Pictures at an Exhibition

Ahh, now I've backed myself into a corner promising to write a post about the Expo. It was big. It was crowded. Parts of it were really silly. Parts of it were really cool. Think Disneyland times ten. There, how's that?

Okay, okay, guess a little more description is in order. Maybe Disneyland is a good place to start. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of Disneyland. A note: by this I mean Disneyland the idea, not Disneyland the place. The only time I was in Disneyland the place was when I was - three? -four?, and all I can remember is a vague recollection of some volcano ride with sombreros scaring the bejeebuz out of me...

Anyway, back to the idea of Disneyland. What's not to like about Disneyland? Well, the idea of an artificial place standing in for a real place, for starters. A highly controlled, highly uniform artificial place, at that. Signs pointing out photo opportunities, so that you don't have to make choices about where to take a picture. World travel represented by a food court, with waitstaff in traditional costumes that have been made in Hatian sweatshops. And all of the profits from this enterprise going to a multinational corporation that has more money and power than it knows what to do with. I read somewhere a long time ago that Disneyland attracts more visitors each year than the entire country of Italy does, which still gives me the heebie-jeebies.

So, going into Expo, my love of all things goofily futuristic (see last post) was balanced by my fear of stepping into a supercrowded overly commercialized Disneyhell. And, all in all, there were elements of both. Cool architecture, really long lines. Exhibits that wouldn't look out of place at the Guggenheim, and exhibits that wouldn't look out of place at the 1979 Kansas Sate Fair. Lucky me - I went in with fairly low expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised.

The one incredibly obvious thing that I didn't realize before going was how many Chinese people were there. By that, I mean that I had this image of a Worlds' Fair as being a showcase where the rest of the world could come and see what incredible things the host country had to offer for the future. What I saw of the Shanghai Expo, in contrast, seemed to be mostly about showing the citizens of the host country what the rest of the world had to offer. (A caution - we only took in a tiny tiny fraction of the event, and saw mostly the international pavilions, so I may be getting it totally wrong. However, looking at the publicity, the fair organizers seemed to be featuring the international pavilions as well.) More on this thought in the next couple of posts.