Beyond the Limits of Narratology. Narrativity in Theme Parks

Abstract

This essay draws on research in transmedial narratology to propose a model of theme park storytelling, thus addressing a curious gap in the scholarship. For, while theme park scholars have recently become interested in the narrativity of theme parks but have largely failed to engage with the theories and tools of transmedial narratology, the latter field has simply ignored the medium of the theme park so far. Based on two case studies drawn from European theme parks and located at scales rarely addressed by theme park critics – namely, those of the themed area and the park as a whole – we suggest that theme parks offer storyworlds whose eventfulness is (1) transferred to the visitor (who may also step into the role of the protagonist); (2) conceived in terms of cultural imagology as an implicit cultural history; or (3) shifted to texts with prototypical narration (e.g., narrative paratexts or narrative rides and shows).