The Contradiction of Las Vegas - Essay Example

The Contradiction Called Las Vegas Las Vegas brings out our ambivalence because we're not exactly sure what itis. On the one hand it's all things to all people, yet when viewed from another angle all we see are smoke and mirrors. We love the idea of the fantasy, but the possibility that we may come to grips with the realization that it is only a fantasy scares us. We may abhor the sexuality as unnatural, yet we are drawn to it. It is not that we either love it or hate it, it's that we love it and hate it at the same time. Las Vegas has everything all at once in a sensual onslaught of sight, sound, and touch. Las Vegas is like calling heads on a two-sided coin. We know our winning or losing is certain, yet wretch at the hollow glory gained by a shallow victory. Las Vegas explores the well-hidden lust that lies just beneath the sexually repressed exterior of the American public. This contradiction creates an illusion of sin and deviance that in reality stays just out of the grasp of the people wishing to partake of it. The closer the audience gets the more they discover there is nothing more that empty rooms surrounded by paper thin walls. Though the city appears to be rife with sex it is only an illusion created by the fantasy of violating our norms, which evaporates into a masquerade as inauthentic as the facade of any casino resort. America's fundamental belief in the Chrisitan values that the country was founded on are at the root of the illusion. People have a strong attraction to deviance yet live in a world where it is unacceptable by definition. In America, sex is the ultimate symbol of deviance. By European standards America is a modest country in terms of sexuality. In America, sex has become the Christian icon for the thing we want and the thing that is just not attainable. Ferrari and Ives write that, "We are a Puritan nation obsessed with sex, a self-proclaimed meritocracy that idolizes wealth, a hardworking, churchgoing, law-abiding people that can't wait to party all night long" (6). But the sex will have to remain a taboo to be meaningful, as it is the repression of sexuality that brings such glamour to it. "This paradoxical condition of being the aberration and yet, the dream, results in a Las Vegas that is disliked and rejected, yet seductive and pleasurable" (Firat 8). America is psychologically drawn to the forbidden fruit and at the same time is repulsed by it. People want it to be a reality but they pray that it is only a facade. Sexuality is an area where overindulgence is discouraged even while living in a society that praises consumer excess in the areas of wealth and avarice. Success in America is measured by how much materialism can be attained and flaunted. Yet, sex is the dirty little area where excess is truly taboo. Firat describes Las Vegas as "an aberration, where sleazy and illicit activities are sanctioned. Las Vegas is the excess of the American way of life, where many went to let go-the city of abandon" (8). However, norms and values as they relate to sex are not so easily abandoned in a culture that objects to even the most innocent public displays of affection. Sex in Las Vegas must necessarily remain a fantasy. These are the mixed messages that make Las Vegas a, "ridiculous manifestation of frustrated Puritanism" (Bouchet 7). People are praised for their love affections with their automobile and their public display of gluttony and greed, but expressions of sexual freedom need to remain hidden behind the closed doors of the private mind. Sex is the one excess that American's will not emotionally tolerate and has become the national poster child for decadent behavior. It is the commodity of locker room talk and bathroom humor that is never brought into mixed company in the light of day. In Las Vegas it is expected that people will drink, gamble, and stay out all night. Family, friends, and society will excuse these violations of their personal norms. However, exploring the seamy underbelly of the sex trade would be inappropriate. Sex is merely the calling card that indicates there are other, less unsuitable, behaviors available. "The hint of sex coded in the very presence of the female form is sufficient to connote vice, intrigue, glamour, and sex: not necessarily in the service of a massive and visible sex industry, but in the service of cultivating a unique tourist experience that sells potential" (Hausbeck 345). Because sex is so repressed in America, it is the symbol of decadence. It is used to sell products, promote entertainment, and bring people in. Hausbeck argues that Las Vegas, "systematically uses women's bodies to sell everything other than sex" (345). Sex sells products, but only as long as it remains forbidden behind the shadows. The allure of sex can never become a reality because it would be stripped of its illusion and lose its fantastical appeal. It's the ambiguity that drives people to extremes in their feelings toward Las Vegas. Only in "Sin City" could you have such tight security. It's here that you have the chance of becoming rich beyond your wildest dreams and walk away bankrupt. It's in this barren desert that they build a water park. This contradiction becomes the fascination that people hold for the hideous. As Sherman writes, "Cognitive dissonance is the core of Las Vegas. The Vegas experience is endorsed and condemned, flaunted and buried, real and artificial" (35). The ability to have the full range of emotional sensory inputs at one time gives Las Vegas its unique flavor. Vegas attracts the cream of the celebrity set and the seamy side of America's inner thigh. "It is the antithesis of the conventional, the established, and the traditional, and despite our false pretences, we are drawn to it for precisely those reasons" (Ferrari 6). For the outsider looking in, there is no middle ground. There is hope or despair, feast or famine, joy or agony. There is something to love and something to hate, but there is little to like and just be comfortable about. Americans who are uncomfortable with their darker side can express their revulsion for the sex while being attracted to its lure. It can never be a reality for reality will bring with it the truth. The reality must remain hidden behind the gaudy storefront of neon and the not quite available woman. In conclusion, the lure of deviance is the biblical attraction to the overpowering lure of the taste of the forbidden fruit. In America that taboo fruit is the temptation of illicit sex. Pulling away the mask and unveiling the illusion would remove the fantasy that the image holds. This is perpetuated in society by the cultural norms that are deeply rooted in our Puritanical legacy. Sex has become the symbol of deviant decadence and the deepest perversion of our abnormal desires. That presents an emotion that is loved, hated, loathed, and desired. Las Vegas is the natural stage for its expression. Sex is the tool to sell the gambling, drinking, and conspicuous spending. It is the message that there are other vices close at hand. Sex is ingrained as an illicit commodity and Americans can be certain that where it is marketed there will be other and more acceptable deviances available. Las Vegas is a city that is flush with the promise of sex, yet it is a hollow facade as inauthentic as any casino storefront. Works Cited Bouchet, D. "Las Vegas, the Victorious Death-Spasm of Tourism and Luxury [abstract]."Advances in Consumer Research 25 (1998): 7. Abstract. Ferrari, M, and S Ives. Las Vegas: An Unconventional History. New York: Bulfinch Press, 2005. Firat, A F. "Las Vegas: Still Learning" Advances in Consumer Research 25 (1998): 7-8. Abstract. Hausbeck, K. "Who Puts the Sin in 'Sin City' Stories." The Grit Beneath the Glitter: Tales from the Real Las Vegas. Eds. H K. Rothman and M Davis. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002. Sherman, A. "Sin City: Las Vegas and Morality." Carceral Notebooks 1 (2005): 21-41. Read More