Refresh Yourself, You've Earned It

Duane Hanson. Tourists. polymer resin, Fiberglass, polychromed in oil. 1970.

As you view the image above, you may be wondering to yourself, who are these people? Why are they being depicted? and  Why is Joy using this image as her example?

Upon reading "A Small Place", Jamaica Kincaid's illustration of the hated tourist alluded me to this sculpture that I had once learned about in an Art History course I took a couple years ago.The juxtaposition of "A Small Place" and "Tourists II" led me to identify  the American consumerist ideology on a macro-scale.

These figures above are the creations of the American artist/sculptor Duane Hanson (1925-1996) who was part of the superrealist/hyperrealist movement. The hyperrealist movement was inspired and influenced by photography, because photography served as a weapon of truth during the late 1800-1900's. It was used as a device to document the existence of colonialism and to show the necessity of it to the people back home by using anthropometric images. Unlike photography, the superrealists used pictorial elements to heighten and exaggerate a new sense of reality: hence "super/hyper" and "real". 

Duane Hanson was interested in sculpting and depicting familiar and ordinary unrecognized Americans citizens because he wanted to stray from the traditions of High Art (i.e.: depictions of God-like deities, and upper class) and rather praise the common individual by bringing them to life in art form. To a degree Hanson is disagreeing with the American Dream, because his pieces defer from the idea that "all men are created equal" by conveying the reality of classism in American society. Though the intentions of Hanson's style and works are honorable for the disruption of classism in American society is present, the perspective of America's impact and control on other (Third World) countries is absent.

Globalization of consumer products utilizes tourism to translate as an ideal form of escape and relaxation by implementing a  familiar yet exotic experience by simultaneously incorporating accustomed goods (hotels, food) with foreign ones (food, souvenirs). Coca Cola is an iconic and transnational American beverage that has made its way across national boundaries. Its advertisements promote  traveling as a pleasant experience by familiarizing the nonnative with a product reminiscent of home. The soldier in the ad below is able to "get a chance to enjoy a pause" by drinking a refreshing Coca Cola which momentarily pulls him out of reality and into a leisurely state thus making his visit more enjoyable. The Coca Cola company's ability to operate in foreign places, makes it accessible for everyone to be a consumer which empowers the company's wealth and possible control; it is also explicated with the advertisement on the lower left. Exportation serves as a gateway of product transportation  and makes it  accessible for natives and non-natives to engage in consumerism. By doing so, the wealth of the American economy has been strengthened; therefore explores neocolonialism due to its high possession of capital which allows control over other territory. The construction of consumerist societies has been implanted within the U.S. and expanded over other countries. Again, the relation of leisure and travel is revealed with the ad on the lower right: in order to 'travel refreshed" a Coke is present. The couple are treating themselves by taking a break by drinking a Coke.  The concept of reward has neglected individuals to identify with reality because it has created a sense of fantasy and escape. The Coca Cola company has damaged native lands by constructing bottling factories which have polluted and ruthlessly stripped limited resources such as water (RTNEWS) from natives; but we as consumers are unaware  due to naturalizing consumption as part of everyday life.

It is interesting to view the common American from Hanson's and Kincaid's perspective: a tourist from the American perspective has earned it, because they worked for it and are deserving of a break taking them away from a life of monotony and under appreciation; however, from a foreigner's perspective, tourists seem entitled and ignorant. Though tourism and traveling explores classism, a common simulacrum is shared between the tourist and non-tourist. Each individual wants to escape the banality of their life, and are valued by social standing while being used as pawns to make the fat cats fatter by contributing to capitalism as consumers and laborers.