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

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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