Puy du Fou is a theme park in rural western France covering about 140 acres. It draws roughly three million visitors by using elaborate historical stage shows and immersive period villages instead of conventional rides. The park has been praised as the best theme park in the world, yet critics call its portrayals of French history and heritage reactionary propaganda. The shows are said to revere traditional village life, the Catholic Church, and a longing for the monarchy. The founder is described as a failed far-right presidential candidate who criticizes Islam and European integration. A visit is presented as making the park’s appeal hard to resist despite objections to its agenda.
"Puy du Fou is a popular theme park occupying some 140 acres in a rural region of western France. Eschewing traditional amusement park rides in favor of elaborate historical stage shows and immersive "period villages," the park attracted an astonishing three million visitors last year. The French newspaper Le Figaro has proclaimed it the best theme park in the world."
"Its shows promote a very specific vision of French history and heritage, one that venerates traditional village life, the Catholic Church, and longs for the lost monarchy. The "quasi-historical fantasia" on hand at Puy du Fou, allege its critics, is simply a means to "smuggle in reactionary propaganda under the cover of family entertainment.""
"It doesn't help matters that the founder of Puy du Fou, the fulsomely named Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, is a failed far-right presidential candidate who now rails regularly against Islam and European integration on his cable-television program, as well as in books like Populicide, his most recent hit."
"But is it really worth getting so worked up about amusement-park politics? Last November, Segnit went to see the spectacle for himself, and found Puy du Fou's charms difficult to resist, however objectionable he might find its agenda."
Read at Harper's Magazine
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