© 2001 by Design History Society
Designed for Thrills and Safety: Amusement Parks and the Commodification of Risk, 1880–1929
University of Deliware
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Abstract |
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This paper uses the design of ‘thrill rides’ in early twentieth-century American amusement parks to explore the ways in which both gender and distinations between production and consumption help shape new technologies It also offers a contribution to the grwoing literature on the emergence of risk societies by showing how the sensation of being at risk can become commodified Amusement park operators and ride designers strove to offer the public rides that simultaneously provided both thirlls and safety They were acutely aware that, while many American saw accidents in streets and factories as the inevitable cost of progress, they were not willing to tolerate the same risks as consumers Women were an important part of the audience for these rides Operators catered to them not by making rides feel physically safer, but rather by making parks socially safer As the industry developed, designers also created more and more rides that neutralized gender differences between riders by taking into account women's clothing and gendered norms of physical comportment.
Key Words: amusement parks • consumption • gendered design • popular entertainment • risk • social construction of technology