely disconcerting. The replicated architecture looked very real. Perhaps the rain gave the scene an extra air of authenticity. At any rate, I was viewing something deeply disturbing. The Paris Las Vegas promises all its visitors a chance to: “Experience the passion, excitement, and sophistication of the City of Light while visiting the entertainment capital of the world…it transports you to one of Europe’s most romantic cities.” The entire notion behind Paris Las Vegas is disconcerting. For one thing, it encourages complete ignorance. Of course visitors get no sense of the real Paris or French culture when they travel to Las Vegas. For one, they needn’t navigate their way in a country that doesn’t necessarily agree with American ideals or politics (for instance, the complete lack of Freedom Fries in Paris). There is no room for learning about different cultures or to experience travel in a place where English is not the first language. The idea that another’s history, culture, architecture, and style can be replicated and repackaged as the real thing an ocean away is a lesson in appropriation at its most extreme form. Sadly, the Americans are not alone in this trend toward living life in a fishbowl. Though not nearly on the same scale, I discovered that this appropriation of culture is taking place in Toronto, Canada, as well. At first glance, it appeared to be yet another slickly packaged condominium development. Certainly nothing revolutionary in a city jammed to the teeth with condominiums. Yet this one caught my eye. The advertisement in the housing magazine I’d picked up had tiny Union Jacks splashed all over the front of it with the logo, “London on the Esplanade” emblazoned underneath each flag. On the bottom of the page it read: “I like London. You will too.” As I was waiting for the Sherbourne bus to take me home to my own little slice of Toronto condominium life, I tucked the magazine away and proceeded to listen to an elderly West Indian lady tell me about her recent Marian pilgrimage to Saragossa, Spain. Once I was back home, I decided to find out just what a condominium building on Toronto’s Esplanade had to do with the English capital. The site came whirling up in a kaleidoscope of red, blue and white, accompanied by the sounds of Variety Lab’s “London in the Rain”. Then came a quick succession of four-word phrases, each rapidly fired onto my computer screen in two to three second intervals. “I like people watching,” one said. Another read, “I like chic bars.” The one that made me giggle the most was, “I like the waterfront.” Now, don’t get me wrong. One of my favourite things in the world to do is take a walk from Bankside over the Millennium Bridge and to stroll along the Thames until I reach the Chelsea Bridge. When in London I also spend a good deal of my writing time at a very old pub called the Trafalgar Tavern. This particular watering hole comes complete with a ledge that juts over the Thames. This ledge is a great place on which to drink, write, and contemplate life with the smell and sounds of the not-too-distant sea filling my senses. In short, I love the waterfront. The waterfront in London, that is. The Toronto waterfront is a completely different animal. First of all, in order to reach the waterfront by foot one must risk life and limb dashing across a darkened, multi-lane motorway. And if one is fortunate enough to reach the Toronto waterfront with all limbs intact, it is indeed a disappointing site to behold. It is nothing more than a scruffy bit of land cluttered with only one thing: monstrous condominium high- rise buildings. Aside from the condominium buildings, it is as barren as a post-menopausal woman: no shops, no bars, no pubs and no character. I stared at the screen, becoming increasingly disconcerted by the occasional flash of an interspersed phrase that read, “I like the Toronto downtown scene.” Bemused, I sat back, the dirty taste of this subliminal message catching in the back of my throat. I felt as though I’d just discovered the “Paul is dead” message while playing the White Album backward. I mean the absurdity of the entire ruse was too much. How unsophisticated and ridiculous are prospective buyers in this condominium development supposed to be? Is it assumed that are so thick they will be lured into buying a condo in downtown Toronto with promises of life like that in London, England? Just as there is nothing remotely French- let alone Parisian- about a bunch of overweight, American gamblers strolling along a fake boulevard in Las Vegas, equally there is nothing to compare to the edgy vibe of London, England in downtown Toronto. I do hope that Canadians will protest against such disturbing trends as the London Condos. We are already too prone to spending our Friday and Saturday evenings in front of a VCR, secluded from the world outside. In fact, Americans and Canadians already share alarming similarities in their travel habits. One recent survey found that over eighty percent of Canadians were planning to confine their holiday travel within the United States and Canada. Rather than looking inward and becoming a nation without passports like our neighbours to the South, I urge Canadians to come out of their self-imposed hibernation and experience more of the world first-hand. ------------ About the author: Jennifer Payne lives and works in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of numerous short stories, poetry, articles and reviews. Currently she is finishing her second novel. Please visit her website at: www.maryjenniferpayne.com Email: mj_payne00@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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