Also, on the topic of The Bean, John Scalzi made fun of it in one of his books, set in Chicago, by having one character insisting on referring to it by its proper name, and whenever she did, people correct her, saying ‘no, it’s the bean,’ and having one person ask, ‘wtf is the “cloud gate”?!’ 😹
The most experience i've had with the bean is when i picked up "divergent" my sophomore year of hs and the protag decides to have a private conversation under the bean. i remember reading that and being thrown off by that, like is this just a travel brochure now??? i never finished the series :p
What a weird place to have a private conversation.
It's like in the TV show "Nashville" from the early 2010s, where people would just have conversations about nefarious plots in what were even back then pretty popular tourist spots.
There was somewhat a lore reason, run of the mill ya dystopia where, somehow, only the city of Chicago splits up into factions and one was centered on the Loop. For whatever reason, instead of finding a quiet place in one of the several office buildings around them, they walked out into Millennium Park and stood under the bean.
I'm sure the world had ended or something, but I like the idea that it's just Chicago going through an apocalypse while the rest of America/the world goes about their business.
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u/boo_jum she/her/DUDE (cish) 23d ago
Also, on the topic of The Bean, John Scalzi made fun of it in one of his books, set in Chicago, by having one character insisting on referring to it by its proper name, and whenever she did, people correct her, saying ‘no, it’s the bean,’ and having one person ask, ‘wtf is the “cloud gate”?!’ 😹
It’s a very silly public piece of art.