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Understanding Representation Jen Webb

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International Journal of Cultural Studies
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Everywhere and nowhere

Vancouver, fan pilgrimage and the urban imaginary

Will Brooker

Kingston University, England, w.brooker{at}kingston.ac.uk

This article discusses fan pilgrimage, using as a case study the city of Vancouver, Canada — a location that has been used as the basis for several cult television series. It draws on theories of urban geography, particularly of postmodern suburbia (Edward Relph, Jean Baudrillard, Umberto Eco, Fredric Jameson, Edward Soja) to argue that while Vancouver may be valued by film and television producers as a generic, anonymous, `flat' environment, to fan pilgrims who bring their own imaginary maps (based on the fictional geographies of Smallville, The X-Files and Battlestar Galactica ), the city is a rich intersection of possible worlds. The article uses science fiction and superhero metaphors of parallel universes and `infinite earths' to explore this fan experience, arguing finally that pilgrimage can be an act of creation, performance, disguise and carnival that symbolically transforms the location in question, temporarily inverting social structures and making the city into a liberating, playful space. •

Key Words: carnival • city • cognitive mapping • fan • pilgrimage • postmodern • suburb • urban imaginary

International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 10, No. 4, 423-444 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1367877907083078
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