Proximity from a distance: Virtual and imaginative mobility through the intimacies of life on screen

Abstract

‘Places are chosen to be gazed upon because there is anticipation, especially through daydreaming and fantasy, of intense pleasures,’ wrote John Urry (1990, 3) in the introduction to The Tourist Gaze. This book took the intensities of pleasure seriously. So seriously that Urry warned readers early on that the book’s topic might seem trivial to an academic world apparently possessed by weightier issues. Yet in this landmark text, Urry opened our eyes to a brand-new field of study. Fascinated by how places are fashioned, he helped us to reflect on why it is that we might be lured into travelling; why people ‘might leave their normal place of work and residence’ (1) for new sights; and why peop..