Campus Location
Abilene Campus (Residential)
Date of Award
8-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Communication
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Randall Fowler
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Joe Cardot
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Mikee Delony
Abstract
The ability of humans to share stories has changed over time. From myths shared around a campfire to the introduction of cinema, we can now tell massive, immersive stories on an epic scale. One example of this is the storytelling present in theme parks. Present-day theme parks are continuously growing and expanding each year both in size and attendance. The continued success of these theme parks and the rhetorical influences of their audiences is a cultural phenomenon that deserves rhetorical scrutiny. My analysis looks at how one theme park, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida, immerses guests into the stories that they are telling in an attempt to understand the success of this park. I analyze these narratives through Joseph Campbell’s vision of a monomyth or hero’s journey, arguing that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter uses the hero’s journey narrative structure to send guests on their own immersive “journey.” With a lens of constitutive rhetoric, I argue that various spaces in the park hail audiences and interpellate them into different roles throughout the park, immersing them into the story and reducing their chances of opting out. My analysis reveals one possible way that theme parks use narratives to immerse audiences, thereby leading to the park’s desired rhetorical effects.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Bolin, Kendra, "Harry Potter and the Immersive Space: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter" (2024). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 814.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/814