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18/04/2004: "Monkey in the cage"

I heard my Dad say he hates theme parks like nothing else, but likes natural parks. According to him, theme parks are the embodiment of artificiality and are just mindless entertainment, whereas zoos show nature and are "real".

I disagree.

Theme parks show reality, happy people trying to be happy by acting happy and putting on a big childish smile or painting one on their face if they can't manage. Big worries are replaced by small worries, such as the number of hours to wait in the queue, whether the hot dogs are juicy and how to get a hug from the Mickey Mouse man. Theme parks highlight life at its best: the constant flight from reality and the pretence of happiness.

Zoos are horrible places: they capture nature in a illusion of natural, removing from view all of nature that man fears: smell, disease, sex, pain and death. In this prison it is man who's the monkey in the cage, who can't see the real world, who is trapped inside and doesn't know he is.

I love theme parks. I feel home among peers and smile all the time.

A big childish smile.

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