Josh Clare: An Analysis Of The Midway Plaisance

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The nineteenth century is related to the idea of prosperity and progress. In a country were the industrial and technological development boasted of great success (which carried further competition problems), a new idea of reform arose. All these notions of reconstruction, expansion and order were gathered in the Columbian Exposition in 1893. The aforementioned picture, ‘The Midway Plaisance as seen from the Ferris Wheel´’, infers the idea of two Americas´: the opposition of order and chaos, civilization and barbarie, etc. The boundary of the White City is remarkable visible, represented at the back as an organized, white and magnificent area. On the other hand, the Midway Plaisance, showed at the front as an exotic, savage and amusing space. Josh Cole, in his Cultural and Racial Stereotypes on the Midway, gives an accurate contrast between the two: “The Midway emphasized the inferiority of exotic and primitive races, while the White City showed the evident superiority of the industrialized white American race” .…show more content…
In Rosemarie Bank´s Presenting History: Performing the Columbian Exposition, it is highlighted the “Fair´s racist and sexist organization and displays” . This idea of supremacy can be distinguished in the diverse machinery and technology exposed in the White City and the symbolic white neoclassic buildings which represented purity and harmony. Notwithstanding, the notion of racial hierarchy and humiliation was principally remarkable on the Midway

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