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New Scholarship in New Zealand and Pacific Studies Part 1
  • ISSN: 2050-4039
  • E-ISSN: 2050-4047

Abstract

Since its inception, New Zealand film production has often been characterized by a strong focus on the promotion and marketing of local scenic locations. However, over the last few decades and simultaneously with New Zealand’s rapidly increasing urbanization rates, urban narratives have gained prominence in the cinematic representation of the country, gradually becoming important aspects of national tourism marketing campaigns. This article first provides an overview of New Zealand tourism film’s dynamics of production and recurring themes and narratives from the early twentieth century to the 1960s. It then focuses on and – tourism films produced by the government-led New Zealand National Film Unit and released respectively in 1967 and 1966 – and identifies a turning point in the manufacturing of local urban narratives and in New Zealand urban tourism marketing. My critical and textual analysis of these two case studies notably relies on the examination of archival documents related to their production and on an interview with ’s director Hugh Macdonald. It ultimately shows how the emergence of ‘cities with a character’ as a tourism marketing tool was in fact a carefully planned, articulated and years-long government-driven strategy.

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2021-06-01
2026-04-22

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/content/journals/10.1386/nzps_00047_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): cinematic cities; New Zealand documentaries; tourism films; tourism marketing; urban identity; urban narratives; urban tourism

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