Sea World on Nico
« Sea World »- just the title is indicative of a sort of all encompassing attitude. It makes me think of the “World Series” in Baseball where somehow the team that wins is the World champion although only American teams have competed. It also reminds me of our previous discussions on “World Music”, another all-encompassing exotic other. The use of “World” in these cases simplifies and packages complexity into a homogenous whole and simultaneously claims a universal authority.
Of particular interest to me is how “Sea World” straddles the line between private and public: a for-profit machine selling itself as protector of nature for the public. The perverse effect is that embodied in this role their have legitimacy in terms of education, although it is an education sold within a profit-making agenda. This feeds in directly into the increasing privatization of public life that we experience in this country. Davis mentions healthcare and education now as public services with the goal of making a profit rather than providing a service to the people. It is inscribed into a neo-liberal rhetoric of small government that believes that private ownership can be more fruitful than government. If it is profitable, it can then supposedly reach more people. The main problem is that in this frame of mind, people are a market as opposed to citizens. Our society becomes completely customer-driven and each person is seen either as a potential consumer or a potential risk. It is that same mentality that brings us corporate security cameras everywhere- potential consumer, or potential risk. So Sea World is a smart concept because they are a business first and foremost, but they set themselves apart by giving us the very nature that has been taken away through privatization. They totally play on the “feel good” factor and that is where the threat is. “Beware of the feel-good factor” I tell my friends all the time but nobody takes me seriously!
Nature is brought to us on a plate, into “a realm we can understand” .The wonder is there, packaged and readily available so that we do not have to waste time trying to find the wonder on our own. The only way we can reclaim public space for good is to make a conscious choice to look for beauty in the everyday. Corporations can get very close to controlling our lives, but we still have power over deciding what beauty can be.