Potemkin village: Difference between revisions

{{short description|Structure built solely to deceive others into thinking that a situation is better than it really is}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}

 

== Origin ==

[[Grigory Potemkin]] was a minister and lover of the Russian Empress [[Catherine the Great|Catherine II]].<ref name="Davies2010"/> After the 1783 Russian [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire|annexation of Crimea]] from the [[Ottoman Empire]] and liquidation of the Cossack [[Zaporozhian Sich]] (see [[New Russia]]), Potemkin became governor of the region. Crimea had been devastated by the war, and the Muslim [[Crimean Tatars|Tatar]] inhabitants of Crimea were viewed as a potential [[fifth column]] of the Ottoman Empire. Potemkin's major tasks were to pacify and rebuild by bringing in Russian settlers. In 1787, as a new war was about to break out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, Catherine II, with her court and several ambassadors, made an unprecedented [[Crimean journey of Catherine the Great|six-month trip to New Russia]]. One purpose of this trip was to impress Russia's allies prior to the war. To help accomplish this, Potemkin was said to have set up "mobile villages" on the banks of the [[Dnieper River]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2008962_2008964_2009010,00.html|title=Top 10 Weird Government Secrets|last=Tharoor|first=Ishaan|date=2010-08-06|magazine=Time|access-date=2017-09-01|issn=0040-781X}}</ref> As soon as the barge carrying the Empress and ambassadors arrived, Potemkin's men, dressed as peasants, would populate the village. Once the barge left, the village was disassembled, then rebuilt downstream overnight.<ref name="Davies2010">{{cite book|author=Norman Davies|title=Europe: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vD7SWb5lXBAC&pg=PA658|date=30 September 2010|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4070-9179-2|pages=658–}}</ref>

 

In the [[Old West]] of the United States, [[Western false front architecture]] was often used to create the illusion of affluence and stability in a new frontier town. The style included a tall vertical façade with a square top in front of a wood-framed building, often hiding a gable roof. The goal for the architecture was to project an image of stability and success for the town, while the business owners did not invest much in buildings that might be temporary. These towns often did not last long before becoming [[ghost town]]s, so businessmen wanted to get started quickly but did not want to spend a lot on their stores. Many [[Western movies]] feature this kind of architecture because, just like the original buildings, it is quick and cheap to create.

 

 

Many of the newly constructed base areas at ski resorts are referred to as Potemkin villages.<ref>{{Cite book | first=Hal | last=Clifford | year=2002 | title=Downhill Slide: Why the Corporate Ski Industry is Bad for Skiing, Ski Towns, and the Environment | publisher=Sierra Club Books | pages=[https://archive.org/details/downhillslidewhy00clif/page/106 106–110] | isbn=9781578050710 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/downhillslidewhy00clif/page/106 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.skibum.net/rocky-mountains/colorado-ski-areas/|title=Colorado Ski Areas – SKI BUM|access-date=22 March 2017}}</ref> These create the illusion of a quaint mountain town, but are actually carefully planned theme shopping centers, hotels and restaurants designed for maximum revenue. Similarly, in ''The Geography of Nowhere'', American writer [[James Howard Kunstler]] refers to contemporary suburban shopping centers as "Potemkin village shopping plazas".<ref>Kunstler, James Howard (1993). ''The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape''. New York, Touchstone.</ref>

 

 

Sometimes, instead of the full phrase, just "Potemkin" is used, as an adjective. For example, the use of a row of trees to screen a clearcut area from motorists has been called a "Potemkin forest".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-ol-patt-morrison-richard-powers-20180502-htmlstory.html | title=Humanity is waging an inexplicable war on trees. It's not going to work out for either side - Los Angeles Times | date=2018-05-02}}</ref> For example, the glossary entry for "clearcut" in ''We Have The Right To Exist: A Translation of Aboriginal Indigenous Thought'' states that "Much of the extensive clearcut in northern Minnesota is insulated from scrutiny by the urbanized public by a Potemkin forest, or, as the [[Minnesota Department of Natural Resources|D.N.R.]] terms it, an aesthetic strip&nbsp;– a thin illusion of forest about six trees deep, along most highways and fronting waters frequented by tourists."<ref name="We Have a Right to Exist: A Translation of Aboriginal Indigenous Thought">{{cite web|author1=Wub-e-ke-niew|title=We Have The Right To Exist: A Translation of Aboriginal Indigenous Thought|url=http://www.maquah.net/We_Have_The_Right_To_Exist/|website=Maquah.net|access-date=15 November 2016}}</ref> Another example is the phrase "Potemkin court", which implies that the court's reason to exist is being called into question (differing from the phrase "[[kangaroo court]]" with which the court's standard of justice is being impugned).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fbj7mv3j2uUC&q=Potemkin+court&pg=PT23|title=International Criminal Justice at the Yugoslav Tribunal: A Judge's Recollection|last=Shahabuddeen|first=Mohamed|date=2012-11-01|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=9780191649851|language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Theresienstadt (1944 film)|''Theresienstadt'' (1944 film)]]

* ''[[Czech Dream]]''

* [[Disneyfication]]

* [[Potemkin Island]]

* ''[[The Truman Show]]''

* [[Legends of Catherine the Great]]

* [[Novorossiya]] ("New Russia"), historical region in the [[Russian Empire]]

* [[Folly]], architecture vernacular

* [[Façadism]]

* [[Sportswashing]]

* [[Kijong-dong]]

 

== References ==