[lit-ideas] Re: Violence without Horror

Supposedly the tallest in the world.  Click on take a virtual ride.  Kingda
Ka is what you scream before you throw up.  

http://www.sixflags.com/parks/greatadventure/index.asp



> [Original Message]
> From: Andreas Ramos <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 8/28/2005 2:06:15 AM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Violence without Horror
>
> > As I wrote that, I recalled that one of the text book
> > aesthetics problems is the rollercoaster. That is,
> > apparently people are terrified by it and yet seem to
> > enjoy themselves, which obviously begs for an
> > explanation.
>
> A few weeks ago, I spent an evening at various kinds of rollercoasters.
These are not really 
> roller coasters. You don't coast. Not much rolling either. You're knocked
around at all 
> sorts of angles to the ground and the sky.
>
> A group wanted to do another "ride" that is somewhat like a group bungee
cord jump thing. 
> Three people are strapped in and dropped 100 feet face down.
>
> I wasn't really terrified. In the rollercoasters, you just hang on and
try to keep a sense 
> of direction. The "ride" lasts only 34 seconds. I've been on roller
coasters, where you roll 
> and coast, and that's more emotionally stimulating, because it lasts
longer and you get a 
> better sense of the rush, the dives, and so on.
>
> In the bungee jump thing, the feeling is just petrified. Falling 100 feet
head down takes 
> only a few seconds. You're just speechless with terror.
>
> An aesthetic? Not really. The rides are far too brief and abrupt and
chaotic to be an 
> identifiable sensation. I didn't find any of the rides to be anything
even slightly 
> enjoyable. I'd do some of them again, for the novelty of the experience.
>
> yrs,
> andreas
> www.andreas.com
>
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