BETWEEN A HARD ROCK AND POSTMODERNISM:

Abstract

Various researchers have promoted the use of ethnographic accounts in subjective descriptions of postmodern spaces. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas represents such a space, embodying several key features of postmodern culture. These features include the commodification of image signs and popular culture, the commercial neutralization of signifying practices subversive to capitalism, ephemeral architecture informing ephemeral social relationships, and the creation of spectacles of ironic pleasure. The author merges his experience of the Hard Rock Hotel's opening night, his interaction with the space and others in it, and his thoughts relating these to a postmodern moment/ethnography.