Yes, it has been over a month since my last post. The end of the semester was hectic as usual, so I’m compiling these last few entries on Dubai from my notes after the fact. This past week I was in New York City, and next week I leave for Tokyo and Hong Kong. Before those trips, however, I’d like to complete my thoughts on this past April.
On my second full day in Dubai I visited Wafi City Mall. This complex, rumored to be owned by the Sheikh’s sister, is probably the most luxurious and exclusive shopping mall in Dubai. The sprawling grounds feature high-end name brands and high-end theming to match. The message here is one of the past; predominately Ancient Egypt, although Greco-Roman and the Indian subcontinent are represented as well. The exteriors take their cue from the pyramids at Giza, the Valley of the Kings, and the ruins down the Nile at Luxor.
In this regard, i was reminded of the latter’s namesake hotel in Las Vegas, with its giant sphinxes and meticulously reproduced hieroglyphics. And just like the Luxor Las Vegas, the past as seen here has an extra layer of gloss—of bling—added on top. The use of gold and jewels is impressive, and is designed to appeal to a very discriminating type of consumer. Shoppers in Southern California’s Beverly Hills or Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue would feel very at home here.
Wafi City illustrates very clearly the nature of theming in Dubai. In Las Vegas, as in most other American thematic venues, the purpose is overwhelming escapism. Anything seen as exotic or foreign is perceived as most exciting, and thus most desirable. Tropical locales, European cities, and medieval fantasies—all find home in the deserts of Nevada. Not so in the deserts of the United Arab Emirates. Las Vegas wants you to forget—Dubai is desperate for you to remember her. Nearly every example of thematic design represents a very specific vision, a dream of glories past. Specifically Arabic culture, and Islamic culture (including the parts of Asia where Islam has spread and taken root) in general, is the focus.
This serves to provide Dubai with a past legacy that the city has never really had. Dubai, by any measure, is a product of the twentieth century. The area didn’t evolve from being a backwater port and pearl diving village until after the oil began flowing in the 1950s. Even then, most of the city as we see it today is less than twenty years old. Yet Dubai must have a past in order to secure a future, and that’s where theming comes in. The shopping malls, entertainment complexes and resorts tell a story that real ruins and actual artifacts cannot—they assert that Dubai somehow has the grand lineage of a city like Damascus or even Mecca.
One of the primary purposes in preserving the past monuments, artifacts and architecture of a culture is celebration. I assume that the message is just as strong for residents; as a visitor the impression is unmistakable. Dubai is resoundingly paying tribute to the Arabs—and all the Muslims—that came before it the way any other city in the region would, except she has no actual remains to offer up to the Museum Gods. She must craft them out of whole cloth, complete with parking garages and escalators.