ABSTRACT
If the new collecting represents an extension of the self, a creation of a preferred environment, then on a larger scale we can see the same process at work in the theme park. As we discovered in Chapter 52, the supermarket can be seen as a purveyor of consumer durables rather than consumables, and in Chapter 53, the mega-malls of the 1990s, have now begun to present themselves as theme parks, whilst the growth of theme-based cafes in many cities has also grown (the Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, sports, fashion and cyber-cafes, and so on). Indeed it is these latter businesses that often become the winners in auctions of pop, sporting (and so on) memorabilia which they use to thickly decorate the walls of their establishments. As such they take literally the Victoria and Albert Museum's advertising slogan ofbeing 'an ace cafe with a rather nice museum attached'. Whether the concept is pointing the way for smaller museums of the future is a point worth considering.
