Thanks for the info about film and TV-related tourist traps...oops...sites. This
is exactly the kind of localized knowledge I'm looking for. It seems like a lot
of small towns like Natchitoches are really capitalizing on the movie industry
and tourism is becoming an increasingly important economic factor. What do the
locals think of the tourists (aside from their pocketbooks, that is)? Has the
tourism affected the community's self-identity? Has the influx of "pilgrims"
been positively received by the community, or just a few entrepreneurs?
 
I think Jeremy's question is a very interesting one, too:
> And, Pam, what if the site in question was already a tourist attraction
> before it was featured in a film/TV?  There's obvious ones like Hitchcock's
> use of landmarks (Mt. Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, the Fourth Bridge,
> etc.), but what of situations like UNDER SIEGE's use of the U.S.S.
> Alabama (permanently moored as a tourist attraction in Mobile) as a
> stand-in for the U.S.S. Missouri?  For fans/tourists in the know, this
> use of the Alabama provides for a certain frisson when they visit it.
 
I'd like to hear more about examples of this phenomenon, too. Does the use of a
site in a film significantly increase tourism to that spot? How does it add
layers of meaning for "fans/tourists in the know"?
 
I guess I'm also wondering--what is the source of this attraction to cinematic
places? I'm sure it's related to star phenomena, where the places become stars
in their own right. But what, for example, would compel a family to take a
vacation across the country to stand in a spot that was featured in a film
(aside from the "behind-the-scenes" tours of film sets), or even more
mystically, to make a pilgrimage to a place like Schuyler, Virginia, that had no
direct representation onscreen but which was the writer's real-life model for a
fictional place (Walton's Mountain)? I find these questions to be at the heart
of understanding fan behavior and the cinema/TV of tourist attractions (sorry,
Sergei and Tom).
 
> I know we're getting off topic since you're specifically looking for
> sites which owe their popularity to films or TV series, but the
> use of familiar sites which bring their own "popularity" to a
> film/TV series provides an interesting flip side of what you're
> exploring.  Perhaps?
 
I certainly think this is part of the whole phenomenon--so if anyone has
thoughts, please share them. By the way, Jeremy, since you've done work on
stars, what do you think the connections are between star people and star
places?
 
Keep those cards and letters coming.... Thanks!
 
**************************
Pam Wilson
[log in to unmask]