Academic Scientific JournalsThe topography of “the garden of the world”: From American nature and national myth-making to the Hollywood musical as a medium of representation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26881/bp.2025.4.12Keywords:
American culture, myth-making, nature / locus amoenus, musical film, utopia, escapismAbstract
The article discusses the idea of America as “the garden of the world” and traces the evolution of nature representations – landscapes, parks, gardens – in its history, combining studies of nature, myth-making, and visual culture. The key assumption is to demonstrate that nature was consistently presented within the framework of the locus amoenus topos and that in nation- and culture-forming processes, it served less as a mere physical setting than as a medium for negotiating identity, American mythology, and escapist longings. Research focuses on the persistence of these dynamics, tracing trajectories from the colonial era through romantic and transcendental approaches to the rise of cinema, culminating in selected examples of film musicals from the Great Depression era that serve as illustrative cases.
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