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Rural tourism in Australia — has the gaze altered? Tracking rural images through film and tourism promotion
Author(s) -
Beeton Sue
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
international journal of tourism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.155
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1522-1970
pISSN - 1099-2340
DOI - 10.1002/jtr.479
Subject(s) - legend , tourism , idyll , promotion (chess) , politics , cognitive dissonance , rural tourism , romance , gaze , sociology , rural area , advertising , aesthetics , psychology , media studies , history , social psychology , tourism geography , political science , art , law , business , literature , art history , psychoanalysis
Abstract Australians' image of themselves and how others view them is embedded in the images presented by contemporary popular media, both domestic and international. Many of these images are rural; however, they are not based on a Romantic rural idyll but, rather, stem from notions of the Australian ‘bush’. The meaning behind these images not only reflects the attitudes and political environment of the day, but also can influence potential tourists' desire to visit the country. By looking at three film versions (spanning almost a century) of the popular Australian bushranging legend, Ned Kelly, and their relationship with tourism images, we can start to consider this relationship. While the Kelly legend is influential in terms of Australian self‐image, the images presented in the movies do not correlate with the tourism images of the time. Such dissonance creates confusion in visitors' perceptions and represents lost promotional opportunities possibly even having a negative effect on rural tourism. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.