Performing Fantasy and Reality in Contemporary Culture [Paperback]

We frequently engage with that which we consciously perceive not to be real, yet fantasy, despite its pervasive presence and strong role in everyday life through its connection to identities, communities, desires, and meanings, has yet to be properly defined and researched. This book examines fantasy from a performance theory perspective. Drawing on multidisciplinary literature, it presents ethnographic and art-based research on live action role-playing games to explore fantasy as a bodily and negotiated phenomenon that involves various kinds of engagement with ones surroundings. Overall, this book is a study of various forms and roles that fantasy can take on as part of contemporary Western culture. The study suggests that fantasy emerges as a different type of interpretation of normalised performance and reality, and can thus provide individuals with the tools to wield agency in everyday life. The book will appeal to scholars of sociology, cultural and media studies, literature and performance studies.

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

2. Perspectives on Fantasy

3. Performance

4. LARP Performance

5. Fantasy Performance

6. Types of Fantasy Performances

7. Conclusions

References

Index

A study of the different forms that fantasy can take and its everyday role as part of contemporary Western culture, this book examines fantasy from a performance theory perspective.

Anastasia Seregina is a Lecturer in Consumer Research at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her work is based in consumer culture research, but is interdisciplinary, encompassing such fields, as consumer research, sociology, anthropology, performance studies, literature studies, art educationl