Welcome to My World: Researching the Role of Personal Narrative and Affective Presence at Graceland
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Welcome to My World: Researching the Role of Personal Narrative and Affective Presence at Graceland Mariruth Leftwich Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the regulations of the Institute of Education, University of London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Institute of Education, Faculty of Children and Learning 2012 1 Thesis Abstract This study explores the visitor experience at one of the world's most famous historic houses, Graceland, Elvis Presley's home. The research methodology prioritises the visitor's voice, examining the impact of the Graceland experience on visitor perception. Particular attention is paid to theories of personal narrative and affective presence as interpretive devices. Personal Meaning Maps from 170 visitors form the core data and provide evidence of the profound conceptual changes that occur in visitors' perceptions of Elvis. Visitors consistently describe Elvis as a 'real' person, with personal characteristics such as humility and generosity proving more memorable than his fame or career. The Graceland tour is designed for visitors to connect with Elvis in an affective manner, evoking emotions and relying on narratives of family and nostalgic discourses. This succeeds in providing visitors with an experience that challenges and extends their pre-visit views of Elvis as the 'King of Rock and Roll.' The ability to change visitor perception is linked to the quality of the experience, as Adams et al. (2003) suggests, 'the better the experience, the greater the change' (p. 22). The transformations documented at Graceland prompted investigation, searching for indicators of quality interpretation through analysis of the audio tour content and visitor photographs. This examination reveals a set of interpretive practices potentially useful for other historic properties, including the contextualising of space through personal accounts, the introduction of emotive media, and a reliance on a narrative that is personal rather than objective. This set of practices is framed within the context of the `Experience Economy,' which proves to be a useful tool for examining the successes of the Graceland tour and visitor impact. While historic sites struggle 2 to find new audiences and compel current audiences to return, this experience framework yields new insights into concepts of effective historic house interpretation. 3 Declaration I hereby declare that, except where explicit attribution is made, the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. Word count (exclusive of appendices, list of reference and bibliography): 77 744 words Signed: 4\qa)'--44dr' 4 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the support of my supervisors, colleagues, family, and the staff at Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE). I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Pam Meecham, who encouraged me to pursue these findings as a thesis, provided enthusiasm, inspiration, sound advice, and wonderful company over the years. I am also thankful for the support from other faculty, staff, and students at the Institute of Education, especially Dr Stuart Foster, John Reeve, Josephine Borradaile, and Juliette Fritsch. I am grateful to Priscilla Presley and the staff at EPE, particularly Todd Morgan, Kevin Kern, and Angie Marchese, for welcoming me into Elvis's world. My work with Graceland's visitors would have been impossible without their generosity and willingness to work with me. The collection of data at Graceland required partners, and I am indebted to my sister, Alicia, and colleague, Betsy, for standing by me for hours on end, talking with visitors, and pretending not to mind the never ending Elvis music playing at the visitor plaza. I would not have completed this journey without my family's unwavering support. I owe special thanks to my mother, who has always believed in me, to my husband, who was willing to move across an ocean so that I could pursue my dreams, and to our amazing children, Caitlin and William, who have so patiently allowed their mommy to 'finish her school work.' I hope they will be proud. This work is dedicated to the memory of Todd Morgan (1962-2008), Director of Special Projects at EPE. He deeply believed in my work and was enthusiastic about the preliminary data findings. I wish he could read the final thesis. To everyone involved in this study from beginning to end, I would be remiss if I did not extend a heart felt 'thank you, thank you very much.' 5 Table of Contents Thesis Abstract 2 Declaration 4 Acknowledgements 5 A Personal Introduction 8 Chapter 1 - 'Welcome to My World' 14 Thesis Overview 14 Research Rationale 15 Research Focus and Questions 17 Research Context: The Graceland Visitor Experience 18 Graceland as a Historic Site 23 Elvis's Graceland 28 Chapter 2 - 'Won't You Come on In:' Research Design and Methodology ... 36 Methodology Overview 36 Visitor Comment Book Methodology 40 Personal Meaning Mapping Methodology 43 Visitor Photography Methodology 45 Narrative Methodology 48 Consideration of Ethical Issues 51 Methodology Summary 52 Chapter 3 - Review of Relevant Literature 53 Heritage Tourism 53 The Power of the Historic House 58 Heritage Tourism and the Authentic 60 Popular Culture and Heritage Sites 65 Historic Site Interpretation 73 Chapter 4 - 'Miracles . Still happen Now and Then:' Personal Meaning Mapping at Graceland 92 PMM Sampling and Collection 93 Analysing Personal Meaning Maps 96 Personal Meaning Mapping Quantitative Analysis 97 Personal Meaning Mapping Qualitative Analysis 105 Experience, Performativity and Emotions 117 Assessing Personal Meaning Mapping 119 6 Chapter 5 - 'Step Into My Heart:' Visual Research at Graceland 121 The Value of Tourist Snapshots 121 Photographs as Evidence 123 Online Visitor Photographs: Understanding Flickr 126 Analysing Photographs 128 Graceland's Photo Content Analysis Framework 131 Visitor Photo Analysis 142 Captured Significance 158 Chapter 6 - 'Built with You in Mind:' Analysing the Interpretive Experience at Graceland 160 Coding the Audio Tour 161 Tour Content Analysis 163 Graceland's Narrative of Elvis 176 `There is no fat Elvis in there!' — Narratives Omitted at Graceland 204 Chapter 7 - 'The Key to this Heart of Mine:' Graceland's Interpretive Strategies 227 Contextualising Space 227 Household Objects 233 Contextual Media 236 Nostalgia 238 Authenticity 247 Affective Presence and Personal Narrative 254 Chapter 8 - Despite the Elvis Factor: Conclusions and Reflections 259 Assessing the Methodologies 259 The Power of Experience 261 Implications for Graceland 267 Broader Implications 268 References 270 7 A Personal Introduction It began with a dream and shopping for bed linens. Practically every scholarly author writing about Elvis describes how they came to write about Elvis, as if defending or legitimising their work.' Elvis is still embedded in the realm of popular culture, an 'unwelcome' and 'lowbrow' guest (Bertrand, 2005, p. 8), in the world of intellectual integrity. Doss (1999) describes sitting in a lecture about religious art and how 'in a flash, a weird sort of epiphanic rush, I thought of Elvis Presley,' admitting 'I don't really know why I flashed on Elvis that academic afternoon' (p.21). Reece's (2006) interest in Elvis arose from meeting a devout Elvis fan in the waiting room of a hospital emergency room in Memphis, Elvis's hometown. Everyone has a story about how and why Elvis came into their lives. For me, it began with a dream about Elvis and Graceland, the details of which I no longer recall. This seems fitting as house museums have been described as an intersection of history and dream (Risnicoff de Gorgas, 2001), and I have spent many years visiting and working in historic homes. That was the beginning of my search for understanding the Graceland experience. I was born three weeks before Elvis Presley died; I only ever knew his cultural image and music. I had never visited Graceland. So why I had a dream about Elvis and Graceland I will never really know, but I attribute it to the publicity Graceland was receiving at the time. The home had just become a National Historic Landmark and President George W. Bush and the Japanese Prime Minister made a widely publicised visit. 1 Rodman's (1996) statement that 'even critics and scholars who take Elvis seriously . are subject to scorn and derision — perhaps even more so than "ordinary" fans, as these critics have supposedly accumulated enough cultural capital "to know better"' (p.74) rings very true in these accounts. 2 My most recent role was overseeing site interpretation for the Hezekiah Alexander Homesite in Charlotte, North earolina, USA. Constructed in 1774, the I awoke that morning to find Priscilla Presley, Elvis's former wife, on television announcing she would be launching her new bed linen line at Harrods that afternoon. A quote from Priscilla rings true to me, as she described how the gates at Graceland reminded her and other members of Elvis's family and entourage how 'lucky we were. We were inside. And inside Graceland is where everyone wanted to be' (Ritz, 2006, p. 24). I too wanted to be inside Graceland, so I headed off to Harrods, bought the obligatory sheet set and stood in a queue to meet Priscilla, still uncertain of what I would say to her. I introduced myself as a PhD student interested in Graceland's visitor experience and interpretation, to which she looked both genuinely shocked and intrigued. I enquired if she could tell me whom to contact if I would like to conduct research at Graceland. She quickly gave me the name of the director, encouraging me to ring and tell them I had spoken with her and that she was enthusiastic about the project. Todd Morgan, Director of Special Projects at Elvis Presley Enterprises, became my primary contact and he shared Priscilla's interest in the potential project. I had to offer many guarantees that I was not planning on selling anything or writing an expose-style book.