MYTHOLOGICAL THEME PARKS

the romans had zoos like ours with a wide-open landscaped park for the animals to well roam in ... but here they did what we would not ... they gave the scene a point ... they turned it into a story by giving it a plot ... start out pastoral herbivore and cute ... then up the ante ... add the element of conflict ... let the lions in ... then after you've cleaned up the mess and reset the scene up the ante again ... feed the lions this time with human meat ... feed them with a crucified felon like a raw sushi shishkebab ... reset the scene again ... this time give the felon a chance ... don't pin him down ... give him a sword ... make a game of it ... finally up to the last ante now give the beast a better chance ... give both the human and the beast swords ... make them both human make them both a beast ... gladiators land combat sea combat ... fill the coliseum with water ... make it a lake ... now the people must respond here at last is the perfect zoo ... a real theme park where the theme is real life and real death ... just like ours in the audience only speeded up ... just like the felons' the slaves' and the volunteers' in the pit ... the beasts' too ... all of us dying