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I keep
my eye out for things that serve as an example of an alternative to Heroic
Materialism, the aesthetic of the past two hundred years, corresponding with
the Industrial Revolution. We are soooo
ready for something new. Over time, I've collected bits and pieces of the
overall picture. The carfree Traditional City is the centerpiece, whether a
metropolis or a very small rural village. You have to live somewhere. But,
that is only the beginning. Architecture, clothing, arts, cuisine, and all
the other elements of culture come together to create a civilization.
November 22, 2009: What Comes After Heroic Materialism?
December 13, 2009: Life Without Cars: 2009 Edition
It is
not so easy to take a picture of a civilization -- how all these elements
combine together to make a coherent whole of seamless fabulosity. However, I
found a good example of what I mean: the Harry Potter movies.
In the
Harry Potter world, there is the world of the "muggles," or normal
contemporary people, who generally live in Suburbia. And boy does it suck.
Then, there is the world of the "wizards," which is quite fabulous
and fun. Oddly enough, there isn't that much difference between "muggles"
and "wizards" as people. Of course, the wizards can do magic, but
so what. The main purpose of magic seems to be for doing battle with evil
wizards. (Maybe there's an appropriate comment about military technology to
be made here.) While Harry Potter is in the muggle world (he has a foster
muggle family, which is quite horrible), he lives a muggle lifestyle,
although he himself is the King of the Wizards. Also, his friend Hermione has
muggle parents as well (dentists). Wizards can only be wizards when they are
in the world of wizards. Otherwise, they act like muggles even though they
are actually wizards.
The
world of the wizards is modeled after -- late 19th century England.
The
Harry Potter movies take place mostly at "Hogwarts," a private
boarding school located in a fantasy castle in Scotland.
This
is a single castle, but let's call it a "village" for now. It has a
population comparable to a village, of a few hundred students, teachers and
staff.
You
can get around the "village" entirely on foot. It is a pedestrian
environment --as are most all school campuses today.
March 3, 2009: Let's Visit Some More Villages
You
get to Hogwarts ... on
a train.
December 27, 2009: What a Real Train System Looks Like
 
The
other urban environment seen in the movie is the wizards' sector of London,
which looks like this:
Does
that look a little familiar?
Yes,
it is our Really
Narrow Street, with no
cars of course. And the buildings are side by side.
It is
full of people ("pedestrians"). Notice how well everyone is
dressed.
October 18, 2009: Let's Take Another Trip to Venice
The
students at Hogwarts dress a little like suburban mall rats, but the adults
are always in fine form.
I want
to look like this when I'm 75.
Sharp!
And
the interiors! Wow!
Nice office.
This
is a bathroom.
When
you're a wizard, you piss in style.
Just a nice
dinner.
The main dining
room.
Notice
that wizards eat real food. No factory chemical food for them!
If
you've been paying attention this far, you probably noticed that the Harry
Potter movies have all of the features that I've been talking about, starting
first and foremost with the Traditional City (or village), and trains of
course, and from that expanding to all the other parts that make up a proper
civilization.
You
notice that there are no cars in the land of the Wizards. No parking lots. No
"green space." No strip malls and fast food joints and big box
crap. Everything looks fabulous. Everything is a Place. There is wilderness,
but no non-Places.
October 10, 2009: Place and Non-Place
We in
America are so unfamiliar with such things today, that we probably think that
this is all a CGI fantasy. But, if you're British, you probably know that
this is all real, pretty much. These are real places. Made by real humans,
the way humans made things before they were distracted by Heroic Materialism,
especially the 20th century (automobile-centric) version.
This
-- fellow Americans -- is our English heritage! A somewhat idealized version,
to be sure. Not everything was sweetness and light and wizardly perfection in
the later 19th century. But, we should be interested in their successes, not
their failures or ongoing problems.
Could
we do something like this? We did
do something like this! This is the way we were supposed to live until we fucked it up.
Remember that
stupendous bathroom?
The
bathroom (really!) at Gloucester Cathedral, used as a set in the Harry Potter
movies.
The
Fort William to Mallaig service. This is the train in the Harry Potter
movies, and yes it still runs.
Of
course, we'd use an electric train today if we were going to get more serious
about trains.
Many
of the interiors are shot at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland.
The
outer appearance of Hogwarts is a little fantastical, of course. Most castles
are a little more practical.
Most.
Neuschwanstein
castle, Bavaria. Completed in the 1880s. Certainly one of the most
"fantastical" castles ever created out of heavy stone. Think of
what would be possible today with steel construction.
Neuschwanstein
from the side.
This
hotel in Banff, Canada is somewhat Hogwarts-esqe.
Mont
St. Michel, France is a fine "fantasy village."
The
main facade of the church was completed in the 12th century.
Actually,
Gloucester Cathedral makes Hogwarts seem ... a little mundane.
Recognize
this hall? It's Christ Church, Oxford.
Gloucester
Cathedral. Many of the hallway shots in the Harry Potter movies were done
here.
More from
Gloucester Cathedral.
.Do
you think that Dumbledore's clothes are a little over the top?
El
Greco's portrait of St. Jerome, painted in 1590-1600.
The
last thing I want to call your attention to is the non-urban areas. One
characteristic of the wizards' realm is that the wild places are really,
really wild. Only a few hundred meters into the woods, and you'll find all
sorts of amazing creatures.
.
"Best
not be going out there without a guide."
In my
wizards' future, the wild places are once again really wild.
November 8, 2009: The Future Stinks
The
oceans are full of fish. The woods are full of animals. The way they are
supposed to be. The way they were before
we fucked them up.
So we
have cities (and very small cities, aka villages) that are really, really
cities, and wild places that are really, really wild.
In
short, pretty much everything I've been talking about is right there in the
Harry Potter movies. This is more-or-less the way humans are supposed to live,
the best of our best civilizations.
Shopping
in Amsterdam. Wizards welcome.
Bavarian village.
Leadenhall
market, London. Used to depict the area near the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon
Alley in Harry Potter
and the Philosopher's Stone.
This
market dates from the 14th century. The glass roof was added in 1881.
This
London street was also apparently used in Harry Potter films as "Diagon
Alley."
More Leadenhall
Market.
Leadenhall.
Is this Diagon Alley?
(Mont
St. Michel, France)
Is this Diagon Alley?
(Venice)
How
about this?
(Melbourne,
Australia.)
Diagon
Alley must be around here somewhere.
(Not
even close. Chinatown, Victoria, British Columbia)
"Hagrid?"
(Mont St. Michel,
France.)
Other comments in this series:
December 27, 2009: What a Real Train System Looks Like
December 13, 2009: Life Without Cars: 2009 Edition
November 22, 2009: What Comes After Heroic Materialism?
November 15, 2009: Let's Kick Around Carfree.com
November 8, 2009: The Future Stinks
October 18, 2009: Let's Take Another Trip to Venice
October 10, 2009: Place and Non-Place
September 28, 2009: Let's Take a Trip to Barcelona
September 20, 2009: The Problem of Scarcity 2:
It's All In Your Head
September 13, 2009: The Problem of Scarcity
July 26, 2009: Let's Take a Trip to an American Village 3: How the
Suburbs Came to Be
July 19, 2009: Let's Take a Trip to an American Village 2:
Downtown
July 12, 2009: Let's Take a Trip to an American Village
May 3, 2009: A Bazillion Windmills
April 19, 2009: Let's Kick Around the
"Sustainability" Types
March 3, 2009: Let's Visit Some More Villages
February 15, 2009: Let's Take a Trip to the French Village
February 1, 2009: Let's Take a Trip to the English Village
January 25, 2009: How to Buy Gold on the Comex
(scroll down)
January 4, 2009: Currency Management for Little
Countries (scroll down)
December 28, 2008: Currencies are Causes, not Effects
(scroll down)
December 21, 2008: Life Without Cars
August 10, 2008: Visions of Future Cities
July 20, 2008: The Traditional City vs. the
"Radiant City"
December 2, 2007: Let's Take a Trip to Tokyo
October 7, 2007: Let's Take a Trip to Venice
June 17, 2007: Recipe for Florence
July 9, 2007: No Growth Economics
March 26, 2006: The Eco-Metropolis
Nathan
Lewis
Nathan Lewis
was formerly the chief international economist of a leading economic
forecasting firm. He now works in asset management. Lewis has written for the
Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal Asia, the Japan Times, Pravda, and
other publications. He has appeared on financial television in the United
States, Japan, and the Middle East. About the Book: Gold: The Once and Future
Money (Wiley, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-470-04766-8, $27.95) is available at
bookstores nationwide, from all major online booksellers, and direct from the
publisher at www.wileyfinance.com or 800-225-5945. In Canada, call
800-567-4797.
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