Using the Imagination: Consumer Evoking and Thematizing of the Fantastic Imaginary
Journal of Consumer Research · 2004 · Volume 31 · Issue 1
Abstract
This article explores the process by which consumers evoke and thematize the fantastic imaginary when playing a fantasy-based trading card game. Interviews with 15 informants, all players of Magic: The Gathering, serve as data. The result is a new framework that reveals how the fantastic imaginary is evoked and thematized. A typology of thematizing strategies employed by consumers is also presented. Implications are discussed in relation to consumer research, imagination theory, literary theory of the evoked fantastic imaginary, and the imaginary in play.
Keywords
Aesthetic/Hedonic Consumption, Experiential Consumption, Imagery, Literary Theory, Depth/Long Interviews
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