Dark Tourism Futures: Thoughts, Ideas, Scenarios
Philip R. Stone & Daniel W.M. Wright
Chapter 21
Robert Bristow, Alina Gross & Ian Jenkins
Future Dystopian Attractions: Benign Masochism in Dark Tourism
Bristow et al., examine the nature and future of ‘fright attractions.’ The chapter offers a critical account of how and why voyeuristic audiences are drawn to a fictional future of death and suffering, while insisting on a sanitised spectacle. Taking a cross-cultural approach, Bristow et al., anticipate the future of ‘fright tourism’ based upon a macabre interest in death, yet one that is disinfected from reality. With case examples from Japan, Mexico, and Romania, the study is grounded in notions of risk, folklore and mythmaking, geopolitics, religiously, and cultural identity. The chapter also suggests that a ‘benign masochism’ (of pain and pleasure) might be inherent in fright tourism and will remain a key issue for future (lighter) dark tourism attractions and tourist experiences.
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