Gods and Rollercoasters: Religion in Theme Parks Worldwide by Crispin Paine (review)

For more than a century, theme parks have sold family entertainment and cultural affirmation to the growing, but often angst-ridden, middle classes of the world. Along the way theme parks have become big business, with significant economic impact and political influence. There are currently more than 400 theme parks in the United States and another 300 in Europe; however, the greatest growth of parks is in Asia, where they are wildly popular. In China a higher percentage of the population visits theme parks every year than in any western country. Not surprisingly, academic study of the sociological, historical, economic, political, and religious significance of theme parks has grown enormously in recent years, with scholars approaching the topic from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. Gods and Rollercoasters is the first book specifically focused on the religious significance of these venues.

Crispin Paine approaches the study with many caveats. For one, he does not attempt a definition of religion, suggesting that scholars recognize religious influences when they see them. While this is imprecise, it is true enough to work in this case. The category of theme parks is also amorphous, comprising everything from Disneyesque family fun—with a focus on rides and escapism—to outdoor cultural museums and explicitly didactic venues like Holy Land Experience (where frivolous entertainment is in short supply). Paine discusses in a general way the postmodern cultural and political significance assumed by nearly all the world's theme parks, no matter where they fall on the entertainment-to-edification spectrum. Only Disney parks are presented as relatively free of ideological agendas, though of course they traffic in nostalgia, which is hardly value free. Most other parks display stronger theological, ideological, nationalist and/or political agendas, even if entertainment is their selling point.

Paine surveys a wide range of parks and outdoor museums that include religious iconography and facsimiles of pilgrimage sites, churches, and temples among their attractions, therefore embracing unmistakable religious elements. But he restricts his deeper analysis to a smaller group of parks that are explicitly religious: three Christian, two "Hindu" (sectarian), one Buddhist, and one he labels Buddhist-Daoist (China scholars might prefer "popular religion" for the latter). He notes that many modern religious theme parks developed around venerable pilgrimage sites that in the past also provided entertainment, uplift, and spiritual solace to their visitors. It seems the lines between pilgrimage and entertainment have always been blurry, as have the lines between authentic and imitative. Paine discusses the fascinating phenomenon of apparently real devotion and reverence invoked by simulacra of famous pilgrimage centers. "Fake" sites can apparently inspire powerful spiritual experiences.

The biggest weakness of the book lies in its structure: the main features of the selected religious parks are presented in short synopses, but further valuable information about them is scattered throughout the text in passages discussing patriotic manipulation, nostalgic revisionism, theological agendas, real versus replica, business models and finances, and the like. Readers will need to consult the index to gather complete information about any particular theme park that sparks their interest. An added inconvenience lies in the book's diminutive font (and inflated price). In this, I suppose it reflects a new norm in academic publication.

Scholars interested in material culture and popular religious expression will find this book a valuable starting point, as will general readers interested in the intersections of family entertainment, pop culture, manufactured nostalgia, reactionary politics, and religious sentiment. Despite its scattershot organization, the book is thoughtful, well-written, and engaging.