| TAZ-TFM-2025-1539 |
From Screen to Scene: The Influence of Blossoms Shanghai on Domestic Tourism and Place-Myth
Shao Aihua
Manuela Ruiz Pardos (dir.)
Universidad de Zaragoza,
FEGP,
2025
Máster en Dirección y Planificación del Turismo
Abstract: This thesis examines the intricate interplay between media representation, affective memory, and urban transformation through a case study of Blossoms Shanghai, a television series directed by Wong Kar-wai. It investigates how the series reconfigures Shanghai’s 1990s identity, transforming cinematic imagination into embodied urban experience and sustainable cultural capital.
Rather than approaching film-induced tourism as a purely economic phenomenon, this research conceptualizes it as a dynamic process of place-myth construction, in which mediated narratives, collective affect, and embodied social practices co-produce the city’s meaning. Through a mixed-method approach—combining textual analysis, digital ethnography, user-generated content mining, and field observation—this study reveals how Blossoms Shanghai converts fictional emotion into spatial experience. Locations such as Huanghe Road, Jinxian Road, and the Peace Hotel have evolved into performative sites of “mediated pilgrimage,” where visitors reenact scenes, consume iconic dishes, and collectively reconstruct the city’s past through nostalgia.
The findings demonstrate that Blossoms Shanghai functions as a catalyst for both economic revitalization and the re-articulation of urban memory. However, the process also exposes tensions between aesthetic representation and local authenticity, highlighting challenges of cultural commodification and spatial justice in heritage neighborhoods.
Theoretically, the research advances interdisciplinary dialogues among cultural geography, media studies, and affect theory by foregrounding the constitutive role of affect in the circulation of mediated space. It proposes a conceptual framework of “affective urbanism,” emphasizing that the emotional labor of spectators, tourists, and residents is central to the sustainability of media-driven urban renewal.
Rather than approaching film-induced tourism as a purely economic phenomenon, this research conceptualizes it as a dynamic process of place-myth construction, in which mediated narratives, collective affect, and embodied social practices co-produce the city’s meaning. Through a mixed-method approach—combining textual analysis, digital ethnography, user-generated content mining, and field observation—this study reveals how Blossoms Shanghai converts fictional emotion into spatial experience. Locations such as Huanghe Road, Jinxian Road, and the Peace Hotel have evolved into performative sites of “mediated pilgrimage,” where visitors reenact scenes, consume iconic dishes, and collectively reconstruct the city’s past through nostalgia.
The findings demonstrate that Blossoms Shanghai functions as a catalyst for both economic revitalization and the re-articulation of urban memory. However, the process also exposes tensions between aesthetic representation and local authenticity, highlighting challenges of cultural commodification and spatial justice in heritage neighborhoods.
Theoretically, the research advances interdisciplinary dialogues among cultural geography, media studies, and affect theory by foregrounding the constitutive role of affect in the circulation of mediated space. It proposes a conceptual framework of “affective urbanism,” emphasizing that the emotional labor of spectators, tourists, and residents is central to the sustainability of media-driven urban renewal.
Tipo de Trabajo Académico: Trabajo Fin de Master
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Academic Works > Trabajos Académicos por Centro > facultad-de-empresa-y-gestion-publica
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