Prosthetic memory and film-induced dark tourism in the specific post-conflict context: a divergent young adults’ perspective

The present postmodernist study explores how widely accessible films depicting tragic historical sites/events influence prosthetic memories and film-induced dark tourism among Western Balkan (the ‘region of memory’) young adult new-age platform users with no personal war experience. A heterogeneous list of ten internationally known historical films, compiled with the help of informants, was the basis for discussion in three nationally diverse focus groups (Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian- Herzegovinian) and then compared with a comparison group from a less stressed environment. The results of the content analysis with triangulation are discussed, and explaining the missing prosthetic memory, factual knowledge and film-induced dark tourism nexus among young adults in a peculiarly toxic post-conflict atmosphere. The study thus identifies historical film and dark tourism abstainers and explains deviations not previously reported in studies of the above concepts, taking into account the specific social environment and age group.