Beyond fandom: Outlander Facebook fan groups and the guardianship of an imagined Scotland

Abstract

With the release of the novel Outlander (1991) by American author Diana Gabaldon and the subsequent television adaptation in 2014, Scotland has experienced an exponential rise in screen tourism which is being dubbed the ‘Outlander effect’. While the steady influx of Outlander fans is mostly perceived as an economic boon, media outlets and heritage agencies have begun reporting damages to Scottish heritage sites due to increased Outlander-related tourism. The media coverage of these damages depicts the actions of ‘rampaging’, ‘loutish’, ‘crack-pot’, ‘selfie-mad’ Outlander fans which is proving to be a troubling colouration of Outlander fans in the media. This article examines the relationship between an online Outlander Facebook fan community called OutlandishUK and tourism to Scotland. Drawing from ethnographic and netnographic research, this article examines how online Facebook fan groups are embracing the role of being proactive online communities that engage fluidly with members of the media and regional interest groups to promote proper care of heritage sites in Scotland by the wider Outlander fandom. In contrast to the negative colouration of fans as vandals, the article suggests that it is through these collaborative efforts these fan groups are looking beyond fandom to act as guardians of Scottish heritage and facilitate regional tourism in Scotland.

Media Tourism and Its Role in Sustaining Scotland’s Tourism Industry

“…Some work has already been undertaken in examining the role of the fan as media tourist who created their own media text-based tours [2]. or how fans work closely with local and regional organisations to promote fan bases and encourage respectful tourist etiquette [45] and take on the role of fan activist [63]. This is shown with Garrison's [45] case study of Outlander fans, where fans of the novels and television show created a local map of Inverness complete with tie-in quotes from the Outlander books and television show and references to how local spots link to the Outlander narrative universe.…”

“…or how fans work closely with local and regional organisations to promote fan bases and encourage respectful tourist etiquette [45] and take on the role of fan activist [63]. This is shown with Garrison's [45] case study of Outlander fans, where fans of the novels and television show created a local map of Inverness complete with tie-in quotes from the Outlander books and television show and references to how local spots link to the Outlander narrative universe. This map was created by fans and supported by the local community through endorsements.…”

“…As noted above, within the last 25 years, Scotland has borne witness to the rise and fall of several media texts which directly impacted Scottish tourism. As illustrated with case studies on The Da Vinci Code [23,64], Braveheart [6,65], Monty Python [6] and Outlander [45,47], popularity of media texts peaks at one point or another. What we must question is, what do these media texts leave behind?…”

“…The film was based on the events of the Scottish Wars of Independence and engendered a significant tourism boom in Scotland, with Scotland being branded as 'Braveheart Country' by destination market organisations (DMOs) [41]. This campaign led by the Scottish Tourism Board (now VisitScotland), along with the popularity of the film, contributed to the number of visitors to Scotland increasing by 4% in 1995, with a 1996 survey showing that 1 in 5 visitors from the USA was influenced by seeing Scotland on screen [45]. The same year, nearly £15 million worth of tourist revenue was injected into the economy.…”

Understanding Film Fan Tourism: An Inventory of 15 Years of Research

“…When they go further (14), they explore genres or formats, such as TV detective series (Reijnders, 2010b), nang rak films (Promkhuntong, 2021) or anime (Okamoto, 2009;Sabre, 2017;Ono et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2022;Mori, 2022;Lin et al, 2021). Others study a group of productions associated with a specific destination, such as Vancouver (Brooker, 2007) or Scotland (Garrison;Wallace, 2021). Most of the studies also analyse authentic screen locations, meaning locations that are depicted in the film or television series or where the production was filmed (30).…”