Manhattan Perception Management

Jack Donaghy would be proud!  Proud of the management of perception performed at the foot of 30 Rock.  I went to the Top of the Rock when I was in Manhattan over spring break and experienced the amazing class erasure performed at the entrance to the experience.

One enters the Top of the Rock experience as though entering a ride at Disneyland.  We take a short one story elevator to the ticketing area.  Once there, we walked through an overview of the history of the building of Rockefeller Center.  This included some videos about the construction, about the wonderfulness of the founders, and about Swarovski Crystals (they constructed some of the decorations within the Center).

One is almost required to have one's photograph taken on the way in.  One is posed on a "steel beam" in front of the New York skyline in a shot that emulates or parodies the famous photograph by Charles Ebbets called "Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper."

At the end of the journey one may choose to purchase the full packet of pictures for $25 (two magnets, cardboard framed photo).  The package probably costs $2 to create but the labor! 


Yes, it's the labor I'm thinking about.  The structure of this visit continually links, blends, mystifies, (pick the word you want) the interests of the workers with those of the plutocrats (great 1930s curse word) who financed and continue to finance the building and its works.  The ticket stubs, the advertising, the videos, all ignore the huge differences between those who make things and those who own them. 


And, sadly, I think that this is what America wants -- to ignore the gigantic differences in lifetime safety, stability, and hope between those who have and those who have not.