Wizarding Shrines and Police Box Cathedrals: Re-envisioning Religiosity through Fan and Media Pilgrimages

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Toy, J Caroline
Language:	English
Published:	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2020
Subjects:	Religion Folklore Mass Media fan culture fan studies popular culture fiction-based religion invented religion Doctor Who fans Sherlock Holmes fans Harry Potter fans pilgrimage secular pilgrimage
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587605749537652

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu15876057495376522021-08-03T07:14:40Z Wizarding Shrines and Police Box Cathedrals: Re-envisioning Religiosity through Fan and Media Pilgrimages Toy, J Caroline Religion Folklore Mass Media fan culture fan studies popular culture fiction-based religion invented religion Doctor Who fans Sherlock Holmes fans Harry Potter fans pilgrimage secular pilgrimage Fan communities, once considered marginal, have become an object of study across many academic disciplines. While considerable energy has been devoted to studying fans' creative works, little work has attended to religiosity in fandom, beyond superficial comparisons of fan behaviors to religious ones. As yet, no one has produced an analysis of this relationship addressing the complexity of a subculture that behaves religiously (by any academic understanding) but does not usually identify itself as religious. This dissertation examines the religious nature of fan practices as seen in pilgrimages related to the mega- franchises Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and Sherlock. The aim is not merely to demonstrate that these pilgrimages are religious, but also to explicate how religiosity works in such non-traditional contexts--that is, through pilgrimages in commercial and ordinary spaces that make no claim to transcendent authority. This analysis questions assumptions about what makes a shrine a shrine, a community religious, or a narrative or ritual an expression of values and belief.This research examines seven fan pilgrimage sites using ethnographic data, including participant observation, surveys, and interviews. Sites include the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, FL; the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter; Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station in London, UK; filming locations and sites that inspired the Harry Potter movies in Oxford, UK; the Doctor Who Experience, Cardiff, UK; Ianto's Shrine, Cardiff, UK; and the memorial to Sherlock Holmes at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, UK. Analysis focuses on three themes: creation of sacred space, imagined community, and emergences of belief in ritual and other actions common to fan pilgrimage and traditional religious pilgrimage. Drawing on studies of religion and popular culture, folk belief, fan culture, and narrative theory, this interdisciplinary investigation of fan pilgrimages advances a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between fiction, fandom, and religiosity. I demonstrate that fans' performances of religious repertoires in pilgrimage are not a simulacrum of religion, but do genuine religious work, even as they consciously and playfully defy traditional definitions of religion. This project invites further inquiry into what it means to act religiously outside historical religious traditions in a media-saturated world. 2020-09-02 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587605749537652 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587605749537652 restricted--full text unavailable until 2023-05-13 This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Religion Folklore Mass Media fan culture fan studies popular culture fiction-based religion invented religion Doctor Who fans Sherlock Holmes fans Harry Potter fans pilgrimage secular pilgrimage
spellingShingle	Religion Folklore Mass Media fan culture fan studies popular culture fiction-based religion invented religion Doctor Who fans Sherlock Holmes fans Harry Potter fans pilgrimage secular pilgrimage Toy, J Caroline Wizarding Shrines and Police Box Cathedrals: Re-envisioning Religiosity through Fan and Media Pilgrimages
author	Toy, J Caroline
author_facet	Toy, J Caroline
author_sort	Toy, J Caroline
title	Wizarding Shrines and Police Box Cathedrals: Re-envisioning Religiosity through Fan and Media Pilgrimages
title_short	Wizarding Shrines and Police Box Cathedrals: Re-envisioning Religiosity through Fan and Media Pilgrimages
title_full	Wizarding Shrines and Police Box Cathedrals: Re-envisioning Religiosity through Fan and Media Pilgrimages
title_fullStr	Wizarding Shrines and Police Box Cathedrals: Re-envisioning Religiosity through Fan and Media Pilgrimages
title_full_unstemmed	Wizarding Shrines and Police Box Cathedrals: Re-envisioning Religiosity through Fan and Media Pilgrimages
title_sort	wizarding shrines and police box cathedrals: re-envisioning religiosity through fan and media pilgrimages
publisher	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2020
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587605749537652
work_keys_str_mv	AT toyjcaroline wizardingshrinesandpoliceboxcathedralsreenvisioningreligiositythroughfanandmediapilgrimages
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Wizarding Shrines and Police Box Cathedrals: Re-envisioning Religiosity through Fan and Media Pilgrimages

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