The idea discussed in the reading of tourism creating its own culture for consumption is so interesting in part because it still holds true so strongly in the present. In fact, it can be seen in fashion as well, a connection the reading makes. With both fashion and tourism, it seems that there are at least two ways of looking at this “culture for consumption.” In the section about tourism, I immediately thought of EPCOT in Florida. There is a sort of “mall of countries” which people can visit and experience ranging from France to Morocco, Canada to Ireland. And while these reproductions are the typical “tourist traps,” they are also more than that. When EPCOT first opened, many people didn’t have the ability to travel to all these places themselves, to see the sights, and experience the exotic, so this place gave them the chance to get a taste of what the world was like. Today, it is still an attraction, even in this age of tourism. So these re-creations, these stereotypical experiences of countries, are they to be viewed as a negative experience? While these places may be “cookie-cutter countries,” there is some value to going there even today. The people working at each place are there from the actual country, and the buildings are designed to actually reflect the styles of the country (they brought in professional mosaic makers from Morocco to design the interior decorations of the EPCOT country). So, with both fashion and tourism I feel that, while the images are controlled and manipulated, some more than others, there is still something that we can take from it.
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