My trip to New York City this past May was an interesting experience. I was in town for personal reasons, but thought I'd add on some thematic exploration. Two places immediately came to mind; the Times Square District, and the Las Vegas of the Eastern Seaboard—Atlantic City.
I hopped on a late night bus with my friend Jenn Frank and by the time we arrived in The Garden State at Harrah's, it was nearly 4am. We decided to stay up all night milling around and return to NYC by noon.
Atlantic City has an interesting history; it’s long been a pleasure center for the rich elite; by mid-century, it was a destination for the middle classes as well. More traditional amusement park attractions have been here since the early 1900s, but the legalization of gambling in 1976 brought larger Vegas-style resorts. Many of these are owned by the very same corporations as their Nevada cousins, and many of the same entertainers stop through town. Similar permanent shows call Atlantic City home; in fact due to a Mafia crime wave in the early 1980s, New Jersey was prefered by many over Vegas for years.
The theming is also similar to what you would find in the desert of Nevada—that is, a decent design attempt (with minimal consideration to subtle detailing), yet sub-par when compared to Disney's offerings. We made our way through the Wild west, past Caesars, and out to the boardwalk, where we continued north up to Trump Taj Mahal, then back down again. Like Vegas—and most other casino environments—Atlantic City is a varied cropping of themes; a random visual collage.
What i noticed most about Atlantic City was the incongruity of the ocean. Fantasy worlds succeed best when they have no natural features (read: beauty) to compete with. Las Vegas sits in a desert wasteland; Walt Disney World was built in the middle of a swamp. But Atlantic City stretches along a very pleasant coastline, and as such, the themes of the various casino hotels are almost lackluster in comparison. The bluntness of casino thematic design is difficult enough to suspend disbelief for; next to such competition, it's near impossible.
The Wild West theme suffers the greatest—not only is the ocean prettier, but it shatters the illusion completely to walk out of a ghost town full of prospectors, miners and cowboys to set foot on...a sandy, very eastern, shoreline. What is essentially Martha’s Vineyard next to Caesar's Roman Empire doesn’t do any better.
Good theming—successful immersion—relies a great deal on control. Control of presentation, of perception; of setting, of seclusion. What makes the ocean—literally the ends of the earth—so compelling is the very lack of this control it symbolizes. We humans are creatures of free movement and free will; as such, no matter how compelling the controlled simulation might be, the endless, open, and untamed will almost always seem more fascinating by comparison.
When forced to choose the gambling funhouse and the deep blue of the Atlantic, I must say I favored the ocean. Maybe Atlantic City would have made a greater impression on me isolated and landlocked. Next to such a natural wonder, it just felt shoddy and sad.
Then again, I had been up all night.