Page 60 - Dark Shades of Istria
P. 60
Media Perspective on Dark Tourism and Memory
w w i i and the holocaust were among the top memory-related topics of
the 1980s and 1990s (Sturken, 2008, p. 73) and, as indicated below, they are
still the most relevant dark tourism topic. This means that tourism attrac-
tions and media are also interconnected, where presentation in the media
is the last of the five steps of creation of a tourist attraction (MacCannell
in Seaton, 1999).² In this context, dark tourism sites and the visiting of
these sites have been attributed a special status in the media: the status
of a myth or a meta-myth, a genre of travel motivation and attraction,
and a social pathology, which creates moral panic (Seaton & Lennon,
2004, p. 63). Moreover, different groups of victims contest with each other
due to memory politics and related international/national recognition.
They influence public opinion and intensify pressure through the me-
dia and/or academic attention (Schaller, 2011). However, researching dark
tourism from the media perspective is less common than researching it
in other contexts, e.g. tourism management, heritage tourism or experi-
ence/behaviour of tourists (Light, 2017, p. 293).
Memory studies as an interdisciplinary research area should be in an
uncomplicated and mutual relationship with the study of visual culture
and new media (Sturken, 2008, p. 77). Contemporary technologies shape
people’s memories of past and present life, and simultaneously shape the
media and memory as cultural concepts (van Dijck, 2010, p. 272). In ac-
cordance with contemporary trends related to the pluralisation of pro-
cesses of remembrance in societies and the media (modern media sys-
tems), such studies should include theoretical as well as empirical re-
search (Zierold, 2008, pp. 405–406). Landsberg (2003, p. 150) claims that,
even though ‘the kinds of commodities disseminated by the mass media
are different in form from more traditional commodities, they require a
similar kind of analysis.’
4.1 Dark Tourism from the Media Perspective
In spite of the marginalisation/negligence of the dead body and death
itself by Western academia and society over the last few centuries (see
sub-chapter ‘2.3 Dark Tourism and the Death System’), they are, in fact,
traditionally very interesting to humans – see Dunkley et al. (2007), Stone
and Sharpley (2008), and Šuligoj (2016). This is also reflected within pop-
ular culture and media output (Durkin, 2003; Walter et al., 1995). Mionel
² These steps are: naming, sight sacralisation, framing and elevation, enshrinement, me-
chanical and social reproduction.
60
w w i i and the holocaust were among the top memory-related topics of
the 1980s and 1990s (Sturken, 2008, p. 73) and, as indicated below, they are
still the most relevant dark tourism topic. This means that tourism attrac-
tions and media are also interconnected, where presentation in the media
is the last of the five steps of creation of a tourist attraction (MacCannell
in Seaton, 1999).² In this context, dark tourism sites and the visiting of
these sites have been attributed a special status in the media: the status
of a myth or a meta-myth, a genre of travel motivation and attraction,
and a social pathology, which creates moral panic (Seaton & Lennon,
2004, p. 63). Moreover, different groups of victims contest with each other
due to memory politics and related international/national recognition.
They influence public opinion and intensify pressure through the me-
dia and/or academic attention (Schaller, 2011). However, researching dark
tourism from the media perspective is less common than researching it
in other contexts, e.g. tourism management, heritage tourism or experi-
ence/behaviour of tourists (Light, 2017, p. 293).
Memory studies as an interdisciplinary research area should be in an
uncomplicated and mutual relationship with the study of visual culture
and new media (Sturken, 2008, p. 77). Contemporary technologies shape
people’s memories of past and present life, and simultaneously shape the
media and memory as cultural concepts (van Dijck, 2010, p. 272). In ac-
cordance with contemporary trends related to the pluralisation of pro-
cesses of remembrance in societies and the media (modern media sys-
tems), such studies should include theoretical as well as empirical re-
search (Zierold, 2008, pp. 405–406). Landsberg (2003, p. 150) claims that,
even though ‘the kinds of commodities disseminated by the mass media
are different in form from more traditional commodities, they require a
similar kind of analysis.’
4.1 Dark Tourism from the Media Perspective
In spite of the marginalisation/negligence of the dead body and death
itself by Western academia and society over the last few centuries (see
sub-chapter ‘2.3 Dark Tourism and the Death System’), they are, in fact,
traditionally very interesting to humans – see Dunkley et al. (2007), Stone
and Sharpley (2008), and Šuligoj (2016). This is also reflected within pop-
ular culture and media output (Durkin, 2003; Walter et al., 1995). Mionel
² These steps are: naming, sight sacralisation, framing and elevation, enshrinement, me-
chanical and social reproduction.
60
