Word: theming
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...visitors to Universal's Islands of Adventure learn that the Sinister Syndicate has hijacked the Statue of Liberty. Who can save her, and give the customers a six-minute jolt that will be worth every bit of the $42 they've paid for a day at Orlando's newest theme park? Only Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider...
...socket plug, Hydro Man spritzes everyone, and the scoop plummets what feels like hundreds of feet from the sky into concrete canyons that suddenly seem grand--Grand Guignol, that is. By the happy-ending salvation in a giant spiderweb, this out-of-body, out-of-mind experience reduces cynical theme parkers to burbling kids. "Gee," they say as they stagger out, "that was the best ride--ever!" And the Universal bosses raise their fists in an unspoken "Gotcha, Disney...
...hear that kind of bantering trash talk from the Universal and Disney camps. A Walt Disney World executive, alluding to the high-speed roller coasters at the center of I.O.A.'s promotion, calls them "theme rides without the theme." True enough for some rides. The Incredible Hulk Coaster is similar to slinky steel screamers in nearby Busch Gardens, though it has some jet-propulsive refinements. Another thrill ride, Dr. Doom's Fear Fall, is supposed to extract "raw human fear" from the brains of its strapped-in victims, but it's just a fresh version of the Big Shot...
...just movies. Star Wars was the first (and probably best) multi-marketed film in history. Toys, clothing, music (yes, the theme was turned into a disco dance track), even kitchenware was sold with the Star Wars label. And it wasn't just kids that were buying the paraphernalia of the Force. Twenty-somethings in Star Wars shirts, executives with collections of Star Wars toys--business analysts would never have dreamed that they could market spaceships and laser guns to anyone over the age of 12. But they could, and they made a ton of money doing...
With Star Wars the lines between movies, and music, books and fashion began to blur. Its not that the forms themselves changed at all but simply that they all began to work off of the same themes. What theme might that be? Well, whatever theme happened to be selling at the moment. Think of Madonna's ventures into various pop culture venues, from music to movies to books and back. Think of the recent trend of turning video games (such as Wing Commander) into movies, or releasing CDs of the music to certain games. Think...