Thanatourism and Cinematic Representations of Risk
Screening the End of Tourism
By Rodanthi Tzanelli (University of Leeds, UK)
Series: Routledge Advances in Sociology
April 2016 | 240 pages | 7 B/W Illus
Hb: 978-1-138-65264-4: £85.00 £68.00*
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In today’s world, the need to eliminate natural and human-made disasters has been at the forefront of national and international socio-political agendas. The management of risks such as terrorism, labour strikes, protests and environmental degradation has become pivotal for countries that depend on their economy’s tourist sector. Indeed, there is fear that that ‘the end of tourism’ might be nigh due to inadequate institutional foresight. Yet, in designing relevant policies to tackle this, arts such as that of filmmaking have yet to receive due consideration.
This book adopts an unorthodox approach to debates about ‘the end of tourism’. Through twenty-first century cinematic narratives of symbolically interconnected ‘risks’ it considers how art envisages the future of humanity’s well-being. These ‘risks’ include: migration as an infectious disease; alien incursions as racialized labour mobilities; cyborg rebellion as the fear of post-colonial otherness; and zombie anthropophagy as the replacement of rooted identities by nomadic lifestyles.
Such filmic scenarios articulate the futuristic survival of community as the triumph of the technological human over otherness, and provide a means to debate societal risks that weave identity politics into unequal mobilities. This book will appeal to researchers and students interested in mobilities theory, tourism and travel theory, film studies and aesthetics, globalisation studies, race, labour and migration.
ENDORSEMENT
“Tzanelli’s thought-provoking new book masterfully uncovers the complexities which surround dark tourism, helpfully illuminating the deeper political reasons behind its global power to intrigue. Building upon her groundbreaking work on film tourism and pilgrimage, Tzanelli very originally considers popular movies like District 9 and 28 Days Later to provide viewers with virtual access to the possibilities which might exist for the future of humanity, through a reconsideration of its darkest pasts.”– Professor David Martin-Jones, University of Glasgow
