On the trail of 007: media pilgrimages into the world of James Bond

Visiting the settings of popular films and TV series has become a growing niche in the tourist market; however, little is known about what makes these visits so appealing. The present research used the case of James Bond ‘pilgrims’ to explore this issue. Twenty-three interviews were conducted with James Bond fans who had visited one or more Bond film locations in recent years. These interviews indicate that the ‘media pilgrimage’ into the world of Bond contains playful as well as serious elements. By tracing the world of Bond and temporarily becoming part of this liminal landscape, fans create the opportunity to embody and perform an imagined masculinity. On a theoretical level, this paper contributes to the literature on media pilgrimages, by showing how the symbolic boundary between inside and outside the media is tightly interwoven with other power configurations – in this case, patriarchal notions of masculinity.