Wednesday, December 8, 2010
References
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derby hotels collection. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2010, from Villa Real Hotel Luxury 5: http://www.derbyhotels.com/VillaReal-Hotel-Madrid
don Quijote. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2010, from San Fermin - Pamplona: http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/fiestas/sanfermin.asp
Ethinic groups in Spain. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2010, from BBSpanish: http://www.bbspanish.com/ethnic-groups-in-spain.htm
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Spain Nightlife. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2010, from WhatSpain: http://www.whatspain.com/spain-nightlife.html
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Tapas. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapas
Terra Mitica Park. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2010, from Terra Mitica: http://www.terramiticapark.com/
Theme Parks in Spain. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2010, from antor: http://www.antor.org/spain/theme-parks.html
Vantage Adventures. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2010, from Vatage World Travels: http://www.travelvantage.com/fset3.htm?spain_cuisine.html
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Youtube - Pamplona. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2010, from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pamplona&aq=f
Turk, M. Z. (2004). World cultures: Spain. United Kingdoms: Teach yourself.
Dunlop, F. (2005). Traveller Spain. Spain: National Geographic.
Disneyization
The Disneyization of Society argues that the contemporary world is increasingly displaying characteristics of the Disney theme parks. This process of convergence comprises of four aspects - theming, hybrid consumption, merchandising and perfomative labour.
Theming
Theming is becoming more popular as the world globalize. This is due to everyone searching for a common identity among ourselves. As such, more themed environments will be created. Some common icons where it is recognizable everywhere is the Seattle-based coffee chain, Starbucks.
Hybrid Consumption is a growing trend towards social environments that are driven by the combination of forms of consumption like shopping, eating out, gambling and more. With all of this interlocked to form a single body which provides everything, it is hard to distinguish between them, Instead, it is sold as a whole package so that consumers' needs will be well taken of.
Looking at Spain, I have identified theme parks to be using the hybrid consumption method of disneyization. The theme park that i have chosen is the Terra Mitica Park located in Benidorm, one of Spain's leading seaside resorts. They provide an all-in-one package. Food, Shopping, Entertainment, activities, you name it, they have it. What surprised me was the fact that they even categorize the food options into fast-food, restaurants and more.
This refers to the promotion and sale of goods in the form of bearing logos or copyright images. This means that the person who came up with that idea wants to own in wholly so that no one else is able to use this idea again. Also, this law protects the owner's interest well as anyone who is guilty of using his assets will be punished. In the future, the owner might consider selling this ownership to another person if he feels like doing so.
Using the same example of Terra Mitica Parks, visitors can purchase souvenirs of individual rides. In Terra Mitica, the rides are actually inspired by different countries. For example, they have an old building inspired by the Greek, where they sell little souvenirs related to Cretan and Micenic sea poems.
Now, on the last point - performative labour. This phrase refers to the increased standards for frontline service work to be viewed as a performance. This means that that not only the product is graded, the service which is provided is even more valued. Looking at a case study in Spain, Hotel Villa Real.
Hotel Villa Real is a classic among Madrid's luxury hotels, thanks to its long tradition and the quality of its service.
The Villa Real is a five-star hotel in the centre of Madrid, located in the Plaza de las Cortes, right in front of the Spanish Congress of Deputies and just a few minutes on foot away from Puerta del Sol. It is a unique location for exploring the sites of 'Madrid de los Austrias' on foot and enjoying the museum triangle formed by the Museo del Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Queen Sofia Foundation.
It is a charming hotel in Madrid that, thanks to its exquisite treatment and service as well as its location and cosy guest rooms, truly stands out among the city's options. With an elegant and inviting style, Hotel Villa Real is a modern hotel featuring function rooms for weddings and gatherings and the exceptional cuisine at its restaurant, East 47.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Has tourism been a culprit in commodifying cultures and traditions?
Yes, I do agree to a certain extent that the growth of tourism has led to the commodification of culture and traditions. From the moment tourism is introduced into a certain country as a revenue-generating sector, culture and traditions were basically transformed from something sacred and valuable into a tourism tool. Who did this?
Humans. The human nature of greed has gradually turned these once important culture and traditions into something not worth more than just monetary value. From there, we could actually see how tourism brought about by globalization has devastated the cultural aspect in that country. Now, let's take a look at the country which i have chosen, Spain.
In Spain, the tourism sector is flourishing. In fact, according to world tourism organization, Spain is the third most visited country from year 2006 to 2009. Spain is widely known for its great cuisine, beautiful architecture and amazing Spanish traditions and culture. The most popular cities of Spain include Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Spain is a very vibrant country and a sure must visit place. It is also very globalised as there are good transportation systems in the country, and the people lead a busy yet fulfilling lifestyle. Yet, on the other hand, Spain has successfully preserved its local culture and traditions well. This can be seen from the unique showcase of flamenco and bullfights. These are some of the events which represents Spain. Of course, when we talk about Spain, famous football clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona definitely ring a bell. This shows the Spanish's enthusiasm for the sports arena.
Looking at those festivals and events held in Spain, we would not have imagined that such a globalised country like Spain actually has a flair for the culture and traditions. They manage to preserve these important cultural assets amidst the growing trend of commodifying your own culture. This makes me feel that this is something worth applauding. As Spain is separated into many cities and islands, there are a lot of different cultures an traditions in one single country. Each city is unique in one way or another. It is rather impressive that people actually come from all over the world just to participate in their festivals.
We shall now take a look at Spain's Gross Domestic Product, and how it has changed over the years, particularly the tourism sector. Spain has a tourism sector which contributes nearly 11% to the country's GDP, employing about 2 million of the labour force. Although most Spanish hold proper office jobs, there are still some parts of rural Spain where people are fishing and doing agriculture for a living.
It may seem that Spain's culture has not been lost even when the effect of globalization dwells on them. It may have somehow been commodified brought about by tourism. However, this does not apply to all. Perhaps, the whole festival and event gets a littlle too commodified as it is now attended by loads of tourists and not only locals. During a certain period of the year, the price of visiting Spain would be higher than other non-peak periods due to these festivals and events. In a way or another, this is a fact that we can't deny that cultures and traditions are being commodified to showcase that a country is unique in its way. The recent building of many theme parks in Spain has showed that country is trying to feed the demands of the tourist and are not willing to miss out on current trends of the tourism industry.
Spain is famous for... ...
Flamenco is a folk art, around 200 years old. It is from Southern Spain and is individualistic, yet structured. Song, dance and guitar are blended into passionate rhythms which are often improvised and spontaneous. Flamenco will have any imaginable theme, from up to date stories, to politics, to love, to history, to humor, etc. Often however, the tragic lyrics and tone of flamenco reflect the sufferings of the gypsy people from whom it originated
Flamenco exists in three forms: Cante, the song, Baile, the dance, and Guitarra, guitar playing. The source of Flamenco, however, lies in the tradition of singing. The singers' role is very important with the guitar playing an accompaniment to the song. Today the solo guitar flamenco has developed into a separate art and is fashionably blended with jazz, blues and pop music.
Flamenco dance has complex patterns of rhythm and sophisticated footwork with the upper body emphasizing grace and posture.
The songs of flamenco are from different regions as: Fandangos from Huelva; and Alegrias from Cadiz. There are two main styles in Flamenco: "jondo" - the serious and deep meaning, the cry of oppressed people; and "chico" happy, light and often humorous. The ideal in flamenco is called "duende" (demon or elf), which is a state of emotional involvement, group communication at a deep level and a feeling of sympathy, between musicians, dancers and listeners.
Bull fighting in Spain
Bull fighting is very closely associated with Spain and can trace its origins back to 711 A.D. This is when the first bullfight took place in celebration for the crowning of King Alfonso VIII. It is very popular in Spain with several thousand Spaniards flocking to their local bull-ring each week. It is said that the total number of people watching bullfights in Spain reaches one million every year.
Bullfighting was originally a sport for the aristocracy and took place on horseback. King Felipe V took exception to the sport however and banned the aristocracy from taking part, believing it to be a bad example to the public. After the ban commoners accepted the sport as their own and, since they could not afford horses, developed the practice of dodging the bulls on foot, unarmed. This transformation occurred around 1724.
So what happens during a bullfight?:
Firstly the bull is let into the ring. Then, the top bullfighter called the Matador, watches his chief assistant wave a bright yellow and magenta cape in front of the bull to make it charge. He watches this in order to determine the bull's qualities and mood, before taking over himself.
Then a trumpet is sounded and several fighters called Picadores weaken the bull by placing spears into it. This takes around 10 minutes.
Another trumpet is sounded and the Matador now removes his black winged hat and dedicates the death of the bull to the president or the crowd before beginning his faena.
The faena which is the most beautiful and skillful section of the fight and where the matador must prove his courage and artistry. The faena consists of a running at the Matador carrying a muleta. This is a piece of thick crimson cloth draped over a short stick, which can be held in either the left hand or draped over the espada, the killing sword, which is always held in the right hand. Usually the muleta, in left or right hand, is first held in front of the matador to make the bull charge and is then swung across and away from the matador's body hopefully taking the bull with it.
This is a show, basically a dance with death - one wrong move and the Matador could become impaled on the horns of the bull. It is the Matador's job to make this dance dramatic and enjoyable for the audience.
The faena continues until the Matador has demonstrated his superiority over the bull. Once this is achieved the bull is ready to be killed.
The matador stands some ten feet from the bull, keeping the bull fixated on the muleta and aims the espada between the shoulder blades. The matador attacks pushing the espada over the horns and deep between the shoulder blades. If the sword goes in to the hilt it is an estocada but if it hits bone it is a pinchazo or media-estocada. An estocada usually results in the bull dropping immediately to its knees and dying, but if the bull fails to die the matador may take the descabello (a sword with a short cross piece at the end) which he stabs into the bull's neck severing the spinal cord. The fight is over.
The matador may be awarded trophies by the president, according to his skill in working with the bull, which can be one or two ears from the bull, the tail and the hoof. The crowd will often encourage the president to award the trophies by waving white hankerchiefs, and this waving continues after the trophies have been awarded in an attempt to get the matador to throw his trophies into the crowd. The crowd in return hurls flowers which are collected by the matador's assistants.
Cuisine
One of Spain's greatest attractions is, without a shadow of doubt, its cuisine, which is one of the best in the world for both quality and variety. Accurately speaking, one cannot talk of a national cuisine but rather of a multiplicity of regional cuisines influenced in each case by the climate and local way of life. Spanish cuisine is distinguished by the traditional use of olive oil as the vegetable, and lard as the animal fat in the preparation of dishes, as well as the inclusion of a wide variety of fruit and vegetables introduced by Moorish culture, plus other ingredients, such as the potato and tomato imported from ,the New World. Then again, the considerable development in Spanish cooking in recent years has also been due to the emergence of a clutch of first‑class chefs who, have successfully managed to reinterpret traditional dishes and recipes in tune with present times, endowing Spanish cuisine with a new dimension in presentation and flavor.
While speaking about Spanish food, how can the well-known tapas not be mentioned?
Tapas is the name of a wide variety of appetizer, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid). In select bars in Spain, as well as some parts of North America and the United Kingdom, tapas has evolved into an entire, and sometimes sophisticated, cuisine. In Spain, patrons of tapas can order many different tapas and combine them to make a full meal. In some Central American countries such snacks are known as bocas.
The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before them. Also, in some countries it is customary for diners to stand and move about while eating tapas.
It is very common for a bar or a small local restaurant to have 8 to 12 different kinds of tapas in warming trays with glass partitions covering the food. They are often very strongly flavored with garlic, chilies or paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, saffron and sometimes in plentiful amounts of olive oil. Often one or more of the choices is seafood (mariscos), often including anchovies, sardines or mackerels in olive oil, squid or others in a tomato based sauce, sometimes with the addition of red or green peppers or other seasoning. It is rare to see a tapas selection not include one or more types of olives, such as manzanilla or arbequina olives. One or more types of bread are usually available to eat with any of the sauce-based tapas.Other than tapas, another icon of Spanish cuisine is the seafood paella.
Nightlife
Energetic, light-hearted and always up for a good time, Spaniards have single-handedly revolutionized the entire concept of nightlife. Spain's nightlife is a frenetic mix of walking and talking, eating and drinking, and dancing and laughing that doesn't slow down until the sun comes up.
Spaniards are a nocturnal breed by nature, meaning that once the sun goes down they hit the streets in droves, anxious to squeeze as much as possible into the all-too-short night time hours. It may seem like Spaniards are always on the move and that the streets never seem to empty- and it's true. Spanish culture really shines when the sun doesn't, so save up some energy, strap on your dancing shoes and get ready to go!
To start off your night in Spain on the right foot, bar-hop your way around the local tapas scene. After a few bars, a few spreads of tapas and some drinks to wash them down, continue the evening nomad-style, heading from bar to bar and discoteca to discoteca.
Spain's nightlife is notoriously an all-night event, which isn't hard to imagine once you come to find out that dinner could last until well past midnight. Bars don't start filling up until after midnight and typicall stay open until around 3:00 or 4:00am. On a light-hearted note, those who suffer from insomnia, there is nothing for you to complain about not having enough entertainment in the night!
adiós. Nos reuniremos de nuevo.
Pictures
Flamenco
Bullfighting
Cuisine - Tapas, Seafood paella
delicioso