And that's only what two can think of. USF could benefit from this. Just the merchandise alone could bring everybody's spirits up.
There are several other venues, however. Truly historical landmarks, for instance. Tourists can visit battlefeilds now, and it's very depressing sometimes. Bunker Hill monument reenacts the beginning of the Great American Revolution, comlete with Paul Revere's ride. The Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of York Town and many other battle reenactments are all over the country. There's even a film of the overtaking of the Alamo.
Only because WWI, WWII, Korean, Viet Nam and Iraq were not fought on US soil there are no "attractions." There are, however, memorials, and those, too, are also a bit depressing.
I wouldn't want to spend money to be depressed. I'm not saying your idea would be un-educational. But, if I want to learn the history, I can search it out on my own, without having to visit a theme park to do it.
--RAS
Too often we on this site look at theme parks in relation to amusement parks. This provides us an opportunity to look at theme parks in relation to museums and memorials.
You need only visit the National Air and Space Museum in Washington or the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to see the affect that theme parks have had in the way that museums and historical sites tell their stories to visitors.
The same methods and techniques that theme parks use to tell fictional stories to entertain visitors can also be used to tell historic stories to educate.
That's why I was so excited by the Disney's America concept. While many of that proposal's opponents saw a themed amusement park, I saw the opportunity for a themed education center. Would Disney have developed the property that way? I don't know. Maybe not. But the concept remains intriguing to me, nevertheless.
Discuss....
The Holy Land Experience is a Theme Park in Orlando which consistently refers to itself as a Museum and is a Theme Park recounting the days of the Bible 2000 years ago in Jerusalem.
"... in terms of Christ-honoring Christian venues, we believe it sets a new standard."
The Park's president is Marvin J. Rosenthal : /
--RAS
As honorable as people may think they are, the companies aren't doing it to respect their countries, but for the money. As are theme park companies, so surely something themed to a real life war is unavoidable? There is already a Pearl Harbour scene at the beginning of Disney-MGM Studios' Backlot Tour. Universal make various references to U571 constantly throughout their tour things, and does anyone remember the U571 'scene' in the Earthquake ride?
Precisely my point.
Some of the biggest budget movie that also are some of the highest grossing are war movies.
Harsh reality I know, but reality none the less.
And does it automatically make it okay if it isn't real? I know that so far no-one has brought this topic up yet, but what about the made up tradgedies? No-one has seenmed to care about any of the Tom Clancy films that have been made, but what if they were real?
Yes i will probably be a pain in the ... in this debate but as an outsider (Canadian) I need to bring an outside perspective to this debate.
What i understand from America is the notion that what has brought this country to become what it is today is the dream behind it's foundation : FREEDOM.
Disney is all about this dream : the american way of life. What I understand from Americans is that they are proud of what they have acheived in the US. Their economy, their genius, their achievements (The moon) not the massive destruction, the wars and deaths. Yes they helped save lives but are Americans proud of this mess?
Even thought America give itself the responsibility to maintain the freedom in the world, I don't see how America could celebrate WW2 and the death of 50 million people.
We can theme anything we want (war, vilains, great disaters)in any type of format (educationnal, inspirationnal, motivationnal, ...) but where do we stop?
What do we want to leave behind, what can of values do we want to teach? Don't we have enough of this violence, the school shootings, the Washington incident, the antrax, the WTC,....
CAN WE SHOW SOMETHING ELSE TO THE WORLD AND OUR KIDS?
MA ROUTHIER
Montréal Canada
Personally, I don't see ANY of our wars after the American Revolution as patriotic. Some were necessary, like WWII, and some were UNnecessary, like Vietnam. But none of them really had much to do with the US. In fact, most US citizens wanted nothing to do with WWII, or "that war over there" and that is probably our most "popular" war. If not, then our Civil War is Number One and how would we theme attractions to that?
I say leave the complicated history to the museums and the like. Disney could never do justice to it. The only reason the American Adventure is successful is because they cover most of the bases, but don't go into detail on ANY of them. Such detail would just bore most Disney guests anyhow.
For those who may truly be interested in reading about a sort of War/Amusement park ... A portion of the novel Bright Messengers, by Gentry Lee left me dumbfounded. ... It was a cross between 'It's a Small World' and 'Jungle Cruise' with a war theme.
Looks like we've gone down the 'moral' root again. Seems this sort of stuff has a bad history on this site. Take the Blog Flume-'Disney Shoots Self in Foot With Toy Gun' thread. I seem to remember something else about gay days.
Thinking about, I'm to blame for a lot of them.
And I'm British, one of the main causes for war in the world.
Maybe I should get out of this while I still can...
Just Bush.
In addition, American history is not neccessarily deserving a themepark. How bout an underground railroad attraction? Or maybe one where you follow American troops pillaging North Vietnese vilage? The whole idea is ridiculous.
Contrary to the previous poster’s comments, I believe that American history is deserving of a theme park, and if handled correctly could be an entertaining and educational experience. As some people have already noted, it is questionable whether or not Disney could have pulled it off, but they and maybe Universal are the only companies that have the capability to effectively develop the concept.
As far as the concept of a theme park based on war, I don’t think it is a good idea. Like Kevin noted earlier most of our wars have not been fought over patriotic ideals. Most of the time, we fight wars for economic reasons and then we find a patriotic or moral reason to justify our actions. Whatever the case may be, wars play a significant role in our history and should be included as part of any historical-based theme park, but to make them a central theme is perhaps too morbid and depressing.
A note to the previous poster: Many people think they appear sophisticated and intelligent when they are cynical and negative. In your case, you failed. Your comments about an underground railroad attraction or an American troops pillaging a North Vietnamese village attraction are pure leftist drivel. Yes, the history of our society is replete with many failures, but to focus on them only just trivializes the many great accomplishments that we have done as a nation. I suggest that you start reading a fair and unbiased history book and learn something about this wonderful country in which we live.
Cough...Bush...cough
Cough…Neville Chamberlain…Cough
His refusal to confront Adolph Hitler when Great Britain and France had the upper hand over Germany militarily led to the escalation of WWII. Indirectly he contributed to the additional deaths of millions of people. Why? Because he was a pacifist at any cost.
Many of us understand the cost of war as well as the cost of not taking action. It seems you Europeans don’t understand that very well. As evidenced in the recent genocidal conflict in the Balkans, the European countries are quite content to sit on their rumps and let the Americans do the dirty work and then criticize our leaders in the methodology that we use.
In the current situation, President Bush is only threatening to make war on Iraq for not complying with the UN security resolutions. Anybody with a whiff of intelligence knows that leaders have to say many things that are not their position in order to obtain the results that they want. That is called negotiation. So stuff your comments about President Bush, and quit trying to say that some people don’t remember the horrors of war. We remember far too well.
Neither am I protecting the British. There are plenty of times when I'm ashamed to be English.
"It seems you Europeans don't understand that very well."
Geez, don't blame the entire continent. I just want to know why Bush feels he owns the world, and why he needs to start a war with any country that doesn't agree with his policies.
"You're either with us, or against us."
I think that was what he said, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
So if you don't agree with bombing innocent people with badly aimed missiles, then you're a terrorist.
Makes sense to me...
Can the opposition say the same? How many Scud missiles were launched at Israel during the course of the Gulf War? Was Israel part of the coalition forces? No! Did Saddam Hussein care how many innocent civilians he killed in his own country or in other countries? No! So, get rid of the double standard. Why don’t you take a few potshots at Saddam Hussein like you’ve been taking at George Bush in your posts?
I also wish to (Hussain sucks) apologise to (Hussain sucks) any Bush-fanatics (Hussain sucks) I may (Hussain sucks) have offended.
...now if I could only get Kevin Baxter and Robert Niles to stop being liberal, pinko leftists... Hah! Dream on!
Speaking of Scud missles... let's chat about the "smart" missiles used in our last Middle Eastern war. And how everyone in the Bush administration kept telling us these things were so good that they could "ring the doorbell" of the building they were sent to destroy. WHAT A LYING LOAD OF GARBAGE! Those missiles were lucky to get within 100 yards of their intended target. So many innocent people died from our weapons also.
But my problem isn't so much that, but the fact that we were CONTINUOUSLY LIED TO about this. WHY? For political gain, of course. These people weren't going to get reelected if they told us they were killing innocent people! As taxpayers, we were forced to pay MILLIONS for a report about Clinton's oral sex, yet not a cent was spent on why the Bush administration lied to us on a regular basis for months.
So let's all stop the petty your-politician-is-worse-than-mine CRAP. That's pot and kettle. ALL POLITICIANS ARE CORRUPT! Some more than others, but POLITICIANS ARE ALL CORRUPT! Which is one reason why a park like this would NEVER work. What American would attend a park that told THE TRUTH about what our Presidents did during war? And who NEEDS a park that treats history the same way the Alamo does, as something to be glossed over? Save this stuff for REAL museums.
Good arguments though Kevin.
And Tim, sorry to disappoint, but I'm also a "liberal, pinko leftist."
Never mind.
Thanks Ben for your great humor.....
From Canada "Say hello to the Queen"
MA Routhier a true member of the commonwealth .... LOLL
Lets go republic!
