Of Mice and Minions : ‘Ani-embodiment’ and ‘Metonymic Celebrity’ in the Theme Park Character Encounter

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Williams

This chapter explores the activity of meeting characters within theme parks which provides the opportunity to meet recognizable ‘stars’ from Disney (such as the Princesses and Villains) or Universal (including Shrek, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Simpsons and the Minions). It considers how meeting characters provides an avenue for adult fans to present their own preferences regarding characters, films or brands despite their awareness that these characters are not ‘real’. It argues that theme park meet-and-greets necessitate complex negotiations of immersion, participation and affective attachment. Introducing the concepts of ani-embodiment and metonymic celebrity, the chapter explores what it means to view character interactions as forms of celebrity encounter, and how this complicates established dichotomies of ordinary/celebrity, star/character, and live-action/animation.

Humaniora ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 455
Author(s):  
Anak Agung Ayu Wulandari

Cultural display in an open space or known as cultural parks appears rapidly as a worldwide phenomenon. From the European model which has a strong educational value, to the Asian parks which not only has educational function, but also has recreational purposes. So many types and characteristics of these parks, researches give them different names, thodse are Open-air museums, Ethnographic Theme Parks or even Theme Parks. Taman Mini Indonesia Indah as a part of this phenomenon was built first and foremost for educational purposes, therefore Taman Mini can be considered as an open-air museum. However, since Taman Mini also has recreational purposes, others can argue that Taman Mini is a theme park. Qualitative method will be used for this research, through observation to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, followed by extensive literature review. With these data along with a table which points out the distinction between museum and theme parks. It can  be concluded that Taman Mini is a Theme Park.   


2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 402-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lamya Abbas Darwish Abdulla Lari ◽  
Shilpa Iyanna ◽  
Fauzia Jabeen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify dimensions of theme park quality from an Islamic perspective and develop a framework to examine the interrelationships between theme park service quality dimensions, visitor delight and visitor loyalty in theme parks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a detailed literature review and analysis of visitors’ comments on TripAdvisor.com about their experience in theme parks in the UAE. Findings Theme park service quality can be assessed across 4 main dimensions (physical environment, interaction, consumables and access) and 13 sub-dimensions. A relationship is proposed between these dimensions and visitors’ delight, with visitor loyalty a consequence of visitor delight. Nationality is proposed to have a moderating effect on the delight–loyalty relationship. Originality/value This study attempts to propose a model for theme park service quality that reflects both traditional dimensions of service quality and dimensions related to Islamic attributes. It is one of very few attempts to investigate theme park visitors’ perception of service quality and its relation to delight and loyalty in the UAE. It is also, as far as the authors are aware, the first study to investigate the moderating effect of nationality on the delight–loyalty relationship.


Author(s):  
Tayllor Lillestol ◽  
Dallen J. Timothy ◽  
Rebekka Goodman

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the competitive strategies employed by two of the largest theme park operators in Florida, based on a content analysis of popular media articles about theme park giants in the USA. It aims to provide a comparative examination of their competitive strategies, to develop a conceptual model of the same and to expand knowledge about current competitiveness in the theme park sector. Design/methodology/approach – This study used directed content analysis to identify and analyze strategies applied in the theme park sector as manifested in the mass media. Each database was searched using the following four key terms: competition, strategy, Disney and Universal Studios. Results were screened for relevance based on their inclusion of all four key terms. At the conclusion of the search, 87 articles from 34 US-based sources were amassed, varying in circulation size and published between 1985 and 2013. Each article was read, and sentences that suggested the use of a strategy were recorded. Although the intention was to leave each data point at a one-sentence maximum, occasionally, a second sentence was included for context and clarification. Each article was read twice to ensure the inclusion of all potential data points. Findings – The findings suggest that the largest US-based theme parks utilize strategies of value, uniqueness, niche markets, innovation, variety and quality as highlighted in the research literature. However, this study also confirms two additional competitive strategies that have heretofore not been examined in tourism studies – currency and convenience – as advantageous management and promotional mechanisms against their competitors. Research limitations/implications – Limitations to this research include a limited number of popular media articles available for analysis. This precluded a random sample of articles. In addition, the study was based on print media statements and keyword identification, which could also limit the generalizability of the findings. Nonetheless, it is believed that the case studies researched in this paper are indicative of many of the competitive strategies used by theme park managers throughout the world. Practical implications – The paper developed a competitive strategy model that has utility for them park planners and managers, as they attempt to understand the competitive advantages and those of their direct competitors. The findings in this study have broader implications for other theme parks throughout the world. Social implications – The social implications of this study are manifold. They include the notion that theme park attendees manifest certain behaviors and seek out certain experiences as they make decisions on which parks to attend. The notions of value, uniqueness, niche markets, innovation, variety, quality, currency and convenience all reveal how some consumers determine their choice of venue for recreational travel. Originality/value – This paper provides an original research of the theme park sector by examining two of the USA’s largest theme park giants and the strategies they use in a comparative and competitive manner to attraction clientele and maintain visitation. In particular, the paper develops a conceptual model based upon the review of strategies literature and, then, tests it and modifies it based on the findings of the study.


Author(s):  
Victoria Godwin

Theme parks such as Universal Orlando's Wizarding World of Harry Potter (WWoHP) offer material interfaces that engage multiple senses (touch, taste, and smell, as well as the sight and sound of more conventional narrative forms) to facilitate immersion in imaginary story worlds. They thus offer new aspects of both fan tourism and material fan practices to explore. Both fan studies and current scholarship on theme parks emphasize active participatory conceptions, countering oversimplifications and misrepresentations of both audiences and theme park visitors as passive spectators or consumers. Corporate-created and -controlled theme parks frame and market fan activities to encourage consumption. Yet fans often use merchandise as additional interfaces to participate actively and to facilitate immersion. For example, in WWoHP, interactive wands use technology to create specific physical "spell" effects in specific locations. Both wands and spells act as a synecdoche for the story world's magic, enabling immersion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-108
Author(s):  
Carissa Baker

Theme parks are fascinating texts built on spatial narratives and detailed storyworlds. Worldbuilding and subcreation are literal in these spaces, but they likewise contain symbolic experiences that represent cultural and historical imaginaries. China is one of the largest markets in the global theme park industry. The design ethos in many parks is to represent fantasy versions of reality or depict cultural beliefs. This article offers analysis of examples in Chinese parks that signify simulated place or culture (for example, Splendid China’s parks), a romanticized historical time (the Songcheng parks), local stories (Sunac Land parks), and national cultural stories (the Fantawild Oriental Heritage model). Each of these spaces presents narratives and immersive environments that have the power to engage visitors on physical, sensual, conceptual, and emotional levels. They are second worlds to play in, imagine in, and to consume fantasy in while also providing a shifting model of theme park experience.


2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 61-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian G. Brereton

Cornell University This paper analyzes the mnemonic roles of mythological theme parks in contemporary Taiwan. I investigate two popular theme parks, Madou’s “Prefecture that Represents Heaven” (代天府) and its single Taiwanese precedent, the “Palace of Southern Heaven” (南天宮) in Zhanghua. I term these sites “mythological theme parks” because they differ significantly in form and function from other popular religious temples throughout Taiwan and China. Though both theme park and temple are loci of social production and reproduction, the nature of interaction at mythological theme parks resembles in many ways that which occurs at the imaginary realms manufactured by secular theme parks. These mythological theme parks feature moral imaginaries displayed in sculptural and animatronic depictions of the afterlife and acts of filial piety. My study addresses both textual sources and ethnographic data, collected while conducting fieldwork during the summers of 2004 and 2005, to evaluate how these mythological theme parks culturally convey the past into the present.


Author(s):  
Eddy Von Mueller

Few figures of the 20th century have made so deep and indelible an impact on world culture as Walt Disney. Few people have direct knowledge of Walter Elias Disney’s life, his precise contributions to cinema, or the television programs, toys, and attractions that bear his name, but Disney is nevertheless a name familiar to hundreds of millions. Since the early 1920s, Disney, his companies, and his collaborators have been at the forefront of many cinematic and industrial innovations, including synchronized (and later stereophonic) sound, Technicolor, television, and computer-generated animation. Disney expanded into animated features, fiction and documentary live-action filmmaking, self-distribution, and theme parks. Today, the Disney organization stands alone among the few survivors of the studio era with much of its core business and its brand still intact, a brand constantly renewed, vigorously policed, and sometimes aggressively protected. The Disney Company preserves, shapes, and profits by its own history and that of its celebrated founding father-figure. While Disney artifacts can be found in many a middle-class home, the principal archives of Disney materials are curated and controlled either by the company itself or by his heirs through the Disney Family Foundation, and the company and foundation’s various publishing imprints add more than any university press to the ever-growing Disney literature. With Disney’s nominal oeuvre constantly expanding on screens big and small, this bibliography is, of course, anything but complete. Rather, it is a sampling of the historical, critical, theoretical, and aesthetic perspectives on the man, his times, his company, and the motion pictures and places he helped to create. Many more critiques of individual films have been published than could be included here, but you will find examples of most of the prevalent methodologies and approaches used in such critiques. The selected pieces of certain particularly prolific scholars are representative of their scholarship and style as a whole. Likewise, only a fraction of the mammoth resources available online are included here—Cartoon Brew, edited by Amid Amidi, and Dan Sarto’s Animation World Network, are both excellent jumping-off points into that vast terrain. Some readers will no doubt find cause to disagree with some of those selections. Finally, the author is deeply indebted to Dr. Richard Neupert, who began this expedition and contributed much to it.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1008-1009 ◽  
pp. 1543-1547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsing Ping Kuo ◽  
Kang Li Wu

This study adopted E-Da Theme Park, a popular Taiwan theme park newly established in 2010, as a research case setting to explore the relationship between theme parks’ service quality and customer satisfaction. In addition, it also explored whether visitors’ satisfaction would be influenced by amusement parks’ service quality. By using a questionnaire survey, and regarding those tourists of E-Da Theme Park as a research object, this study explored the influence of the park’s service quality on its customer satisfaction. Research results showed that the aspects of a theme park’s service quality, including tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy, had a significant influence on customer satisfaction. Those research outcomes can be provided as a reference to theme park practitioners in terms of their management and operation planning, and draft appropriate strategies of service quality to improve customers’ satisfaction and create a better brand image of theme park.


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