"One World-One Ocean": The Sea World Perspective on Conserving the Oceans

A trip to Seaworld is not complete without seeing the killer whale Shamu. This amazing creature and his cohort are part of a 25 minute show called "one world-one ocean." The show begins with one of the Sea World trainers giving a salute to the personnel in the army and thanking them. While thoughtful, I could not quite place the connection to Shamu. Before these majestic creatures even come out and perform their tricks to the "oohs" and "aahs" of an impressionable audience, water fountains dance to inspirational, emotive music with images on gigantic screens that tell the story of kids who come to (presumably) Sea World, interact with a marine animal, and grow up to be great stewards of the oceans. These images in the video are trying to persuade us that we are all part of one world, sharing one ocean.

Here is a brief synopsis of the video. The first image is of a innocent young Caucasian girl with her dad. She and her dad have hiked up to the top of a pristine trail and they are watching an Humpback whale. This scene seamlessly moves into the next, which is  of this girl becoming a guide for whale watching. It focuses on her explaining something about whales to a young Asian girl. In another scene a young Caucasian boy is a Sea World looking at turtles and that leads to him becoming someone that works on rescuing turtles and other marine animals. In another scene, there is a young Caucasian girl looking at Shamu and she does a twirly dance and in the next scene becomes a Sea World trainer. And finally, in another scene a Caucasian man, woman and child, implying notions of family, are enjoying the beach. While these images move from one to the next the song being played has the lyrics " we are one people, one planet, one ocean" in some format over an over.

I have given you a general gist of the scene. So now let me give you my thoughts. I think that the desire and the intent to inspire people to act is welcomed. But a closer look at the people in story line begs the question of whose world, whose ocean and who holds the knowledge when it comes to conservation? It also leaves out the story of who are the people that are responsible for largely destroying the oceans. Unfortunately, this slickly edited video perpetuates privilege in terms of race, class, sexuality. Do people who live in areas with access to pristine landscapes, like the father and daughter story line, get to be the ones who go on to be guides to whales? Is this what we are teaching our children? To be conservation minded is a luxury awarded to the privileged? Why is that none of children who grow up to be "experts" were of color? Why is it that a family is defined as a man, woman and child?

To me, the most irritating part of the show was the song and the implication of it all. We are all  not one people. We are all people but we have differences and those differences help us understand the world and how to conserve the natural resources of our world.  Sea World is attempting to eliminate or homogenize those differences and try to write a narrative that overrides the ways in which people look at the oceans. Single narratives make me nervous.

It is easy and as some might argue preferable to go to these parks with your kids and just sit back relax and be of those that ooh, aah, eat some churros and come back. Trust me the weight of your backpack is lighter. As an anthropologist, my training is to read between the lines. As an activist, my training is to speak up for what I read between the lines. The challenge is finding the medium, the audience, and the timing to be most effective and productive.

A common narrative in theme parks

The first official "park" we visited during our trip was the San Diego zoo. In addition, we went to Legoland and Seaworld and despite the significant differences in the intent, design and content of the parks, there appeared to be some common themes threaded throughout.
For instance, one common narrative that I noticed was that the visitor is either explicitly or implicitly marked as someone on a great adventure in the process of either "discovering," something new  or "destroying" a bad guy. In these parks, the target visitor is the child between the ages of 3-13.
At the Zoo, the child is positioned to take the "Polar Bear plunge" and discover the polar bear in what  I would argue is a futuristic exhibit of the Arctic (e.i no polar ice caps). There is a great visual on the declining icecaps and the role of the human species in that decline but much of it is not in language that children understand or even at their eye level. Another example of this is the "Elephant Odyssey."I was unsure whether, we the visitors, were on a journey to see the elephants, or the elephants themselves were on an extended voyage of sorts. To me, these animals have always been there in their habitat and we are not discovering them in the sense that if we had not seen them  then there is no intrinsic value to them. I feel that the titles of these exhibits convey this ever so slightly. What I wish they would instead convey is, "come see what you can learn from these animals with whom we share the Earth"

At Legoland the narrative of adventure was ubiquitous. Our first ride was the Pharoah's revenge at the Land of Adventure. On that ride, we boarded an open tram that seated 4 to each and were given laser guns (yes guns to my 3 year old!) to shoot the bad guys so that we may help recover the treasure. Very much like Indiana Jones. During that ride every possible essentialization of Egyptian culture was realized, including mummies, Pharoah, writing to mimic heiroglyphics etc. According to Lego website and wikepedia, the Pharoah's quest is a themed lego set in which this ride is based on. In this set the heroes are all human and have Western names. The creatures are mummies and are evil. This is concerning on several levels. One it spreads misinformation about a culture by distilling that culture to its ancient history. It is like having people from another country going on a ride called "Paul Revere's Ride" and having that represent America! Next, it perpetuates this concept of the "other" and simplified notions of good and bad to the next generation and basically that anyone who does not look like us can not be good.

 The picture represents the ride Dune Raiders, a continuation of the Egypt theme. Unfortunately, there is a problem with this. Snake charming happens, not in Egypt, but in India. This is like teaching our kids that Muslims were the head turbans like Sikhs. Geographical and historical accuracy is so important. Having said that, it is pretty neat that this whole thing is built of Legos!

Other rides, under the Land of Adventure section, include Lost Kingdom Adventure, Cargo Ace and a market called Pippin's Bazaar. Directly from the site: 

"Visitors can take a piece of the Lost Kingdom home when they stop by this diverse market. This shop also offers LEGO toys featuring our favorite whip-cracking archaeologist, Indiana Jones and Prince of Persia."

More to come on Seaworld!

Going Downtown!

My husband, 3 year old and I left bright and early at 4 am on Thursday morning for our trip to San Diego. Parked our car at a parking facility or as my 3 year old calls it a "car party" and took the shuttle to catch the Southwest flight. Other than the occasional turbulence from the children shrieking across the aisle, the flight went smoothly and we landed in sunny SD, looking forward to the vacation ahead. We used the day to lounge in downton SD,  nap and wait for our friends from Seattle to arrive, as well. As i slowly worked on shifting gears from high-strung packing mommy mode to laid back unpacking mommy mode, i started to take notice of the environment around me.
The roads of  downtown San diego are shared by cars, trolleys, buses and cyclists. Many of the red lights are due to trolleys crossing. The downtown is peppered with a myriad of restaurants and the historic Gaslamp quarters provides a nice place to hang out. Unlike many other downtowns, it is not disjointed but rather connected and felt easy to get around. Right near downtown is the zoo, Legoland and Seaworld, so downtown is a bit atypical in that sense. Another significant part of the downtown experience is the harbor and the presence of the navy fleet. The water makes you feel  so calm and like you are on a vacation and then suddenly the  image of navy frigates and apache helicopters brings you back to a sobering reality.
The first day taking in downtown, watching people, identifying who was a part of the landscape, who was just a visitor, taking in the smells of Little Italy, adapting to the sounds of airplanes taking off and arriving, and soaking in the feel of the California sun on my sheltered Seattle skin was just the right start for the next day!

Welcome to Essential Eyes

Hello reader(s)!
Welcome to essential eyes-the blog. As most of you might have guessed, the name of my blog is a play on the word essentialize. To me, the categorical simplifying of groups of people, whethere based on race, gender, religion, disabilities, sexuality, class, profession, habituation etc into an ideological distillation far removed from the complexties of reality is what essentialism is all about.
As I visit the theme parks of Southern California, I will be looking out for the ways in which race, class, gender and all other identity constructs are constructed and deconstructed. With my eyes wide open and a brand new pen, I begin my exploration of America's playground. Come play!