Crafting a Fear Atmosphere in a Ritual Performance: A Q-Method Approach

Fear atmospheres in fearscapes serve as crucial catalysts for tourists’ “thrill-seeking pleasure.” While prevailing atmosphere research predominantly emphasizes producer logic and receiver embodiment, research on atmosphere construction logic from the audience perspective thus demands urgent scholarly advancement. Focusing on Shaanxi’s intangible cultural heritage Xue Shehuo, we employ Q methodology and ethnography to deconstruct tourists’ atmospheric construction processes. Study 1 reveals five constitutive dimensions of fear atmospheres: individual cathartic associations, spatiotemporal context, performers’ embodied semiotics, hyperreal props, and skills. Study 2 uncovers three recursive construction logic: materiality–cognition synergy, cognition–meaning dynamic conversion, and meaning–materiality cyclical reinforcement. This research advances atmosphere theory by (1) delineating the configurational anatomy of fear atmospheres, (2) explicating tourists’ agential role in affective meaning-making, and (3) reconciling the material-discursive tensions in ritual performance studies. Practical implications address the paradox between ethical edification and horror consumption in ritual tourism.