"It would make more sense for it to be there than not": Constructing Night Vale as a "place"

Abstract

Within the interdisciplinary literature on the construction of place, many scholars have paid special attention to the role of narrative and storytelling. However, this perspective has not been duly applied to fictional places in contemporary media as a tool for cultural analysis. In this chapter, I draw on work from cultural geographers, sociologists, anthropologists, and literary critics to bring an analysis of place to Welcome to Night Vale. I analyze how multiple, sometimes contradictory, imaginations of Night Vale, which combine to form an overarching sense of the town as a place, are constructed through narrative. I argue that the construction of Night Vale as a place happens through narrative, both in the sense of the format of the episodes themselves and in the sense of a shared participation in the story by Night Vale's fans.