Dubai Marina Celebrates... (Hyperbole)

Christmas tree in lobby of Grosvenor Hotel (DM)

25 December 2005 finds me perusing internet search engines for any info on Christmas in the Dubai Marina. Not really expecting to find anything I hit upon an article dated 11 May 2005, Dubai Marina: Celebrating Lifestyle on the Waterfront. It was not what I was looking for but I was struck by the colorful description of life in one of Dubai's swankiest new communities:

Let me try to sum up Dubai Marina: Beautiful promenade, awesome sunsets, incredible ocean-front real estate and super fun restaurants. This place is where charm, variety and convenience truly come together. Everything you need for carefree daily living is near at hand, right within your neighbourhood. It's the urban waterfront lifestyle you've dreamed about.

The article struck me for painting such a fanciful image. This is all that the Marina is on paper!

So much of what is written, not only about this development, but of nearly every new development in Dubai are fictitous portrayals of what some master-developer has drafted into architectural sketches and concept images. Many beautiful new towers not yet built, often not yet even started, will be written of as having this or that amenity.

As a teacher of English language, I wonder what's wrong with using future tense forms and words that state possibility and probability rather than those that express a "present-tense" state of being. Admittedly, I find myself at times using the same phrasology as though it were a form of literary license.

But it isn't. It isn't accurate and it mis-informs. It seems to represent sales propaganda whether coming out of developer's brochures or purported news accounts. I resolve, therefore, to avoid this rather deceptive style of prose in my own 2006 posts. A rebuttal of the article linked here will be a good way to start off this New Year's resolution.

The quote above offers descriptive expressions which might more acurately read as follows:

• beautiful promenade >> emerging promenade
• awsome sunset >> hidden sunset
• incredible ocean-front real estate >> expensive ocean-front real estate
• super fun restaurants >> sedated restaurants

These are but a few of the many expressions in the article that speak imaginatively of what the Dubai Marina could be like.

So, what is it really like? I have already described it, more accurately I would say, in a number of earlier posts (through words and pictures):

• A Walk in the Marina
• All Quiet at Marina Walk
• Beautiful Days in the Marina
• Community Under Construction (JBR)
• Introduction to the Dubai Marina
• Lights Out?
• Marina Skies, p1
• Marina Skies, p2 (Geometry)
• Old City Model vs. New
• The Old Marina
• The Pyramid Builders at Al Sufouh Road
• Towers Rising
• Transportation Improvements for Dubai Marina
• Will You Get the View You Pay For?

These provide by no means negative or harshly critical accounts of the Dubai Marina scene. After all, I am biased--I love the place and plan to live there! But how in the world can the Marina be described without making reference to the endless construction and all the noise, dust and traffic associated with it? How can it not be pointed out that the Marina at present is mostly empty of inhabitants?

I have no problem with writers elaborating on what life in the Dubai Marina may become, as long as they speak in terms of future possibility. Indeed, my primary intent in establishing "Dubai Marina Communities" online is to help foster the kind of ideal community often written about. In that spirit, I would like to welcome any readers, hopefully less biased than I, to contribute more objective and even critical accounts of the Dubai Marina lifestyle.

Go to DM Blog latest posts, Dubai Marina Communities or MAG 218 Community homepage.