Desiring Harry Potter: Consumption practices in hyperreality

The extant research on hyperreality rather focuses on fantasy and fandom aspects like online communities, films, and tourism. The rise of the fantasy genre (appendix 1), however, as increasingly popular, calls for more research on hyperreality, which is an inextricable element of this trend. The present study sheds light on how people consume hyperreal elements and how desire operates under this hyperreal condition by looking at the fandom of Harry Potter. A netnographic analysis of 130,000 comments, yielded the fans’ own explanations on the reasons they consume Harry Potter, utilising the theoretical framework of Jean Baudrillard and Jacques Lacan. The fans’ stories attest that the hyperreal shift- previously attributed to the pandemic- is rooted to trauma. People choose to escape to hyperreal environments and leave behind not only their worries, but also their various physical and mental illnesses, grief, and abuse. In short, every traumatic event might cause a desire to reside in a fantasy realm, which is seen as a safe place. Nevertheless, prolonged period of immersion leads to simulation, where people integrate fandoms in their lives and habitats. The fans of this category, go through a transformation to become Uber-fans. As such, this type of fans is exposed to the fandom and nits hyperreal elements for so long that their desire for the fandom becomes a hyperdesire as they crave for the hyperreal element that becomes integral in the subject’s (the fans’) existence. The study ultimately shows that the hyperreal hides the real and assumes its place. In such occurrence, consumer typologies must be adapted to include the hyperreal element, and the hyperreal becomes the fourth order in a psychoanalytic explanation of the psyche that can no longer fit in the three major structures of the symbolic, the imaginary and the real as the hyperreal order interferes and changes the balance.</p

Images of Research 2019

Images Of Research 2019 Winners: Yang Chen – ‘Spiral Up and Down’ - Judges’ Prize Winner Dina El-Hamamsy – ‘Where is my patient Patient?’ - Joint Judges’ Prize Runners-up Tom Matheson – ‘Ginormous Genome’ (1) - Joint Judges’ Prize Runners-up Styliano Spathariotis – ‘Girl with a Metallic Earring’ - Katherine May People’s Choice Winner Soheb Mandhai – ‘The Cosmic Dance of Two Neutron Stars’ - People’s Choice Runner-up Brandon Fathy – ‘Speed, Space, and Time’ - Leicester Institute of Advanced Studies Interdisciplinary Prize Images Of Research 2018 submissions: Abbey Ellis – ‘Carving Out an Understanding’ (1) Abbey Ellis – ‘The Art of the Reproduction’ (2) Ahmed Elimam - Untitled Artur Soczawa-Stronczyk – ‘Do the locomotion with me’ Aseel Alfuhied – ‘Cosmic storm in the heart of darkness’ (1) Aseel Alfuhied – ‘Heart to Heart’ (2) Aseel Alfuhied – ‘Pop Heart’ (3) Beatriz Sanchez-Cano – ‘The Sun, our neural connection’ Cesare Cuzzola – ‘Buddha Day 2019’ Charlotte Barratt – ‘Sound’ (1) Charlotte Barratt – ‘Girl Praying’ (2) Chris Allen – ‘Perceptions and Realities: Building Community Resilience Against Extremism’ (1) Chris Allen – ‘Perceptions and Realities: Building Community Resilience Against Extremism’ (2) David Unwin – ‘Death flight’ Diane Urquhart – ‘Laying ghosts to rest’ Eloisa Rodrigues – ‘Tropical self-portrait’ Fernando Schlindwein – ‘Chaos in the heart’ (1) Fernando Schlindwein – ‘Porcupine’ (2) Graham Frobisher – ‘The 7th Decade Manager’ Hanna McQuail – ‘That colossal wreck, boundless and bare’ Hatice Kayman – ‘Immigrants have opportunities to do their festivals in London’ Hedwig Krawczyk – ‘Underwater Time Machines’ Hipolito Treffinger – ‘Layers’ Jacqueline Taylor – ‘Miriam Haughton at the British Academy’ Jan Vandeburie – ‘Dress to Impress’ Jennifer Beamer – ‘Human-Animal Relationships in Weaving’ John Goodwin – ‘Slow Sociology in South Wigston’ Kinga Kolodziej – ‘In a blink of an eye…’ (1) Kinga Kolodziej – ‘In a blink of an eye…’ (2) Kristina Wright – ‘Janus-Faced Seoul’ Kseniia Bondarenko – ‘Your brain drives me crazy’ (1) Kseniia Bondarenko – ‘Your brain drives me crazy’ (2) Liam Crawford – ‘The heartfelt love story between one nanoparticle and another’ Lisa Huddlestone – ‘Seeing the wood and the trees’ (1) Lisa Huddlestone – ‘Seeing the wood and the trees’ (2) Margarita Avgerinopoulou – ‘A dash of magic’ (1) Margarita Avgerinopoulou – ‘Fantasy at the making’ (2) Martha Papadopoulou – ‘The power of a drop’ (1) Martha Papadopoulou – ‘Every drop counts’! (2) Mayamin Altae - Untitled (or the Tennyson quote) Michael Curtis – ‘The arrival of the shoreline detective’ (1) Michael Curtis – ‘The arrival of the shoreline detective’ (2) Neelam Dave – ‘The damage bacteria can do’ Neil Harris – ‘Colour amongst the chaos’ Nitu Gupta – ‘Far Beyond Insecurities’ Nora Ngii Musyoka – ‘She’s Just the Other Half of Me’ Nukul Charlin – ‘Why are Ladyboy Tolerated in Thai Society?’ Pariyakorn Petkaew – ‘Be silent…Be thinking’ Rachel Belben – ‘Ardeadactylus longicollum’ (1) Rachel Belben – ‘Psittacosaurus’ (2) Roberto Sommariva - Untitled Saima Ahmad – ‘The Command Centre’ (1) Saima Ahmad – ‘Vial do you see it?’ (2) Saima Ahmad – ‘Beyond the Canopy’ (3) Samuel J Perry – ‘Metallic snowflakes’ (1) Samuel J Perry – ‘Metallic snowflakes’ (2) Stephanie Bowry – ‘Storm Clouds over Vaux-le-Vicomte’ Tom Matheson – ‘Ginormous Genome’ (2) Yewande Okuleye – ‘Commemoration, Remembrance and Bodies of Evidence’ Yewande Okuleye, Robert Garner – ‘From pain to pleasure: We no longer just eat our greens, it’s imperative to photograph share and like on Instagram.’ (1) Yewande Okuleye, Robert Garner – ‘A green plaque for animal ethics?’ (2) Yewande Okuleye, Robert Garner – ‘A green plaque for animal ethics?’ (3)</p