Drawing on Umberto Eco’s concept of ‘pansemiotics’, it will be argued that spectacle cities like Las Vegas operate according to the logic of a giant wunderkammer — relying on an emblematic understanding of the meaning of objects and the interrelationship between them.
Comparative Media Insights: “Viva Las Vegas: a Neo-Baroque Conception of the World”
Angela Ndalianis analyze how Las Vegas — a city-as-monument to entertainment and leisure culture — has appropriated tropes and modes of engagement taken from pre-20th Century high culture traditions of the Church and aristocracy.