Sunday, April 1, 2007

As I was browsing around the course website I clicked on the "Urban Exploration" link. The link lead me to a site called "Infiltration" which has to do with exploring areas which are not usually permitted to individuals. One of the journalists took a venture into the TTC system but not on the subway train but rather an exploration of the tunnels which encompass the trains and many people who make use of them. His exploration of the tunnels was very interesting because it was like discovering a place that was long forgotten but always existed. The tunnels of the TTC are right underneath the feet of the city, yet it seems it is a place of its own. The lack of lighting and the dense air is the perfect atmosphere of mystery and fear. From a phenomenological perspective such a place creates fear because we are unfamiliar in the dark unknown. But, as discussed in lecture such landscapes of fear are socially produced. Away from the eyes of busy individuals and security cameras, the dark depths of the TTC tunnels area places which have been forgotten. There is no movement within the dark rooms and tunnels that lie beneath the subway. Such a place would not be so fearful to those who work there and are familiar with the surroundings.
The contrast is quite significant but the location of such places are very close to us.
I found the article quite interesting because it explored a place that most residence of Toronto are very familiar with but only so much of it.

Jesse K

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