Historical Development of Las Vegas - Essay Example

In 1993, developer and hotelier Steve Wynn was shown on television flashing a quick smile before pushing the detonator button that destroyed forever one of the last longtime landmarks of his home city of Las Vegas. Far from working to preserve such an icon of the past, Wynn was eager to demolish the old structure so he could build his newest themed hotel idea in a move that typified the Las Vegas experience. No longer concerned with whether another large themed hotel was needed or desired in the already heavily entertainment-oriented city, Wynn’s demolition of the Dunes is just one of many indications that the metropolis, not the individuals within it, is taking an active role in the evolution of culture. Through these types of practices, the message is sent that the old is worthless and undesirable while new innovations are only interesting for as long as they are new. This throw-away, constantly updated society has become an icon of the American modern metropolitan experience that demonstrates, through its complex combination of theme park and city, how the spaces and practices of the metropolis have consistently shaped our modern experiences and culture. This quick-change culture insists that everything must be new all the time. “Relatively recent hotels that form part and parcel of the show business mythology are pulled down without a second thought and replaced by others that are bigger, more luxurious and better attuned to the mood of the times” (Warde, 2000). To remain a national attraction to the greatest possible number of consumers, hotels are quickly changed from one form of entertainment to another, from the glamorous settings of the gangster era to the family-oriented theme-hotels of the 1980s to the more sophisticated flair of the latest ideas represented in the Bellagio, an entire hotel devoted to luxury and the pampering of the cultured adult (Warde, 2000). This concentration on the new helps visitors to the city buy further into the concept of consumer spending, insisting they must participate in the latest events, gamble at the latest hotel/casino and be seen in the latest locations. It is this rapidly changing climate, as well, that Simmel suggests creates an atmosphere in which man must “react with his head instead of his heart” as the only means by which he can survive the constant sudden shifts in impressions (Simmel, 1950). That the surrounding culture has bought into this concept of constant change and adaptation is evidenced in the speed with which individuals, including superstars like Brittany Spears, make life-changing decisions. Within the city, there are at least 250 wedding ‘chapels’ in which people can get married, without even getting out of their car in some cases, placing an underline on the word fast. “On average, there is a wedding every five minutes and a divorce every 45” (Warde, 2000). Another message coming out of such a culture is that of selfish self-servitude. No longer is it fashionable or appropriate to think of others nor has the metropolis followed the wave of thought for the environment or limitations in natural resources. Indeed, in Las Vegas, Wynn has brought dolphins to the desert at the Mirage and oceans of water in which to sink a ship at Treasure Island. “Natural conditions dictate a fastidiously conservative water ethic … But Las Vegas disdains to live within its means” (Davis, 1995). This lack of acknowledgement of the damages inflicted upon the general populace extends to the use of motorized vehicles in the area. As Davis reports, the city has the longest average commutes per capita coupled with one of the lowest vehicle occupancy rates in the country, indicating this ‘me’ culture has determined convenience of schedule outweighs adequate clean air supply. The rampant use of recreational vehicles in the desert further serves to decimate the environment around the city and reduce already limited natural resources by contributing to the pollution of the same. With all this pampering and reveling in the luxuries available to mankind, Las Vegas promises a happy-go-lucky, fun atmosphere in which everyone can have a good time for as long as the money lasts. However, in reality, the city is far from the Paradise it claims to be. “The Las Vegas city limits encompass barely one-third of the metropolitan population. The major regional assets — the Strip, the Convention Center, McCarran International Airport, and the University of Nevada — are all located in an unincorporated township aptly named ‘Paradise,’ while poverty, unemployment, and homelessness are disproportionately concentrated within the boundaries of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas” (Davis, 1994). In addition, the city experiences some of the highest rates of suicide and alcoholism as residents determine they will not be able to live up to the glamour presented or as high-risk gamblers realize they’ve lost it all on the tables. Maintaining the city’s reputation as a ‘sin’ city, brothels are still at least semi-legal in 13 of the 17 counties within the state (Warde, 2000). These additional spaces of the city are not often discussed or visited, but nevertheless contribute to the ideal of Las Vegas by attracting those who identify with violence, organized crime and the “sins of the flesh.” The focus on money further contributes to this disassociation from the individual. “[Money economy and the dominance of the intellect] share a matter-of-fact attitude in dealing with men and with things; and, in this attitude, a formal justice is often coupled with an inconsiderate hardness. The intellectually sophisticated person is indifferent to all genuine individuality, because relationships and reactions result from it which cannot be exhausted with logical operations” (Simmel, 1950). Finally, the city offers a wide selection of historical and geographical replicas, allowing visitors to visit Paris, New York, Monte Carlo or Venice within a single afternoon if desired. Time travel is also possible as tourists can dine at the court of King Arthur’s Camelot, experience the Egypt of the pharaohs, take part in the Hollywood glitz and glamour of a large studio or wander through the corridors of a Roman forum. Replicas of pyramids and other landmarks contribute to the idea, but remain superficial at best, always exposed in some fashion as the falsehoods they are, if only through their proximity to another large-scale themed hotel. These spaces of idealization of the false serve to heighten the flash culture popularity which further serves to isolate the individual in favor of the masses. Between the rapid changes, superficiality, and emphasis on pampered lifestyles while ignoring the needs of the majority of its citizen workers, Las Vegas is a perfect example of how the spaces and places of the metropolis serve to shape the culture into one of widely divergent populations and a de-emphasis on the subjective nature of the individual. “Each person behaves as though he is a stranger to the destiny of all the others … As for transactions with other citizens, he may mix among them, but he see them not; he touches them, but he does not feel them; he exists only in himself and for himself alone. And if on these terms there remains in his mind a sense of family, there is no longer a sense of society” (Tocqueville, 1845). References Davis, Mike. (November/December, 1995). House of Cards – Las Vegas: Too many people in the wrong place, celebrating waste as a way of life. Sierra Magazine. v. 80, n. 6. Retrieved 12 January, 2006 from < http://www.rut.com/mdavis/housecards.html> Simmel, Georg. (1950). The Metropolis and Mental Life. The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Ed. D. Weinstein. New York: Free Press, pp. 409-424. Retrieved 12 January, 2006 from < http://condor.depaul.edu/~dweinste/intro/simmel_M&ML.htm> Tocqueville, Alexis. (1845). Democracy in America. Warde, Ibrahim. (2000). Viva Las Vegas. Le Monde diplomatique. Retrieved 12 January, 2006 from < http://mondediplo.com/2000/08/06vegas> Read More