Future Dystopian Attractions: Benign Masochism in Dark Tourism
Robert S. Bristow, Ian Jenkins, and Alina Gross
Human misery and murder – so long as they were fake – were intriguing, and we, as a group, could glimpse the, from the safety of a show (Kullstroem, 2017: 263).
Introduction
Ancient Roman gladiatorial games may be one of the first practices of dark tourism where the spectator sought not only a death experience but one for entertainment (Stone, 2006; Stone et al., 2022). Thus, the birth of fright tourism emerged when the visitor desired some pleasurable opportunity at a dark event and not one simply seeking a pilgrimage or educational prospect. Today, fright attractions are big business. In the United States alone, the autumn Halloween season accounts for 10 billion US dollars (National Retail Federation, 2022). That interest is expected to continue in a society that will survive the current global COVID-19 pandemic (at the time of writing). This voyeuristic audience is drawn to a fictional future of death and suffering, while insisting on a sanitised experience. Even during the pandemic period, Halloween seasons have remained interest in these attractions, albeit one with face medical masks and social distancing. Beyond Halloween, that interest is found throughout the world. For example, the Japanese culture has a strong fascination with ghost themed fright attractions despite a real and horrific history.
The future of dark tourism destinations will still appeal to those seeking solace or to embrace our horrid history. Yet, these histories may yield unpleasant memories that have a long-lasting fate. For fright tourism, these settings that are sometime called ‘dark fun factories’ (after Stone, 2006) which are frequently fictionalised accounts of the past, present, or future (Powell & Iankova, 2016; Stone, 2009). Indeed, a fun-centric setting is central in fright attractions (Bristow & Newman, 2005; Kendrick, 1991; Wyatt et al., 2020), whereby settings are guided by industry gatekeepers who manipulate history into a tourist product for mass touristic consumption (Bristow, 2020; Tzanelli, 2016). Therefore, the purpose of this chapter, is to anticipate the potential future of fright tourism based upon a macabre interest in death, yet one disinfected from reality to escape the realism of death and suffering today. Consequently, we offer a brief history of the interest in fright attractions and link both the aversion to risk as well as the appeal of risky venues in present-day society. We also explore a global industry where several cultural milieus are discovered in our case study approach to understand the desirability of various fright attractions. This offers examples of the global prospect of citizens that desire a safe, sanitary, yet frightfully fun situation that we suspect will continue in a world that faces death and suffering on a regular basis. We offer several suggestions for the future tourism industry to incorporate the morbid desire of fright tourists.
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This is the intro to our chapter in a new book:
Stone, P.R. & Wright D. (Eds) (Forthcoming) The Future of Dark Tourism: Enlightening New Horizons (Channel View Publications).
Details forthcoming
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