Katie Kreisheimer - culture & nature

Culture and Nature
Recently I took a trip down to Florida where I visited Universal Studios and the Island of Adventures theme park. Within the theme park they had different areas and “places” you could go, such as Jurassic Park and Dr. Seuss Land. When we went into Jurassic Park, the entire area was filled with plants and vegetation to make you feel like you were out in the wild with the dinosaurs. There were even streams and huge rock waterfalls that towered into the sky. I find it interesting the way people can use nature to create an imaginary world and sense of place that is not real. The waterfalls were obviously man made and the beautiful vegetation was strategically placed so that tourists felt they were somewhere in the wild, when really they were in the center of a cultural spill. By creating this fake world of Jurassic Park by using real aspects of our own world, our culture is basically playing mind games on those who are willing to believe it. There were visitors taking pictures and eating up the beauty of this “natural world,” but I did not find it to be anything but annoying. I want to experience those type of natural settings out in the wild where they are “naturally” suppose to be, not in the middle of something fake. There is already a problem between experiencing wilderness on a deeper level without the cultural interruptions, and Universal, like Disney World, is trying to create a place unlike the society and culture we experience daily. That’s fine, but taking precious wildlife and such just subtracts from the pureness of our real nature. By visiting types of places which are suppose to make us feel like we are escaping everyday society, we are really just giving into it more