Page 34 - The Disneyization of Society

THEMING

theme park in the UK, has a weak overall theme but has divided the park into
themed lands such as: Forbidden Valley, Gloomy Wood, Cred Street, and Katanga
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Canyon. Warner Brothers Movie World near Madrid in Spain is themed on the
movies and has five themed areas: Hollywood Boulevard, Cartoon Village, Old
West, Superheroes World, and Studios. While not themed in terms of lands, other
European theme parks like Parc Asterix in France and de Efteling in Holland are no
less themed overall – the former in terms of the much-loved cartoon character and
his associates and the latter in terms of fairy tales. In Japan, the opening of Tokyo
Disneyland in 1983 spawned a large number of theme parks. These too are typically
thought of as theme rather than amusement parks because in the majority of cases
they take nations as their overarching theme.

Restaurants

There is now a veritable themed restaurant industry, which draws on such well-
known and accessible cultural themes as rock and other kinds of music; sport;
Hollywood and the film industry more generally; geography and history. 28 These
themes find their expression in chains of themed restaurants, like Hard Rock
Cafe, Planet Hollywood, All Sports Cafe, Harley-Davidson Cafe, Rainforest Cafe,
Fashion Cafe, as well as one-off themed eating establishments. Diners are sur-
rounded by sounds and sights that are constitutive of the themed environment,
which, although incidental to the act of eating as such, are major reasons for such
restaurants being sought out. In Britain, themed pubs are increasingly prominent
and popular, such as Irish pubs, while in the USA, bars themed on British pubs
have become popular venues.
Essentially, with themed restaurants, the theme and the sumptuousness of its
implementation become the main ways in which competitors differentiate them-
selves and compete with each other. Hard Rock Cafe, which began in London,
became the template for many other chains of themed restaurants. These have
sought to capitalize on potent themes such as:

• Rock, soul or country music – Hard Rock Cafe, Motown Cafe, Country Star, House of Blues.
• Race cars, racing and motorbikes – NASCAR Cafe, Race Rock Cafe, Harley-Davidson Cafe.
• Sport – Official All Star Cafe, ESPN Zone.
• Fashion – Fashion Cafe.
• Magic and fantasy – Copperfield’s Magic Underground, Jekyll and Hyde Club, Mars 2112.
• Natural world – Rainforest Cafe, Dive!
• Movies and entertainment – Planet Hollywood, Billboard Live.
• Nostalgia – Johnny Rockets (see Figure 5.1), Dick Clark’s Bandstand Grill, Ruby Tuesday,
Lori’s Diner chain.