Bridging the Digital and the Physical: Recollections of Media Tourism on Reddit

Media Tourism is the practice of traveling to one's favorite destinations from popular media such as movies, tv shows, or video games. Research on media tourists’ experiences in these locations showed that fans value physical proximity, which enhances emotional connection to the media. In these tourist spaces, fans collectively participate in media tourism and co-create a sense of community through the shared emotional connection and experiences. These experiences have been shared in online communities, specifically subreddits, where a sense of virtual community is created through members’ interaction and common passions. After a thematic analysis of over 300 posts and comments from subreddits of Breaking Bad, Gilmore Girls, and The Walking Dead, the findings of this project highlight that the aspect of community co-creation is reconstructed in online communities. Particularly, the findings highlight that the members of online communities co-construct their media tourists’ experiences, specifically through the employment of media knowledge. Subreddits replace the role of tourist spaces, where emotional connections to the media are re-established as members relive each other’s shared experiences. A particular emphasis of media tourists’ behavior is placed on the sharing of knowledge, as members divulge useful information that can help others partake in media tourism. This includes disciplining of others’ behavior, as users encourage accepted behavior both in tourist and digital spaces, aiding in the continuation of media tourism. Ultimately, the reconstruction of media tourists’ experiences in online communities tends to mirror the co-creative process of a sense of community that happens in non-virtual locations, emphasizing how online communities maintain the cultural and interactive aspects of media tourism. The findings of this study can help understand what role online communities play in the larger phenomenon of media tourism, as they tend to help new and old members of fandoms participate.