'Route 66': The pop-cultural trip to the west

Abstract

This paper will examine the touristic travels along the most famous nonfunctional highway in the United States - the Route 66. This 'iconic route' is represented as the 'road to the heart of America', 'the American odyssey', as a place which comprises the 'good old American values' and builds its attractiveness as a tourist destination on the narratives about the road formerly developed in literature (the 'road genre'), film (the 'road movie'), and music. Route 66 meant different things for the travelers in different historical periods: in times of the Great Depression it was the road of hope and better life in the West; in the postwar period, the attractions along the road were the favorite resort of Americans; in the 70’s and 80’s it only represented a demolished artifact of the past; and from the 90’s on, it became the object of nostalgia and economic revival of the small towns surrounding it. Analyzing the content of the Internet forum, blogs and web pages where tourists and fans of the Road 66 meet, we will try to show to which extent, if any, the representations of this road, perpetuated in the popular culture, correspond to the experiences of the tourist voyages, and their motivation to take this road.