Fusing fact and fiction: Placemaking through film tours in Edinburgh

Abstract

The current article focuses on the cultural practice of four film tours in Edinburgh, Scotland, analysing how film tours like these contribute to more general placemaking processes. Prior research has shown how film tours have become a staple of the tourist consumption of many contemporary cities. Building on these studies, the current article focuses explicitly on one of the defining features of these tours, namely the fictional character of their central topic. More particularly, this study examines how film tours are built up around a presumed conflation of imagined and material space. It argues that film tours are forms of cultural ‘work’ in which fictional plotlines from cinema are integrated into and used to revitalize notions of place. Through these practices, cinematic fiction eventually becomes part of what is experienced as the ‘true core’ of Edinburgh.

(M)apping film in Scotland: Film tour maps, apps and ‘real’ engagements with virtual place

“…Media products have been shown to have an impact on tourism, for example though the practice of film tourism. Film tourism is an increasingly popular leisure practice (Beeton, 2016; Reijnders, 2011) in ‘which media products have become incentives for people to explore places, as people are enticed by imaginations of these places from popular television series and films’ (Schiavone and Reijnders, 2022: 4). There are different ways in which tourists can connect to a place through media.…”

‘Beneath the storyline’: analysing the role and importance of film in the preservation and development of Scottish heritage sites

“…(Jenni, VisitScotland 6 ) Film is framed as something that often acts as a first pull for travelling for many tourists. Prior research frames this as the '"hook or trigger"-approach' (Torchin 2002;Schiavone and Reijnders 2020), a very utilitarian approach towards popular culture where popular culture is simply used as a pull-factor, without making those associations part of a broader understanding of local heritage.…”

Popular Culture Tourism: Conceptual Foundations and State of Play

“…One essential element of these perspectives is the link between popular culture tourism and placemaking. Places are a meld of imagined and material spaces where sometimes mythical elements are used to develop and sustain tourism and regenerate places (Brocken, 2016;Lashua et al, 2014;Schiavone & Reijnders, 2022). This transformative power of popular culture tourism is evidenced in studies where cities have turned to cultural industries, sports, leisure and events to reinvent themselves and rebuild communities (Aitchison & Evans, 2003;Bramham & Wagg, 2009), while also pointing at both the potentials and the challenges of parallel narratives regarding tourism destinations (Gyimóthy, 2018), as well as the need to carefully consider the appropriateness of exploiting the potential of popular culture tourism in destinations (Larson et al, 2013).…”