Rise of the spectacular: America in the 1950s

"In this prequel to Fantasy City: Pleasure and Profit in the Postmodern Metropolis (1998), his acclaimed book about the post-industrial city as a site of theming, branding and simulated spaces, sociologist John Hannigan travels back in time to the 1950s. Unfairly stereotyped as 'the tranquillized decade', America at mid-century hosted an escalating proliferation and conjunction of 'spectacular' events, spaces, and technologies. Spectacularization was collectively defined by five features. It reflected and legitimated a dramatic increase in scale from the local/regional to the national. It was mediated by the increasingly popular medium of television. It exploited middle-class tension between comfortable conformity and desire for safe adventure. It celebrated technological progress, boosterism and military power. It was orchestrated and marketed by a constellation, sometimes a coalition, of entrepreneurs and dream merchants, most prominently Walt Disney. In this wide-ranging odyssey across mid-century America, Hannigan visits leisure parks (Cypress Gardens), parades (Tournament of Roses), mega-events (Squaw Valley Olympics, Century 21 Exposition), architectural styles (desert modernism), innovations (underwater photography, circular film projection) and everyday wonders (chemistry sets). Collectively, these fashioned the 'spectacular gaze', a prism through which Americans in the 1950s were acculturated to and conscripted into a vision of a progressive, technology-based future. Rise of the Spectacular will appeal to architects, landscape designers, geographers, sociologists, historians, and leisure/tourism researchers, as well as non-academic readers who are by a fascinating era in history"--

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Chronology of Key Events -- Introduction: Reimagining the 1950s -- Two Takes On the 1950s -- A Spectacular Decade -- Increasing Scale -- Themed Spaces and Events -- Future Focus -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 1 On the Road: Safe Adventures in 1950s America -- Hawaii Calls -- On the Road: Safe Vacation Adventures -- Route 66 -- Las Vegas -- Parrots and Orange Blossoms -- Racism and Social Exclusion -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 2 "The Biggest Rolodex in Hollywood": Walt Disney at Mid-Century -- Pursuing a Vision -- "The Biggest Rolodex in Hollywood" -- Was Disney Sociable? -- Smoke Tree Ranch -- Sugar Bowl Resort -- How the Disneyland Model Disseminated -- Attack of the Clones -- Magic Mountain -- Pacific Ocean Park -- How Disney Shaped American Culture -- The Disneyization of Society -- Disney and the Spectacular -- Disney Gardens -- Notes -- References -- Part 1 California Calling -- 3 Desert Spectacular -- Where the Millionaires Roam -- Who's Running this Town? -- Architecture of the Spectacular -- The Eighth Wonder of the World -- Desert Circus -- Walt's Hidden Hideaway -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 4 The Name of the Rose -- The Beginning -- The Fifties -- "A Day of Colorful Spectacles" -- Disney and the Tournament of Roses -- The "Wrong Sort of People" -- Notes -- References -- 5 It Happened in Squaw Valley -- The Venue -- The Bid -- The Paris Showdown -- Disney Takes Charge -- Obstacles and Controversies -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Part 2 Photographing the Spectacular -- 6 The Most Photographed Place in America -- The "Swami of the Swamp" -- Dreamland Down South -- Aqua Maids and Aqua Musicals -- White Like Me -- The Most Photographed Place in America.