Las Vegas is the one of the most popular landscapes of consumption in America and even the world, which was designed artistically and scientifically to lure people into consumption. Las Vegas as a landscape of consumption includes multitude of cathedrals of consumption which are basically new settings in and through which we obtain goods and services. This city does more than just simply permit us to consume things; it is structured to lead and even coerce us into consumption. This enormous national playground is one of the largest landscapes of consumption in America that have helped to entice us to consume far more than we ever did in the past and led us in the direction of hyperconsumption.
I visited Las Vegas in 2007 for the first time in my life, and the first moment I saw this dreamlike, fantastic, astonishing spectacle throughout the window of the landing airplane, I already knew it is not going to be the last one. This place looked so attractive and appealing to me with its lights, numerous amazing hotels, and desert all around that I wanted to spend there my every vacation. We stopped at the Luxor hotel and as soon as we were done unpacking we went outside to take a walk on the Strip. Las Vegas Strip - an area where multiple cathedrals of consumption exist side by side in the same geographic setting and entice consumers not only through their individual appeal, but also through the techniques made possible by their synergistic proximity is the perfect example of an enormous landscape of consumptions. Money making hotels and casinos which are combined together inviting you and even demanding you to spend your money on their goods and services not only by their beauty and attractiveness but by extravaganzas and simulations which were created to attract and enchant more people to consume things and services they sometimes don't even need.
I walked by the Strip with my eyes wide open and I forgot that I woke up at 5:30 o'clock in the morning, forgot that I spent almost 6 hours in the airplane, forgot who I am and felt like I was sleeping all this years and just woke up. We walked through New York-New York hotel and I was amazed by the exact mini copy of the city where I came from. We went through couple of other hotels and I noticed that many of them have flat and regular escalators in order to not to overtire and reserve their consumers energy to consume. You don't even realize it but somewhere subconscious you feel thankful that people who created this spectacle thought about yourself and your wellbeing. We went to Venetian and Paris hotels and I thought that you don't have to fly over the seas to Europe to see the Eiffel tower or to take a gondola ride accompanied by gondoliers singing. It was all in Vegas, all the best places and extravaganzas of the world in one place. Creators of this spectacle brought all these amazing things together in Las Vegas to enchant more and more consumers who will come again and again and will consume and consume with pleasure even if they don't need to.
We walked through Las Vegas hotels and the Strip and I realized that I don't want to go back to the real world. This place was so magical to me that I didn't want to ever come back home. Las Vegas was made by every possible technique of postmodernism to make you believe in unbelievable, to make you feel somewhere you actually not, to create this never ending happiness for you, to make you see that illusions and dreams can become true. When you come to Las Vegas you experience whole lots of new dreamlike feelings, which creators of this place actually wanted and expected you to experience in order to enchant you to this spectacle and to make you consume their goods, products and services.
Then we went down to the Bellagio hotel to purchase the tickets for the "O" show which was the most amazing show I have ever seen. We almost passed the fountains, which were turned off, when I heard the sound of Cellins Dion song from the movie Titanic. I turned my head to the side and I saw the dancing fountains accompanied by the music and lights. The water dance was so beautiful, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was twisting and turning, changing heights, lengths, widths and directions. The seen was so astonishing that I felt like goose bumps started covering my skin all over my body even under my hair on my head. I never saw something like this before and after. It hypnotized me so much that I had an only wish in my mind which was to stay in Bellagio hotel next time I visit the sin city. I was standing and watching the fountains and didn't see the crowd of the same as me goose bumped people around. We came back to the fountains two more times again and I realized that the inventors of it were very smart people who knew how to prevent the disenchantment of this extravaganza, because every fountain show was completely different and was accompanied by the different music and different color lights so you could watch it every time it is on and never get bored of it.
Later we went to the Stratosphere hotel to go all the way up on the roof, and to observe the city from there. We discovered that there was an amazing and very scary rides on the roof top which were basically hanging you off the roof and spinning, and turning, and sliding you down so you feel that you are going to fall down what made everybody very, very happy. On the way back to Luxor we were so tiered that we took a taxi. The driver was very talkative and friendly. He told us that he came from India to Las Vegas long time ago to make money and even though the job of the cab driver is a low pay job, he said that in this city he makes very good money as a taxi driver. We drove down the Strip and I saw the Stardust hotel on the left side. All the lights inside were turned off and it was so dark and so not like Las Vegas building that it looked like a ghost house to me. I felt like I was awakened from the beautiful dream and was thrown into reality again. Driver probably sensed my feelings somehow and explained that it is an old hotel and they will take it down in couple of days and then will build a new one on its place. That was the time when I realized that to get read of an old boring stuff, (which in the past, modern world we were taught to cherish), and to build a new, more spectacular thing instead - is the method of disenchantment prevention of the never ending dreamland Las Vegas.
I have very bright memories from that trip to Las Vegas and now after I saw the DVD about Las Vegas I try to recall my memories and take a look at Las Vegas from sociological perspective. The part of the real life racial, ethnical and gender issues of this particular landscape of consumption was identical to the DVD that I recently have seen. The service sector peripheral jobs of Las Vegas were mostly filed by woman, people of color and immigrants. Taxi driver from India whom we met was the perfect example of it. I also now see that the amazing fountains of Bellagio, Eiffel tower of Paris, Mirages volcano, Stratospheres roof top rides, Venetian canals with gondolas and other extravaganzas of Las Vegas were made using science and rationality in order to create the magic of this spectacle. I now understand that all the feelings I experienced there were artificially made for me by the very smart and rational people. Nevertheless, I still think that I'm a big time victim of this paradoxically real-illusion and fairytale for adults. I remember myself sitting on the 64th floor balcony of the Mix Lounge high atop the Mandalay Bay hotel enjoying breathtaking views of the famed Las Vegas Strip. That was the first time in my life that I ever fell in love, fell in love with the city. City where I sang Presley's song and wished there were more then 24 hours in the day. City which you will see once and never be the same again. And even now, knowing all the technical, rational, and scientific part of this land of consumption my love for Las Vegas is still setting my soul on fire. Viva Las Vegas!