Live in Thames Town, and enjoy the distinctly English atmosphere of this unique place!
July 6, 2006 12:57 PM   Subscribe

 
and yet it's still pronounced "Tems"
posted by blue_beetle at 1:55 PM on July 6, 2006


kinda like... U.S. Chinatowns?
posted by mrgrimm at 2:07 PM on July 6, 2006


Yes, if Chinatowns were created from scratch by Disney's culturally-insensitive cousin.
posted by 1adam12 at 2:15 PM on July 6, 2006


It reminds me of Huis Ten Bosch in Japan.
posted by Alison at 2:20 PM on July 6, 2006


I think I've been to that bar in the picture.
posted by vhsiv at 2:47 PM on July 6, 2006


How many CCTV cameras does it have?
posted by fire&wings at 3:03 PM on July 6, 2006


There isn't enough vomit on the street to be real
posted by A189Nut at 3:09 PM on July 6, 2006


Wow. It somehow reminds me of The Village. Does a weather balloon show up and kick your ass if you try to leave?
posted by unreason at 3:11 PM on July 6, 2006


i love the fact that there's a 'bridal services speciality zone'. I wonder how many towns back home in blighty can boast that.
posted by muthecow at 3:57 PM on July 6, 2006


Where are the dumpy chicks with bleached ponytails and hoop earrings?
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:58 PM on July 6, 2006


they've all gone and got married, settled down and had a kid.
posted by muthecow at 4:35 PM on July 6, 2006


Wee Britain?
posted by baltimore at 4:57 PM on July 6, 2006


What, no Americavile with tract homes with SUVs parked outside?

Anyway, seems weird and somewhat claustrophobic. Not any of the frenetic pace of a real British city. Of course, no one lives there yet. But one thing that sticks out in my mind when I think of London is all of the advertisements, all the crowds and so on.

kinda like... U.S. Chinatowns?

You know a friend of mine from China was really shocked when she saw US Chinatowns. To her they were dirty and gross, and poor not at all like the China she'd grown up in, which was much more similar to the rest of the U.S.
posted by delmoi at 6:29 PM on July 6, 2006


In Beijing you can live in Vancouver Forest, Sydney Coast, Napa Valley, or 17th Century France. This is apparently a growing trend.
posted by MsMolly at 7:03 PM on July 6, 2006


Anyway, seems weird and somewhat claustrophobic. Not any of the frenetic pace of a real British city. Of course, no one lives there yet. But one thing that sticks out in my mind when I think of London is all of the advertisements, all the crowds and so on.
The point isn't to accurately mimic a real British city. The point is to provide an exotic, Foreign-flavored slice of romantic, idyllic high-class life. If people in Shanghai want a frenetic pace, well... they can go just about anywhere in Shanghai. The pace of life there is probably equal to anywhere in the world. Instead, people who'd buy into this kind of project want to be able to go someplace relaxing, slow and classy when they go home. (And don't argue that it isn't classy -- you and I know that, but in their definition, having a statue of Winston Churchill downstairs is a source of Big Face, not kitsch.) Increasingly, they also want their home to be reminiscent of the places they lived when they studied or worked abroad.
You know a friend of mine from China was really shocked when she saw US Chinatowns. To her they were dirty and gross, and poor not at all like the China she'd grown up in, which was much more similar to the rest of the U.S.
It sounds like she was quite rich in Chinese terms. Chinatowns in the US tend to be dirtier and less safe than big cities in China, but not by much. And the quality of life in most Chinatowns is still far, far better than what most Chinese people enjoy. (Why else do you think people will risk so much to live in them?) And, of course, not all Chinese people want to live in Chinatowns. A lot of them like hubbub, but plenty of Chinese folks like living in a big Western style house with 3.5 bathrooms and a two-car garage.
posted by jiawen at 9:02 PM on July 6, 2006


You know a friend of mine from China was really shocked when she saw US Chinatowns. To her they were dirty and gross, and poor not at all like the China she'd grown up in, which was much more similar to the rest of the U.S.

Some of these ethnic enclaves end up being time capsules. I understand that new Russian immigrants to the US can't stand, for example, Brighton Beach. The old Russians were disconnected from Russian society for so long, they became more determined to preserve their ways, while regular Russians -- especially after 1991 -- evolved.

But Chinatowns are not the analogue to this, unless Thames Town is populated with British expats. These are really much more like when US suburban tracts spring up with names like Versailles and lots of phony Mansard roofs. Or Disneyland, really. There's a psychological difference, though -- for Americans, it's probably important to parody and infantalize European culture, while for the Chinese, they're emulating and aspiring to it.

America has never had that problem, as reading de Tocqueville makes clear. Apart from the occasional fad like colonialism, or the Beatles.
posted by dhartung at 10:07 PM on July 6, 2006


Where are the dumpy chicks with bleached ponytails and hoop earrings?

Right now? Much wetter, and less dumpy than before.
posted by rob511 at 11:32 PM on July 6, 2006


Um, you do know that David Walliams and Matt Lucas are two different people, don't you rob511?
posted by jack_mo at 12:56 PM on July 7, 2006


I think I left my stove on.... I'll just go stick my head in it.
posted by rob511 at 2:25 AM on July 8, 2006


« Older ...aiding, counseling, assisting and protecting...   |   When I say "Chicken", y'all say "Chicken wing!"... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments