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Paradigmatic New Means of Consumption

at re-enchantment. As some attempts at re-enchantment are rational-

ized, others emerge, but they too eventually become rationalized and

disenchanted.

In a way that is consistent with the postmodern de-emphasis of the

agent, re-enchantment is only partly intentional. Many things that

serve to re-enchant cathedrals are unintended consequences of

actions undertaken by those in charge of the cathedrals. Whether

intended or not, re-enchantment in the cathedrals of consumption

(and elsewhere) occurs as the result of the creation of spectacles

(Debord, 1994). According to Debord, spectacles can mesmerize indi-

viduals with an image more exciting or glamorous than their own exis-

tence. Although Debord believed that spectacles were reified and

available only for contemplation, the new means of consumption are

participatory spectacles: they allow individuals to escape mundane

everyday life into a double-edged world that is both vibrant and con-

trolling. Some of these spectacles—what we call extravaganzas—are

created quite intentionally. Examples would include the bright neon

lights and huge signs one associates with Las Vegas. However, the

most interesting are those that come about, at least in part, uninten-

tionally. They will be the focus of the remainder of this essay. In order

to illustrate the argument that the Las Vegas casino-hotels are the

paradigmatic cathedrals of consumption, most of the examples that

follow will be derived from them.

It should be pointed out that the Vegas casino-hotel is also paradig-

matic because of how well it fits the theoretical argument presented in

this section. The casino-hotel is a means of consuming many things,

especially the gambling experience (and the losses that generally

accompany such an experience). It is a highly rationalized setting,

equipped to handle the hordes of people that pass through the casino

each day. As such, it tends to be become disenchanted, but through

the mechanisms to be discussed below, constant efforts are made to

re-enchant the casino-hotel. We will focus on three of the mecha-

nisms—simulations, implosion, and manipulations of time and space—

through which the cathedrals of consumption seek to re-enchant them-

selves. These mechanisms are informed by concepts drawn from post-

modern social theory (although time and space are also important to

late modern social thinkers).

SIMULATIONS

The idea of simulations has become central to postmodern social

theory largely through the work of Jean Baudrillard. Simulations are

defined as copies or fakes. A postmodern world is characterized by

the disappearance of originals and the increasing preeminence of

inauthentic copies. In fact, people become so accustomed to deal-

ing with simulations that they begin to lose a sense of the distinc-

tion between the original and the simulation, the authentic and the

inauthentic. The authentic is swamped and eventually disappears

in an avalanche of simulations. To the extent that they still recog-

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M@n@gement, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2001, 83-99

Special Issue: Deconstructing Las Vegas

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George Ritzer and Todd Stillman

nize the difference, people come to prefer the simulation to the

original.

Those involved in creating new cathedrals of consumption have

increasingly been drawn to creating versions of some of aspect of his-

toric or contemporary reality. In so doing, they have no alternative but

to build a simulation and even where they have choices, they prefer

simulations to reality. For example, even when they could use real

boulders in these simulations, builders prefer simulated boulders

because they look “more real.” In this era where the real is rarely excit-

ing enough, only the “hyperreal” will do. Simulations are also preferred

because they are easier to control and to mold to the interests of those

who control the means of consumption. Thus, there is only so much

one can do to the “real” Grand Canyon to make it more spectacular (if

such a thing is possible). However, there is great deal that can be done

to the simulated Grand Canyon that takes up a significant part of the

Showcase Mall. An integral part of this simulated Grand Canyon is an

hourly show involving waterfalls, lightning storms, and flash floods. It is

impossible to make the “real” Grand Canyon as dramatic, at least reg-

ularly and on command. Adding to the spectacle at the simulated

Grand Canyon is the fact that it is but a few steps from the shops that

dominate the mall (Associated Press, 1999). The Park Service is

unlikely to allow such a mall to be built on the grounds of the “real”

Grand Canyon, but never say never.

Of course, Las Vegas is literally the home of simulated cathedrals of

consumption (Gottdiener, Collins, and Dickens, 1999). Each year, mil-

lions of visitors travel to the middle of a hot, dry desert to gamble in,

and increasingly merely to see, the spectacular simulations that have

been built in and on it. Insofar as the city of Las Vegas is built on a

desert in which virtually nothing natural survives, almost every bit of its

current landscape is a testimony to the city’s simulated qualities. The

casino-hotels are the ultimate simulations of this simulated city.

Although the very first of the modern Vegas casino-hotels, the Flamin-

go, was not a simulation, within a few years hotels with a simulated

Arabian motif, including the Sands, Dunes, Aladdin, and Sahara,

opened their doors. Although these hotels were spectacular in their

time, they were to pale in comparison to what was to come. In 1968,

Circus Circus opened it doors and began a whole new era in the sim-

ulations that characterize today’s casino-hotels. The casino in Circus

Circus was surrounded by a simulated circus and the entire casino-

hotel was built around the circus theme (Gottdiener, 1997). Later, Cae-

sar’s Palace simulated ancient Rome. Soon such simulations came to

dominate Las Vegas—Main Street Station, Monte Carlo, Orleans, Rio,

New York, New York, Venetian, Paris, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, and so

on—with each new one seeking to be more dazzling than it competi-

tors. The newest themed casino-hotel is likely to replicate the San

Francisco Bay area. There are at least two developers competing for

the San Francisco project (Thompson, 2000). Like Disney World’s

Epcot Center in Orlando Florida, Las Vegas casinos simulate the

world’s distinctive, exotic tourist sights and in so doing lure not only

gamblers but their families.

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