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Zootycoon™: Capitalism, Nature, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

This paper is a cultural studies analysis of the Microsoft computer video game, ZooTycoon™. Through a critical reading using the “circuit of culture,” questions of the gamer's subject position, the role of wildlife and implicit and explicit messages about contemporary attitudes toward the environmen...

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Published in:Ethics & the Environment Vol. 9; no. 2; pp. 103 - 121
Format: Article
Published: Indiana University Press Fall/Winter 2004
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Fall/Winter 2004
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      pub: Indiana University Press
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        atl: Zootycoon™: Capitalism, Nature, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
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      ab: This paper is a cultural studies analysis of the Microsoft computer video game, ZooTycoon™. Through a critical reading using the “circuit of culture,” questions of the gamer's subject position, the role of wildlife and implicit and explicit messages about contemporary attitudes toward the environment are explored. Drawing on Susan Davis' book, Spectacular Nature: Corporate Culture and the Sea World Experience (1997), this paper unpacks the virtual theme parks created in Zoo Tycoon™ for their (dis)continuities with Davis's findings. The virtual animals are found to serve as both labor and products in this game that teaches capitalist business strategy and managerial skills. This popular culture text is an example of a product that harnesses the environmental impulse and redirects that impulse back into commodity capitalism. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
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    language: English
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