Continuing the Conversation About Symbolic Pilgrimage and Aura
April 15th, 2008 by DanielleI wanted to continue our conversation about symbolic pligrimages and the question of whether there really is a certain aura that surrounds texts and places of fandom. After reading Brooker and listening to the comments in class, I was thinking about the phenomenon of visiting preserved historical sites such as Plimoth Plantation and the Vanderbilt Mansion. At Plymouth, for example, actors dress up in clothes of the 1500s and stay in character as they go about their daily lives as if they really were pilgrims first settling in America. So, I would say that visitors to Plymouth can make a sort of connection to the past and put themselves physically into space that would otherwise be inaccessible. This seems to be very similar to what Brooker talks about when he talks about pilgrimages to Graceland and the Coronation Street set. He quotes Sandvoss and says, “the emotional significance of visiting a place lies in the ability of fans to put themselves physically into the otherwise textual universe” (Brooker, 160).
At the Vanderbilt Mansion, there are no actors, only tour guides that lead visitors through the home, talking about the significance of certain rooms, paintings, etc. based on the real lives and events of the Vanderbilt family. Still, when you walk through the house, there is a sort of sense of travelling in space and time in order to enter an “otherwise textual universe.” Using another quote from Brooker, “one gets a bit closer to the man and his time by being in places associated with him,” and this seems to be the phenomenon that takes place as countless visitors walk through the rooms of these mansions that have no substantial significance except through the symbolic values tour guides and visitors seem to bestow upon them.
Would we say this is a different phenomenon or practice than the types of pilgrimages and emotional connections fans make to places or other physical spaces associated with a fan object? I wouldn’t necessarily say that all visitors to Plimoth Plantation or the Vanderbilt Mansion are fans of the sites themselves, and they are not necessarily history fans either, so how do we compare what seem to be very similar yet still somehow different practices?
Oh, and on a totally different note, I just wanted to bring people’s attention to a comment I had made on Loretta’s post about 2ge+her…I had been editing the comment and it posted before I was able to finish it, but now the full comment is there, links and all. I’m not sure how that happened, but it’s fixed now. The links to O-Town music videos are good for entertainment value if nothing else if you want to check it out.
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I think it really depends on the motivations of the visitor. I would consider myself a serious history fan, and have been to numerous battlefields (especially Civil War battlefields) across the country and enjoy seeing reenactments. I love (for very fannish reasons) the experience of touring Andrew Jackson’s plantation and seeing the places where events that I have studied extensively occured and figures I admire enormously have stayed is quite exciting.
That said, some may just participate in some societal norm of the aura for the purposes of gaining cultural capital i.e. those who visit Independence Hall for the sake of visiting Independence Hall. Others may feel a profound, unfannish connection to areas such as cemeteries.
Just a long way of saying that it depends on the person…
I feel as though the Vanderbilt mansions and old homes are the example of how modern society has done away with the auratic tradition. Those who can’t travel to the mansions and castles can see photographs of them or watch documentaries on the history channel about them. Also, instead of being mythic structures only accessible by the extremely wealthy, these venues have now been broadened to include anyone who can afford to visit them. The fact that they are impressive buildings and instill a personal sense of awe is not necessarily the same thing as aura, but maybe just a individual reaction based on experience, as abreche1 points out.