The cinema itself in a heterotopia. As you enter the dark screen room of a cinema you are stepping into a strange place. Separate places exist in the same space, overlapping. The room exists in our world, yet it's purpose is to transport you to a different world, another place, through a flat screen. As Michel Foucault describes a heterotopia under the third principle "heterotopia is capable of juxtaposing in a single real place several spaces, several sites that are in themselves incompatible".
But within the heterotopia of the cinema fictional stories are told that have heterotopia worlds. There are many examples of heterotopias in cinema, but one example is the 'wizarding world' and Hogwarts in Harry Potter. The setting for the majority of the movie/s is in a world that I've always been fascinated with when watching. The school appears to be placed hiding between mountains and lakes, perhaps a location in Scotland. Yet it is not visible to non- magic eyes. Access is not open freely to everyone, just a select few. The world has the law and order that we see in our society, also similar customs and beliefs. Yet it is a completely separate space.
The use of such heterotopias allows the audience to relate to the fictional world and characters in some ways, yet still be engaged by the new world they are watching.
Reading List:
M, Foucault (1984) http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/foucault1.pdf