___tainment

Hannigan, in “Shopertainment, Eatertainment, Edutainment,” looks at physical sites of consumption, targeting specifically, themed environments. In a sense, he focuses horizontally, looking at the different aspects of these particular spaces of consumption. We can look at these spaces in two related, but different ways: each environment is both different and the same. These themed environments try to be different from other places through an exaggeration of their articulation and by having a particular theme. Themed environments are different from one another and provide an escape from daily life because they are over-designed, so that the designer must infuse each detail with the theme or some kind of meaning. Perhaps they are the ultimate contemporary gesamtkunstwerk. The consumer goes to these places to be entertained by over-stimulation and by participating in a world that’s superficially different from their day-to-day life.

However, themed environments are also anesthetized and controlled. An over-arching concept for these environments involves McDonald’s operational model, which is described by “efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control (81).” Although searching for adventure and change, we are safe in these worlds, which run smoothly as calculated theatrical experiences. They must be safe so as to protect us from danger and to keep us happy. These themed environments (destination shopping malls, themed restaurants, and high-tech museums) aren’t places we go daily as consumers, so we enjoy our time spent there. So, in the end, after our visit, we can remember the ---tainment land as an exciting, entertaining experience, and, if we have the chance, enjoy it all over again, in the exact same way, when we return in the future.