One of the most influential moments of this course was the visit to the Museum of London where my group was assigned the park simulation exhibit. This room was set up to look like an old Victorian Park with costumes, music, and entertainers in various corners of the immersive park. I found this depiction and immersive experience incredibly realistic and thought provoking. I was able to really put myself in the place of these parks thought to be “the lungs of London for their health giving qualities.” It was in parks like the one I sat in at the museum where people were able to access their lost rural past and nearly escape into a fun evening. The fun music and posh dress also highlighted and contributed support to the belief that the parks were a truly fun and transformative opportunity.
In addition, themes of prostitution are incredibly prevalent in the Victorian era and were discussed not only in our course readings, ““Cremorne Gardens,” Prostitution, Considered in its Moral, Social and Sanitary Aspects, 2nd edition 1870,” but were also prominent in the display at the Museum of London. In the park exhibit, women that were shown in the short holographic clips alone were known to be prostitutes currently working or looking for men. The women alone in the parks in combination with the loud music and background noise emphasized the same mood about how the public opinions drown out the voices of lower class woman who may have eventually been drawn to prostitution because they had essentially no other option.
In the reading, ““Cremorne Gardens,” Prostitution, Considered in its Moral, Social and Sanitary Aspects, 2nd edition 1870,” Acton describes a park scene very similar to what I experienced at the museum; he describes a scene where some of the most beautiful public gardens in London are scenes of prostitution entertainment. Acton also describes other “pleasure gardens” but draws differences due to the frequenters being particularly low class. These pleasure parks, as seen in the Museum of London and read about in class, provided Londoners with an escape and a chance to enjoy evenings with friends and family while simultaneously creating static and noise that masked the behind the scenes acts of prostitution throughout the evening and into the nights.
Hi Olivia, I found your blog post about the Victorian era parks and the park exhibit at the Museum of London to be particularly interesting because of the perspective you were able to add by referencing the readings. I too really enjoyed that exhibit and agree with you that “I was able to really put myself in the place of these parks thought to be ‘the lungs of London for their health giving qualities.’”. The audio and visual representation of the activities, conversations, and ambiance of the park were able to tell the story of people trying to escape their everyday lives. I think that your perspective on prostitution was spot on in that the other activities and noises found in the park drown out the fact that prostitution was taking place there. I had also forgotten about the holographic conversation depicting a prostitute and a man, so reading your post was a nice reminder to just how descriptive and immersive the exhibit was. Overall, I enjoyed the outside information you brought into to your discussion of the exhibit which helped add more context and expand my understanding of what I saw that day. Great post!
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