Selling or telling? A theory of ruin value: Selling or Telling? Paradoxes in tourism, culture and heritage

Selling or telling? : A theory of ruin value 

Abstract: To what extent can tourism be described as an agent of peace? Can war and conflict be reconciled through tourism? Why is the children's memorial in Hiroshima so important and why is the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a reconciliating and fascinating monument? 

The post apocalyptic vision in our mainstream mass culture is a broad genre and is loaded with heavy, dramatic architecture and landscapes of destruction; most religions have these doomsday visions, and in the mass culture, we can experience the chill and fascination of an infinite number of possible apocalyptic scenarios. But what do they tell us these visions of "the end of days" and hell, why are there always demons, flames and fire? Why are hell and heaven always in a different place on the other side, in the after life, is it rather the reverse, that hell is here on this planet? War and disasters have a deep impact and are major aesthetic objects of fascination. The Nazi death cult was carefully designed mass propaganda based on a fascinating, mass hysterical carnival of the dead. Architecture and design play an important yet unpleasant part in this.

 

This paper will explore four tracks of this doomsday vision: in fiction, facts and in the world of tourism.

1. The architect who, as Faust, sold his soul for immortality and the consequences thereof. 2. The artist who creates a personal vision of our fear and anxiety. 3. A comparative analysis of a group of mainstream games, comics and films that unfold the aesthetics of the vision of the apocalypse, and the important question, is the message pacifistic or just blind speculation and fascination? Cases on: "Half life 2", "Barefoot Gen", "Akira", "Spawn", "Doom", and "Constantine". 4. Finally, this paper will look into why the ruin and the memorial are fundamental parts of our cultural heritage, and why the image of the apocalypse in tourism and the new game and film media are important and brings us closer together.

                                          

Keywords: Post apocalypse, art and hell, death cults, pacifistic ascetic, Hiroshima, and Berlin.