The museum as theme park

TO say that the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has been co-opted by the local entertainment industry because of its “Keith Edmier and Farrah Fawcett 2000” show misses the larger point (Letters, Nov. 30). This is a national (if not international) epidemic affecting art museums on all levels, from the small regional ones (e.g. Laguna Art Museum, “Surf Culture”) to the larger powerhouses (e.g. Guggenheim Museum, “The Art of the Motorcycle”).

In a country where the “pursuit of happiness” is a promised “right” and success is defined in terms of the absence of pain, it is not surprising that such a sacred, often difficult, institution as the museum has been demeaned to the level of a user-friendly theme park.

For post-modern America, entertainment is the omnipresent drug of choice, from teachers performing stand-up comedy to animal acts in the Crystal Cathedral. It is our mindless means to escape the pain of intellectual and spiritual demands on the way to having a nice day. Museums have had to turn to entertainment in order to be relevant and survive in a society looking for the eternal smile.

Gene Cooper

Laguna Beach