*Written as a final project for the summer 2016 Texas Tech Univeristy course EMC 4301-261: Media, Tourism & Culture in Scotland and Northern Ireland
What is the "Tourist Gaze?"
This is the idea that tourists see places differently because of media and pictures they've already been presented with of that place.
For example, if you have the chance to visit the setting of one of your favorite TV shows, you expect that place to look like it did on TV, right?
Well, oftentimes the reality of a location is different from what tourists expect, so they are often either left disappointed or they purposefully ignore those differences, only photographing or paying attention to features that are similar to what they expected.
There are several things that can interfere with the tourist gaze, such as the removal of TV props, environmental damage, the existence of touristy shops, or even weather conditions.
But sometimes, tourists themselves interfere with the tourist gaze and can change the appearance of a location with their very presence.
This effect of tourists upon each other's perception of a location is what I will document and examine with the ten photographs of this blog post.
The existence of The Kelpies statues in Helix Park Falkirk, where there isn't much but a road and a boat dock in the Caledonian Canal, led to the construction of a visitors center to make visiting The Kelpies more convenient. This building contains information about The Kelpies, toilets, a cafe and a gift shop, while a food and drink stand is maintained even closer to the sculptures. While the Tourist Gaze prepares visitors for no such structures around The Kelpies, the needs of visitors have changed the landscape.
Standing along the beach of Loch Ness, a couple takes a selfie of themselves to prove that they visited the lake. This simple act is repeated at almost every tourist location, with visitors often struggling through crowds to find the perfect location that would make it appear as though they are the only ones at the location. This beach area alongside Loch Ness had several groups of tourists taking pictures, sometimes walking a while down the rocks to find a better view, without people who would taint their Tourist Gaze idea of how it should look.
With the William Wallace Monument barely visible on a hill behind them, these tourists sit on a wall facing the Stirling Castle and talk amongst themselves, talk on the phone, take a picture of a William Wallace statue, and wait for the rest of their group to be ready to leave. Surrounded by impressive architecture and beautiful, rolling hills, tourists often get tired of the beauty in front of them because they have fulfilled their duty to the Tourist Gaze by visiting, seeing and taking pictures of the important features.
The Eilean Donan Castle is the world's most photographed castle, but it's impressive structure, bridge, and surrounding water are hard to photograph without people in brightly colored jackets getting into the frame. As a well-known castle, often seen in photographs with impressive lighting without people on the bridge or grounds, the Tourist Gaze prepares visitors to be the only ones exploring this beautiful, Scottish castle. As it turns out, thousands of people visit the castle every day, crowding into small rooms, filling the walkways, forming lines for several features, and getting into each other's photographs and selfies of the no longer untouched castle.
With a beautiful view of both the mountain ridge above and the loch below to be earned from a decently long hike, the path up to see the Old Man of Storr is also filled with tourists. Whether you set out on a foggy morning or a warm afternoon, the hike is long and filled with groups who are hiking for the fun of hiking, hiking to get a good picture with the large rock, or hiking because your group members want to, you will come across several other groups of visitors, pausing to take pictures of themselves and often including you in the frame.
Have you heard of Scotland's Fairy Pools? These are a set of waterfalls and pools, of which numerous, perfect photographs have been taken, allowing the Tourist Gaze to prepare people for an oasis in the middle of Scotland of pure beauty and tranquility. While these photographs are taken of a real location, the reality of the Fairy Pools is a bit different, with groups of people hiking a winding path and climbing over wet rocks to see increasingly smaller pools and waterfalls the higher they go.
A woman sits on the base of a statue in George Square in Glasgow. Across the square from a large monument to fallen soldiers, it becomes harder to distinguish residents from tourists. In the middle of the square and next to the monument, nobody sits on the statues and a majority of everyone present take several pictures and selfies, while the residents continue walking on their normal paths and ignore everyone whose Tourist Gaze encourages them to take clear pictures without other people in the frame.
The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge allows visitors to cross from the mainland to a tiny, unfenced island in the Irish Sea. Originally used by fisherman, the rope bridge is now a large tourist attraction maintained by the Irish National Trust, with people standing watch to make sure too many tourists don't strain the bridge by walking across at the same time and maintain the queues on either side as tourists wait to walk across and then need to return to the mainland. The Tourist Gaze presents visitors with images of a lonely bridge leading to an isolated island, while the reality is filled with crowds and queues.
The Giant's Causeway may be one of the most well-known locations in Northern Ireland, with people entranced by the hexagonal stones and pillars that the Tourist Gaze has presented them. As such, buses regularly bring people down to the edge of the mainland for people to climb over the volcanic rock and take pictures of each other. Visitors regularly climb to the highest point or the furthest rock they are comfortable with to try taking a picture without including the hordes of people who regularly flood the area.
The Dark Hedges are two rows of very old beech trees on either side of a small road that are featured in the second episode of Game of Thrones as "The Kingsroad." The trees are impressive on their own, but being a part of a popular TV show heightens the Tourist Gaze which presents them without people or modern cars or carvings in the wood. The reality is rather different, with large buses pushing large crowds of visitors to the side of the road as they fail to get pictures of the trees without the pollution of people and cars that they were not expecting.
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