I’ll warn you, this blog post is going to be a lot of words because of the two essays I wrote. But anyways the trip! The trip was great like all PLP trips, it opened my mind to another part of America I hadn’t seen before and I experienced the condensed learning of weeks over days. To me, more importantly I gained experiences of a lifetime.
The trip was built up with work around the driving question of “How is fear used as a defensive, political, and cultural tool?” We read a book, watched a movie, watched two documentary’s and watched a TV drama to learn about this and build a knowledge base to support us along the way.. Although this unit was largely based on the cold war, it was still linked to the Mob / Organised crime in Las Vegas and the Atomic Era which we studied in Las Vegas.
The movie we watched: The China Syndrome
Documentary 1 we watched: Horizon Nuclear Nightmares
Documentary 2 we watched: Command And Control
The book we read: Fallout
The TV drama we watched: The War Game
The work started with reading the book Fallout by Todd Strasser. We were supposed to read the book over spring break but I decided to listen to the audio book over the two final evenings of sporing break. After this we watched The War Game in class and were tasked with composing a synthesis essay between the two pieces. My essay falls below my standards and I am using this work to hopefully improve my essay writing skills later on. Anyways this was our guidance for the essay.
And here is my essay.
From there we were assigned our big assignment of the unit that was tethered to the trip. We were tasked to create a topic question that connected fear to Las Vegas or Nevada through one of many subtopics we were learning about, then create an essay to represent this, than turn this essay into a movie. (video essay)
Partnered with Chris, we set out to create a topic question with help of “focusing your topic” sheets like these. Fear Factor Focusing Your Topic -1h0znka. With the help of these sheets we got about nowhere and had a pretty weak topic. But one day during my TA block I went into Hughes’s office and sat down, we talked topics and Vegas and within minutes we had this thesis that he loved. “Casinos fear becoming irrelevant for gambling as you can gamble anywhere in America” After nailing this we moved onto the next topic refining sheet that was this one.
After this we had a change in pace and were tasked with writing a blog post on Nuclear Fear. This post was assigned after watching The China Syndrome and Nuclear Nightmares. Here is Hughes’ tasks for us.
- How is fear of nuclear/radiation used today to influence/manipulate/affect current events?
- Create a post for your learning portfolio that answers this question using the evidence from “The China Syndrome” and “Nuclear Nightmares” and your own research on a historical nuclear incident. Your task is to link the historical fear of nuclear to current events and geopolitics.
- Finally, your post should include an overall sense of how fear is playing a role in manipulating the events or these reactions to the events. This could include linking to YouTube videos about fear and/or other images invoking fear
You can read my best attempt at answering these prompts here. Nuclear Death and Disaster
The next step in our big video essay was to write, the essay! Chris and I wrote a first draft that you sadly cant ready because we wrote in a Docs and just kept editing the same page so our drafts were swept away.
After a week we turned our draft 1 into a draft 2, than into a final draft. Before you read this final draft that’s sitting just below, I want to debrief you. This long and boring essay does not represent the quality of writing that I am happy with and represents what happens when uncommitted and time crunched students write about something they kinda think is over there heads. This essay was the last piece of work done before the final project. Anyways, below is the essay.
——Do you want to become irrelevant? Do you want to be forgotten and torn down by the next generation? The future comes at us in the similar way it attacks the Casinos on the Las Vegas strip. These Casinos fear becoming irrelevant for gambling as you can gamble anywhere in America. Attractions are the lifeline of casinos today.
——Blockbuster started as a small and ingenious company that had a monopoly on the competition. No other company challenged the well operated and franchised Blockbuster. By the early 2000’s Blockbuster was a multi million dollar corporation that dominated the at home movie watching market and only looked like it was on the rise. In 2000 along came a man named Reed Hastings with the small up and coming business ‘NETFLIX’, their ambitious business model of sending movies in the mail was finding a niche in the industry but it wasn’t optimal, they only had a small presence in the at home movie watching business. Reed Hastings offered blockbuster the opportunity to purchase ‘NETFLIX’ for fifty million in 2000. John Antioco turned down the offer as he did not see the imminent decline of physical movie renting where you had to leave your house, and the promise of a new and upcoming wave of at home streaming companies. Obviously John Antioco failed to see the changing times and his company paid the price as it discontinued in 2010 at that same time Netflix was worth a staggering 28 Billion dollars. In the light of what business people learned from Blockbuster, the casino owners on the Vegas strip don’t want to suffer the same fate. Just how Netflix offered the convenience of at home watching gambling is now accessible anywhere in the world, including online. The owners of the casinos were fearful of the future of gambling in Vegas so they began to move away from gambling aspect. Vegas had to change its identity to stay afloat in the always changing culture.
——Businessmen like all people have a reason for making decisions about their company’s fate, and the biggest clues are in the numbers. In 1990 revenue from gambling comprised roughly 60% of all Las Vegas casino profits, in 2012 gambling casinos 35% of their total profits, and the trend is looking to continue. A 25% decline in dedicated profits hurts a corporation if they care to admit it or not. At 25% of total profits casinos need to focus on other revenue pathways to stay profitable. The Las Vegas strip has a history of casinos being constructed only to be demolished without a second thought because of poor performance. Casinos that are known for their lavish living and expensive taste are the ones who outlast their competition and define the Vegas strip today. Casinos like the Wynn, Cosmopolitan, Bellagio and Caesars palace aren’t known for their blackjack tables, they’re known for their reputation of quality.
——The numbers can tell you what’s happening to Vegas on paper but a more recent physical example of the changing of Vegas is Treasure Island. TI was well known for its pirate ship show and swashbuckling atmosphere. In 2013 TI elected to remove the popular pirate ships and the large bay and replaced it with a small fountain fixture. What they did with the new space was fill it with retail and restaurant stores and not gambling floor. This choice of replacing the iconic pirate ship with shops and restaurants instead of more tables and gambling space reveals the casino’s profitable choice. These shops and restaurants have an impact on the casino’s profits which is greater than the casino. The expensive shops like Gucci, Fendi and Louis Vuitton that make up the most valuable retail space on the strip and increase a casino’s reputation. This directly affecting casino customers understanding of how much they should spend at the casino in total. This combined with quality restaurants, increase prestige and respect that tourists have for Treasure Island increasing how much they’re likely to spend.
——A by-product of shows and all other attractions increasing economic importance is the start of an arms race for the biggest and best thing on the block. This bigger better syndrome has become part of the identity of Vegas. In the race for biggest visual attractions the Bellagio with its fountain and the Paris with its Eiffel Tower are atop the –list. In the fight for culinary excellence the Cosmopolitan and Caesars palace are starts with two separate spots each in Vegas’s official 10 best restaurants. In the avenue of performances Cesar’s palace has legacy of performances with Celine Dion and Elton John in performing contracts, multiple Cirque du Soleil shows dot the strip with the best being at the mirage. The MGM grand and it’s grand show room home to many of the biggest fights in the past century. This is what makes Vegas, Vegas it’s the shows and attractions not the gambling and the booze.
——Without the focus on gambling which allows for all types of spenders to spend as they please Vegas is still capitalizing on all the visitors and their economic status. For lower end visitors there are cheap hotel rooms and places to eat that aren’t outrageous priced. For the higher end visitors the high rollers there is other ways to spend buckets of cash without putting a chip on the table. They could spend 250 000 dollars to start the bellagio fountains, or travel to Burger Brasserie at Paris to spend 777$ on a burger. A gambling free high roller can spend up to 1500$ on VIP tickets to see Celine Dion or Elton John in luxury or rent the beach at Mandalay bay for anywhere up to 100 000$ These outrageous prices for lavish living are comparable to high rollers and the money that gets thrown around at their affluent gaming tables. Gambling high rollers at casinos can play up to 300 000$ per hand, winning or losing millions over weekends or even single nights. The price tags of 1500$ for a show ticket or even 250 000$ for a fountain experience are not out of reach for the rich and wealthy that frequent the Las Vegas strip.
——Vegas’s shift away from gambling is a positive thing. The new identity that Las Vegas is crafting for its self is one of respect and nobility. With the passing of gambling’s power and the need to survive, a legacy of regal shows and incredible food has arisen. The association of loud, hectic and un-pleasantries can still be found if a visitor looks, but if you’re in Vegas to experience the lights and the action, gambling’s influence no longer impedes your journey.
——Vegas has taken steps away from their gambling centralized revenue and have turned their eyes towards lavish accommodations, food and entertainment. You can see this as you walk down the Vegas strip at dusk. The dark night sky is drowned out by the flashing fluorescent lights and the erupting volcanoes. The people flock from show to show and stop to take a peek at the free showing of the bellagio fountain display. When you manage to make it to your hotel room you see the bathroom larger than the one in your house and the million dollar view. You began to feel peckish and want to grab something to eat so you head to Chef Ramsay’s kitchen and buy a 25 dollar dish. Only to be swept away to a showing of cirque du soleil . By this point you haven’t put a chip on the table and you are already down 400 but you are OK with that because you have a story to tell.The accessibility of gambling around the world has led casinos to fear of becoming irrelevant. TI although seeming to go against this thesis falls right into the grooves. Vegas isn’t losing out on any revenue either because they have accommodations for all types of spenders. Vegas is no longer the town of gambling but the town of spectacle.
Before I show you the video I want to reflect on the trip.
This trip was great and I absolutely loved every moment of it. Honestly, I don’t look forward to these trips because I know I’m going to learn so much or because I know I’m going to get so much footage for my video. I look forward to these trips and have so much fun on them because of the people I’m with and the experiences I have. I am immersed into new and fun things within an alien environment and its an amazing combination. On these trips this mixture of new places and amazing people creates such a euphoria it’s hard to explain. Being on a educational vacation with 21 of your closest school buds and and few of your closest friends is a recipe for beautiful disaster. On these trips a lot is built too. I become closer than ever with my best-est friends and work out kinks and bumps within our relationships that may have lied in the shadows forever. Learning, fun, adventure and friends are bundled up and tossed to the wind where we trek forward and grow as a group. To summarize, the trip was tight.
Alright, here is my video.
[AWAITING LINK FROM CHRISTOPHER]
Final opinions of the video. I am disappointed with the final version of this movie but I know I have to call it quits. A lot when wrong in the production of this video that I will use to grow from and make better video essays / projects in the future. I’m not blaming anyone but my self and Christopher for our poor work but unavoidable things happened as well. From the death of my phone and the loss of all of the 4k footage and interviews to lazy work ethic and work habits many failures have occurred. This poor work is extremely valuable to me though, with this failure I have learned what and what not to do. With this failure exceptional work has the ability to exist and I’m not disappointed about that.