From protocinema to the social media communication of screen locations

Abstract

This dissertation explores the relationship between media and tourism by ex- amining the screen tourism of the German TV series "Der Bergdoktor". It analyzes how different tourism stakeholders communicate on Instagram, and examines how their representations connect, differ and overlap. The theoretical framework situates screen tourism within the long-term co-evolution of media and tourism. The case study of the Wilder Kaiser region in Austria shows that screen products strongly influence the locations and motives featured in social media communica- tion. Screen tourism is co-produced on Instagram by different actor groups. While these groups vary in terms of their posts’ performance, composition, and descrip- tions, they share some characteristics, such as the influencer aesthetic. While Desti- nation accounts remain more closely connected to the physical Wilder Kaiser, Screen Tourists and Production accounts engage more with the fictional and symbolic world of the TV series. These findings demonstrate how media is increasingly shaping tourism experiences beyond the physical trip, and how groups co-producing screen tourism on social media are accelerating the movement towards hyperreality. The core method of the case study is classifying the accounts into different mod- ified groups: Screen Tourist, Destination and Production. It combines quantitative Instagram data with qualitative trace interviews to generate more insightful ’thick data’. The study compares the TV series’ portrayal of the Wilder Kaiser, as rep- resented by operationalised film geography data, with depictions on social media. Although this is a case-specific study, the methodology and diverse data sources provide a basis for the broader theorisation of contemporary screen tourism. This enables the findings to be situated within the historical tourism-media nexus, iden- tifying postmodern screen tourism as its contemporary form. The case study is underpinned by a theoretical framework that spans postmod- ern philosophy and screen tourism methodology. The central theoretical perspec- tives are provided by Baudrillard’s theory of simulation, Jansson’s mediatization and Urry’s post tourism. Reijnders’ categorization of media tourism co-production also provides a methodological starting point for the case study analysis. Keywords: Screen tourism, social media, Instagram, post modernism, simula- tion, mediatization, post tourist, staged authenticity, co-production, destination, pro- duction, de-differentiation, ZDF, Bergdoktor, Wilder Kaiser