Jenny Wise Jenny Wise i(27285227 works by)
Gender: Female
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 Crime Experiences at Dark or ‘Gothic’ Tourism Sites : Edutainment and Storytelling at the Melbourne Watch House (Australia) Jenny Wise , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: Aeternum : The Journal of Contemporary Gothic Studies , August vol. 10 no. 2023; (p. 45-68) 'Storytelling is a vital feature of most crime and law enforcement related tourism sites. The Melbourne City Watch House (Australia) uses interactive and immersive storytelling techniques to create ‘edutainment’ opportunities for tourists, placing it on the ‘lighter’ end of Philip Stone’s ‘dark tourism’ spectrum. This paper examines how the site utilises storytelling techniques and immersive experiences to provide a Gothically entertaining, yet educational experience for tourists. For example, tourists can be ‘searched’, ‘locked-up’ and have mug shots taken within a cell. Within the analysis, Philip Stone’s ‘dark tourism’ spectrum and Gothic tourism frameworks are used to explore the tour and how the storytelling techniques become acceptable despite the ‘dark’ nature of the site and exhibits themselves. The use of actors to dramatise the experience provides audiences with a unique Gothic adventure that leaves visitors unsettled, yet entertained. Utilising participatory ‘theatre’ techniques and framing the narrative around ‘law enforcement’ versus ‘offenders’ enables such sites to promote ‘lighter’ forms of entertainment while nevertheless romanticising state power. It is evident that the voices of those detained at the Watch House are either silenced or manipulated through the storytelling process to reinforce political narratives around effective law enforcement.' 

(Publication abstract)
X