ter.ri.to.ri.al.i.ty n. The behavior of a male animal that defines and defends its territory. cu.ra.to.ri.al.i.ty™ n. The behavior of a curator that defines and defends his collection and its history.
GOING GLOBAL: 1991-TODAY
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It’s hard to believe, but our year-long tour of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum is coming to an end. We’ve walked all the way from the 1700s (with a few detours into earlier centuries) to the end of the 1980s; the exit is in view. Fear not, however, as we still have a few more things to talk about before we say goodbye. In this installment, we’re going to step into those nebulous nineties to look at how GEM begins to segue from the past to the present…and beyond (vague Buzz Lightyear reference intended)!
While our dedicated historic galleries end with “Expanding Universe” and the years 1971-1990, we couldn’t stomach ending the exhibition before the 20th century had come to a conclusion. So, while we didn’t have enough room to create another gallery, we did reserve one long wall to showcase items from the ‘90s up to the present. And although we plan to revisit this presentation and refine it now that we’re entering our second year of operation, the version that still stands is just a taste of what pop culture meant in that final decade of the 20th century and a way to sum up the entire museum experience before you leave the building.
From Superman and Wonder Woman to Star Wars and Star Trek; from Toy Story and The Nightmare Before Christmas to Beanie Babies and Polly Pocket; and from Shrek and Spongebob Squarepants to MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice (!); the case titled “Going Global” illustrates how the pop culture of the 1990s encompassed not just the history of everything that had come before, but a growing focus on other cultural influences and the introduction of new icons that would become just as prominent and powerful in the world of entertainment.
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A recurring theme in this case is how so many characters introduced earlier in the museum’s pop culture timeline remain vital and relevant to later generations through cyclical reinvention. The Brandon Routh version of Superman seen here is very different from his many predecessors, but the elements that remain the same speak to the basic underlying power of the character and his ability to remain fresh and exciting to every new audience that comes along. The same can be said for the characters from Star Trek and Star Wars, although in this case it’s less the individual personas that are reinvented and instead the introduction of many new characters to expand their respective universes and tell new adventures set in those worlds.
Of course, time is already working against us — this last bit of pop culture history, presented along one wall of the area that then magically transforms before your eyes (well, if you just turn to your left anyway) into our retail store, Flashbacks, is growing into an almost twenty-year span that will soon need serious re-evaluation. After all, generations of potential museum visitors will now be looking for characters and collectibles from this era for a representation of their childhood, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t give that period of entertainment the attention and respect it deserves.
So it seems the story of American pop culture and entertainment just keeps marching on, and GEM will do its best to keep pace even as we continue to look back and put older characters in their proper context. As for all those of you who have been nice enough to join me on this virtual multi-part museum tour, we have one last stop to make before we reach the end of the journey (and no, it’s not the chocolate room, wrong tour).
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Come back to this very spot next month, and we’ll take a look at the Special Edition gallery, a dedicated space wherein we’ll be featuring a vast variety of uniquely themed exhibits devoted to individual characters, creators, TV shows, movies, or any other specific bits of pop culture that deserve a focus all their own. There will be celebrations of birthdays and anniversaries galore (as with the recent 30th anniversary tribute to Star Wars), examinations of the cultural impact of comic characters (as with Professor Bill Foster’s Finally in Full Color exhibition, which we previously hosted), and even a look at how holiday traditions and collecting go hand in hand (as with our very first Christmas-themed exhibit from 2006). And you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Some of the biggest birthdays of all are coming up next year, so in the next installment of this column I’ll clue you in to all the plans we have for temporary exhibitions stretching all the way into 2009. Join me next time for a story of mice and men (of steel), and much more. Until then, as Red Green says, keep your stick on the ice!
or in person at
301 W. Camden St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 625-7060
This is a guest article. The thoughts and opinions in this piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.
