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The article has the answer inside. The Olympics and big theme parks. E.G. from memory: EPCOT, back in the day, was supposed to be a perpetual worlds fair. It
by mjevans 5y ago
The article has the answer inside.
The Olympics and big theme parks. E.G. from memory: EPCOT, back in the day, was supposed to be a perpetual worlds fair. It was still sort of like that even at the end of the 1990s.
Worlds Fairs also included a heaping dose of Nationalism. A combination of competing countries and major industries showed off. Today the companies prefer to either have their own events, or various industry trade shows.
- langsoul-com 5y agoI also reckon because things got so specialised, they had to be separated into their own events.
- adastra22 5y agoAlso the companies are now highly globalized. It’s not good for business for the them to be participating in such blatantly nationalist displays.
- jimbob45 5y agohttps://youtu.be/5K8FepaAhw8 https://youtu.be/5K8FepaAhw8 EPCOT used to be genuinely inspirational with its attractions. It’s fallen so far that people have forgotten how good it used to be.
- dtagames 5y agoI think the desire to "showcase the future," which was Epcot's goal, is also what killed Epcot! Nobody can keep up with what the future will look like. Tomorrowland in Disneyland was built with the 50's idea of the future. Epcot was built with the 70's. The implicit promotion of big companies and big governments as salavator mundi turned out to be a lot of BS. People figured out that Exxon and GM weren't solving the world's problems, they were helping to create them. It's hard to have fun singing about a "great big beautiful tomorrow" when you're standing in the middle of the failures designed by the same people. Epcot has no credibility today as a predictor of the future, obviously, and nobody even likes corporate sponsors anymore (which is why most have left). Not a single country joined Epcot after it opened, despite the promises of increased tourism it would create. The colonial aspect of world's fairs and Epcot is also still evident in its design. Originally, all of Africa was to be shoved into a single pavilion, as opposed to European countries which each had their own. In the end, Africa (The Dark Continent) -- yes, that was their actual name -- was never built which is itself a commentary. Norway originally sponsored a ride with the theme of offshore oil drilling, and Exxon built one to promote fossil fuels. These projects cost millions of dollars to build and maintain. Can you imagine anyone promoting that with a straight face today? Even progressive companies don't want to sponsor rides that might make them look bad next week. The whole idea is pretty much over. I did enjoy it while it lasted.