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| Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada, start of the Strip. |
Driving into Las Vegas, Nevada via 'South Las Vegas Boulevard', commonly known as 'The Strip', will take you past the Iconic 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada' sign. Like some psychedelic post-modernist reworking of Fitzgerald's 'eyes of Eckleburg', this neon introduction to Las Vegas leads to the optimistically named 'Paradise' city district and is complete with its own star, shining as if parodying religious iconography, guiding ignorant masses to an oasis of earthly delights. Las Vegas is a diverse city of extremes, within which can be discovered any of the near infinite examples of American identity both past and present, all of them represented in an exaggerated, caricature-like fashion.
Las Vegas is of course, notorious for its gambling, a practice legalised there in 1931. The resultant prosperity and affluence of the myriad of casinos here has long cemented Las Vegas' reputation for indulgence, the legacy of which continues exponentially, ensuring that currently, almost a quarter of the city's population work in the tourism sector. By the 1950s and 60s, Las Vegas' reputation had attracted the elite of the entertainment world with iconic American figures like Frank Sinatra and Elvis, although equally, the city proved to be an optimal market for a criminal underworld. These spheres were however, not mutually exclusive, and there was a point in time where most of the cocaine flooding into Las Vegas could be traced back to the Sinatra name. Ultimately, this is a city where hedonism and money rules, and morals are a hindrance invariably discarded as the sun sets and the Strip becomes drenched in neon each night.
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| Preachers on Fremont Street, Downtown Las Vegas. |
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| 'Miss Atomic Bomb' winner, 1957. |
Indeed, loose morality is somewhat of a recurring theme here, the branding of which is one that evokes in the minds of potential visitors, the familiar notion of liberty, though it is mutated into an absolute form, where nothing is forbidden, for better or worse. At the upper end of the Las Vegas strip can be found Fremont Street, its seedier yet not unattractive counterpart. This area is frequented by Christian preachers who, undeterred by the idea of undertaking a task more difficult than pushing water uphill with a rake, aim to curb the blasphemy of Downtown Las Vegas. It seems a desperate plight, as they stand in the American epicentre of debauchery, yet nonetheless, the juxtaposition is one that is representative of every aspect of American society, albeit in a more explicit form. A second example of this disconnect is the Nevada Atomic Bomb testing of the 1950s, a terrifying display of American military power, coming only a few years after the devices were used in Japan for the deaths of around 200,000 soldiers and civilians. Las Vegas, indifferent to the real-world implications of Atomic warfare, seized the opportunity as the perfect backdrop for another prosperous decade of glamour, partying and depravity. The detonation of an atom bomb was an event of public celebration as crowds would gather on casino rooftops to witness the mushroom cloud, even going so far as to create a 'Miss Atomic Bomb' beauty pageant.
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| Remains of the Old Mormon Fort, North Las Vegas. |
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| Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino resort, Las Vegas Strip. |
For Las Vegas to constitute a true microcosm of modern America, there must exist an element of 'authentic' America beyond contradictory morality, hedonism, military might and entertainment. Historically, the Las Vegas valley has been occupied by Native Americans who arrived 10,000 years ago although they never existed in great numbers. Later, the area became useful as a source of water and a refuge to travelers and religious zealots alike (recalls the American idea of religious freedom), with the latter building a Mormon fort in 1855. The City owes its name to Mexican merchants who rested in the valley during a trade mission to Los Angeles and named it 'The Meadows'. While the Spanish name remains; evidently, its meaning has been lost with the city being considered a prime example of excessive urbanisation. Similarly, foreign influence is manifested in Las Vegas through its themed hotels and casinos, notable examples being 'The Venetian' and 'Paris Las Vegas'. The idea of emulating foreign culture in a capitalist 'Americanised' format is one that I feel is inherent to American society given its history of immigration and diverse racial makeup.
Overall, it seems that Las Vegas can be described as a location within which all aspects of American society and culture are collected before being twisted together and projected onto this patch of desert in a larger-than-life way. Religious liberty, moral liberty, capitalism, superstars of the entertainment world, military dominance, foreign influence, Native American history, American exceptionalism and racial diversity: all of these are represented here. It is perhaps also appropriate to consider the city as a failure of the American West and its associations. Physically, this is true beyond doubt as Las Vegas, although a categorically Western City, lies some 5 hours drive shy of the Pacific Coast almost as if representing the failed ideology of the West, a condition represented equally by its dry and arid environment. Metaphorically, the moral trappings of Las Vegas would suggest that there is indeed a failure of ideology here on some level. However, what is a source of disgust for many is the realm of fantasy for many Americans, demonstrating again the paradoxical nature of American society and their difference in interpretation.
"No mercy for a criminal freak in Las Vegas. This place is like the Army: the
shark ethic prevails – eat the wounded. In a closed society where everybody’s guilty, the only
crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity." - Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Sources/Further Reading
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a20536/who-are-you-miss-atomic-bomb/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3308155/Frank-Sinatra-better-drug-dealer-singer-says-drug-lord-Pablo-Escobar-s-son-claims-crooner-father-s-business-partner.html
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42074829/ns/travel-destination_travel/t/sin-citys-dirty-little-secret-its-full-churches/#.WFVrRxuLTIU
http://www.history.com/topics/las-vegas
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