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Peer LearningMuseum Marketing

Museum of Fictional CharactersExploring the idea of a Museum of Fictional Characters & Possible Marketing Strategies

Saudiptendu RayM.A Museology

Project Buddy:Zahir Khan

Content:

Content

Aim The purpose of this study is to devise ways of creating Museums of Fictional Characters & and look into the current example around the world and propagate efficient Marketing Strategies.

What is Fiction? Fictiondescribespeople,places,events, and completenarrative works derived from a mans.... Imagination.

Dream Girl. Kisi Shayar ki GhazalThere is no such thing as Dream Girl (Its all Fiction)

What is Fictional Characters?A fictional character is aperson or an individualin anarrativework of artsuch as anovel, comic book,play,television seriesor film.

Excuse me, I am a real personHamletOthelloKing Lear

These are fictionalIn place of Shakespeare I could have used Valmiki and Vyasa but that would be contentious.

Mediums used to portray Fiction: Print Audio Visual

Novels Short stories Comics

Theatre Movies Television Animation

Radio

Why it is important?"Why should we spend attention on people (fictional characters) who will never care about us in return?" It seems that while reading or watching, you are almost projected into their world, no matter if it's a fantasy world. You, as an invisible companion, live their lives and experience every emotion they go through. Fiction allows us a rare insight into the minds and hearts of its characters, its people and world. An insight that we often wish for in real life.

TitanicStarring Kate Winslet & Ray Saudip Ray Saudip as Superman

Social, Historical and Political background Fictional Characters are not written in vacuum, they are craved out from

Social background

Historical eventsPolitical scenario

Teaching PROPOGANDA

Museums those are dedicated to fictional characters....THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MUSEUM (LONDON, UK)THE PINK PANTHER MUSEUM (SANA ROSA, USA)MADAME TUSSAUDS WAX MUSEUM (LAS VEGAS, USA)JARA CIMRMAN MUSEUM (PRAGUE, CZECH REP)POTTER'S WAX MUSEUM (ST. AUGUSTINE, USA)

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson lived in a Victorian lodging house at 221b Baker Street between 1881-1904, according to the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The house was built in 1815 and is listed by the Government to protect its architectural and cultural heritage.

It is open as a museum dedicated to the life and times of Sherlock Holmes, and the interior has been faithfully maintained for posterity exactly as described in the published stories.Sherlock Holmes Museum

Jara Cimrman Museum

Museum of a non-existent person created by the entire nation- Jara Cimrman Does it sound crazy to you?A museum for a person that never ever existed?Well, nothing is impossiblein Prague!

The museum is dedicated to Jara Cimrman, a Czech genius from the turn of the 20 century, who is said to be the inventor of almost everything in the world but is not recognised by the world.Now you must be confused.

If you ask any Czech on the street, even a little child, they would all tell you that Cimrman existed although everyone present knows perfectly well that Jara Cimrman was never flesh and bones person, but nobody wants to spoil the fun!He was created over a bottle of vodka.

What can be the different types of Museums for Fictional Characters:Museum of a fictional characters from Literature- Sherlock Holmes MuseumMuseum of fictional charactersfrom Films- Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, Las VegasMuseum of animated characters- Pink Pather MuseumMuseum of comic book characters- Flash Museum

A Dictionary of Fictional CharactersWhat it would be like to document all the fictional characters ever penned down or drawn?

It is an ambitious and never ending task as new characters keep piling up every year, every month, every day and every second.

How to Begin?

Ways to Display

Carve it in Wax

But that would lead to thisA selfie that harasses even the wax

Alternatives

The aim should be to capture the soul and essence of the characters and not their physical appearance.Therefore a video and audio archive might serve the purpose of preserving the finest characters created in the silver screen.It is much cheaper, low maintenance and doesnt require a physical space. Honourable mentions:

Similar can be done with characters emerging out of literature"Jos Arcadio Buenda, whose unbridled imagination always went beyond the genius of nature and even beyond miracles and magic, thought that it would be possible to make use of that useless invention to extract gold from the bowels of the earth."FromOne Hundred Years of Solitudeby Gabriel Garcia MarquezThe very first lines from the novel on JosArcadio Buenda are capable in dissecting and revealing the chief protagonist's character.Patriarch ofBuenda family and also the founder of the town of Macondo. He is an extremely inquisitive man with unparalleled desire to unearth the truth hidden behind the curtains.From my blog: Museum of Fictional Characters

Museum of GabrielsCharactersCharacters moulded by literature are pictured differently by the readers with the help of the words that they read.

Intangibility of literary characters can only be captured by caressing the words. Florentino Ariza: sex is the consolation you have when you can't have loversula Iguarn: There is always something left to love.Jos Arcadio and Pilar Ternera: They were so close to each other that they preferred death to separation. Words describing their intimacy.A museum like this would have separate galleries for characters belonging to different novels, such asOne Hundred Years of Solitude Gallery, Love at the Time of Cholera Gallery and Autumn of the Patriarch Gallery.

A few honourable mentions:Hassan: For you, a thousand times over The Kite Runner Amir: There is a way to be good again... The Kite RunnerHori: What the world calls sorrow is really joy to the poet GodaanOne could not count the moons that shimmer on her roof, Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls

What can be done with comics book characters?We can showcase the evolution of each character over a period of time.

Donald Duck

Competitor of Donald Duck

Family Tree

Fictional characters depicted in multiple medias

Comics Version

Animation Series

In Hollywood

Gallery of Theme songs

Marketing Strategies Targeting the Fan base giving them new avenues to explore.

Harnessing new target groups by redeveloping or rediscovering the character according to the demands of the age.

Displaying the literary and its reel brother in the same platform.

Linking the complex social media.

Providing selfie moments. Souvenir shops or museum shops.

Marketing strategies used by the Sherlock Holmes Museum

Sherlock Holmes museum also does international deliveries for its international fan base.

Conclusion.Fictional characters are brainchild of humans creativity. These characters are larger than life and draw our attention through their peculiarity and uniqueness.

These characters have a strong connection with the social, economic and political conditions.

Because of the multiple mediums in which the fictional characters are depicted we as Museologist can devise different and interesting ways to protect and preserve their essence and display them to the target audience.

We have seen the examples of what the international museums are doing in this field and also their marketing strategies and hopefully in future we can come up with our own Museum of Fictional Characters...

Danke...