ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with one fictional setting — Gorillaz’ Plastic Beach — and the attempts made to aid immersion in a particular chapter of Gorillaz’ storyworld through this location. As the location exists largely in virtual space, it explores the consequences of virtuality for users of the Plastic Beach project and assert that due to its limitations, fans are encouraged to transcend this virtuality through their own creative fan practices. For Plastic Beach, to help furnish the narrative with a setting that encapsulated the album’s ecological theme, an island was envisioned in the remote Pacific. The fictional Plastic Beach island was consequently visualized as an aggregation of various human detritus, including obsolete appliances and, in keeping with the musical metanarratives of the piece, outdated music technology. Occasionally, though, popular musicians have also conjured more deeply thoughtout mythical islands in the service of ambitious and expansive storyworlds.
