Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Literary Theme Parks!

Now of all the literary figures to have a theme park created around his works, I would choose Charles Dickens just about last. Sure, his books are classics, roiling with humanity and etc., but David Copperfield does not scream: roller-coaster!

However, some brave souls are just about to open Dicken's World, a theme park based upon the works of Charles Dickens. The park will feature the Haunted House of Ebenezer Scrooge (okay, that has some promise) and will recreate the "sounds and smells of the 19th century." Do you think they mean cholera, public hangings, and dead draft horses? No, neither do I. Well, I hope wish the owners luck and hope that they are putting more money into the park than they put into their website.

But this does beg the question, why not literary theme parks? Certainly Disney has used literature as a source of rollicking rides: the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, for example, with those horrible spinning tea cups. And who can ever forget Mr. Toad's Wild Ride? Yeah, so there is going to be a Harry Potter Theme Park in Florida, and I heard a rumour that there's a Muminland in Finland somewhere. But that's kid stuff.

What about Moby Dick Sea World? They'll call you Ishmael, and you alone shall live to tell the tale of Mad Ahab's search for the animatronic white whale. Or Kafka Land, where you wake up trapped in a cockroach suit, and are then arrested and taken to the Castle, though no one will tell you why. Heart of Darkness Land--like Disney's Jungle Boat Ride, only with the horror the horror instead of robot elephants, and the natives are really restless. Jane Austen Land: upon entry each visitor is given a card stating the amount of their dowry and has one day to find a husband. (Men too--it's an educational park.)

The possibilities are endless. I could go on all night: Bardlandia, Henry James Land (tho' that would like the Lawrence Welk of Literary Theme Parks), Ayn Rand Land--woo. I could go on all night, but I'm supposed to be writing to a deadline, so I'll leave other suggestions to you.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You are a funny woman, Madama Wilce. But then I knew that.