Spaces and Subjects of Modernity Modern Cities, Entertainment and Las Vegas - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages (Buchholz et al, 2002). An in-depth understanding of the above can, it is argued, lead to avoidance of the deficits or malaise (this seems so normal in the dystopian scheme), of the modern world. This essay deals with the reconstruction of the modern city as Las Vegas, within the limitations of cultural space to highlight the role of authoritative control and also its absence in promoting a liberal society. The role of exhibitions and cinema and how this relates to the changes in the entertainment and gambling industry in Las Vegas will be defined.
In ancient civilizations like the Mesopotamian, the 'juridico-discursive' power is entirely at the hands of a 'sovereign authority who exercised absolute control over the population through the threat or open display of violence' (Foucault, 1978). Surveillance, becomes an important tool of the state is but, a sort of mapping of contours, geographies, and finally human beings too. Modern states also used such "thematic mapping technologies", a notable one, being "the cadastral map, which record land ownership and resource characteristics" (Goss, Jon. 1995). Constant surveillance which, when internalized, as in "disciplining the body, takes hold of the mind as well to induce a psychological state of 'conscious and permanent visibility" (Foucault 1977). It then becomes a disciplinary power that is used directly on the body, and collectively, to control social groups. Foucault speaks of the structured ways of knowing and exercising this power, in respect of Body, Power and the Sexuality; Subjectivity, identity and resistance; and Freedom, power and Politics.( Armstrong,2005).


The Relevance of Psycho-geography in Modern Geography

Psycho-geography is defined as "The study of specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organised or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals"(Situationniste Internationale, 1958). It was first developed by the 'Lettrist International,' as part of their system of unitary urbanism. It has since evolved to encompass many things; "psycho geography is one antithetical pole among many which realizes the conflict between our idealized role as citizens and our subjectivity arising from the material conditions of our life"(Psycho geography, 2005).


The Modern Metropolis

The development of culture is characterized by the preoccupation the "objective spirit" over the "subjective spirit. The objective culture is defined as the collection of rules, tools, symbols and products created by human beings and the subjective culture is what individuals have been able to absorb and integrate into them-selves from the objective culture. Metropolitan life places the utmost importance to stable but impersonal time schedule. There seems to be in the metropolitan style, direct dissociation in reality, in one of its elemental forms which is socialization (Simmel, 1908). A link has been conceived between the new social and environmental conditions of the metropolis and psychological state of continuity. It has strong connotations to the destruction and re-construction of modern cities (like Paris, Berlin etc,) as dictated by the changes in mobility, ...Download file to see next pagesRead More