It's been 22 years since Neil Postman's book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business," warned America about the demise of society via the spectacle of television and declared Las Vegas, a city devoted to entertainment, a symbol of our "national character and aspiration." Before him was Daniel Boorstin, historian, author and Librarian of Congress, whose witty commentaries gave a critical look at our media culture. There have been countless books and articles on those topics.
But who's reading? Apparently we're all watching shock TV and investing brain cells in mindless celebrity culture. We don't just want to be entertained, we expect it.
So much so that UNLV professors were reiterating the idea at a recent symposium that entertainment is a worthwhile study. Oddly enough, the academic research institute based in the Entertainment Capital of the World has no formal program. UNLV is considering an entertainment studies course next spring.
For now, they're just talking. The Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies hosted an entertainment studies initiative designed to connect fragmented projects on campus and possibly lead to an entertainment studies class. Perhaps even a program.
"We've got a lot of stuff in our back yard. We could be studying it or contributing in some way," says Stephen Bates, an assistant professor who teaches journalism and communication law. Felicia Campbell of UNLV's Department of English has hosted the Far West Popular Culture Association and the Far West American Culture Association annually for years.
She's also the editor of "Popular Culture Review," which draws national papers on art, entertainment, sports and politics. The College of Fine Arts is developing a Short Film Archive, and Garold Gardner has taught the popular Sex, Dance and Entertainment course, which takes a comprehensive look at the evolution of social and spectator dance dating to the late 1800s. Bates, a Harvard Law School graduate who edited for the intellectual journal the Wilson Quarterly before joining UNLV, says that among UNLV's film department, hotel management school, Center for Gaming Research and sociology department, there is enough crossover in entertainment studies to get everyone together to share ideas and possibly collaborate to seek grants.
The symposium drew faculty and students, including panelist Dan Stout, UNLV professor and co-editor of the Journal of Media and Religion; Dan Cook, professor and director of UNLV's new Entertainment , Engineering and Design program; and author Steven Bach, who teaches at Bennington College and Columbia University. Bach also headed worldwide production at United Artists when it collapsed after the financial ruin of the movie "Heaven's Gate." They talked technology, content, audience, the billions pumped in and out of the entertainment industry (be it stage shows, television, film) and touched on differences between pop and trash culture and the consequences of society inundated with entertainment as never before.
Anyone looking for a weeknight after-dinner stroll through the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art might want to hurry up. Next Tuesday the museum will return to its original operating hours when it opened under new ownership in 2002 - 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.
m. to 9 p.m.
Friday and Saturday. The weekday hours were extended to 9 a.m.
to 10 p.m. to accommodate the crowds for "Monet: Masterworks From the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston," the gallery's best attended show, which ran from June 2004 until May 2005.
The current show, "Ansel Adams: America," closes May 11. Next up: A Picasso ceramics exhibit scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend. "In the Master's Hands: Picasso's Ceramic Treasures From the Estate of Pablo Picasso" will include more than 30 ceramic works from the collection of the artist's grandson Bernard Ruiz Picasso.
The name-brand show has become a norm for galleries on the Strip that vie for tourist attention. Andrea Glimcher of PaperBall, which owns the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, says the Adams exhibit drew about 500 people a day and was one of the best attended shows. A lecture by Michael Adams, the late photographer's son, is scheduled for 3 p.
m. Saturday in the Renoir Ballroom with a reception after in the gallery. Admission is $20.
For more information, go to www.bgfa.biz or call (877) 957-9777.
Kristen Peterson can be reached at 259-2317 or kristen@lasvegassun.com.
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