Landscape carries more value than money. Being an Economics major, W.J.T. Mitchell’s second “Thesis of Landscape” (Thesis #2) caught my eye: Landscape is a medium of exchange between the human and the natural…As such, it is like money: good for nothing in itself, but expressive of a potentially limitless reserve of value. I have never thought of a landscape beyond its physical structure. I always thought it was aesthetically appealing, but never thought to ask, “what is this landscape telling us?” In contrast, I never thought of money as “good for nothing in itself”. I always thought of its value, but never the reality of its physical structure: a piece of paper.
Now, those with a lot of money carry a lot of value and therefore a lot of power. But the reality about money is that not everyone can have limitless dollars and limitless power. There is an uncontrollable restriction on the power of money. On the other hand, a landscape carries a “potentially limitless reserve of value” and power. The power that a landscape carries is uncontrollable and endless. It has the ability to reveal human relations while being concealed, or protected, behind the “beautiful” natural environment depicted within a typical landscape. There is this sense of secrecy behind a landscape and its meaning, which only few can reveal and truly understand. While W.J.T. Mitchell used money as a metaphor to help us better understand a landscape, it appears he failed to discuss a landscape’s dominance over money in regards to the value it carries.