Unlocking the Love-Lock : : The History and Heritage of a Contemporary Custom / / Ceri Houlbrook.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2021
• VerfasserIn: Houlbrook, Ceri,
• Place / Publishing House: New York; , Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (260 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; CONTENTS --; List of Illustrations and Tables --; Introduction --; Chapter 1. Dating Love --; Chapter 2. Consuming Love --; Chapter 3. Excavating Love --; Chapter 4. Locking Love --; Chapter 5. Symbolising Love --; Chapter 6. Selling Love --; Chapter 7. Unlocking Love --; Concluding Thoughts --; Bibliography --; Index
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9781789209235; 9783110997675
• DOI: 10.1515/9781789209235?locatt=mode:legacy
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Ceri Houlbrook.

Explores the worldwide popularity of the love-lock as a ritual token of love and commitment by considering its history, symbolism, and heritage. “[T]his is an eminently enjoyable and thorough investigation of a popular phenomenon through the lens of heritage and folk tradition.”—Sara De Nardi, Western Sydney University A padlock is a mundane object, designed to fulfil a specific – and secular – purpose. A contemporary custom has given padlocks new significance. This custom is ‘love-locking’, where padlocks are engraved with names and attached to bridges in declaration of romantic commitment. This custom became popular in the 2000s, and its dissemination was rapid, geographically unbound, and highly divisive, with love-locks emerging in locations as diverse as Paris and Taiwan; New York and Seoul; Melbourne and Moscow. From the introduction: I was distractedly perusing the photo frame aisle, my eyes skimming the generically sentimental stock pictures of happy families smiling at the camera, pretty landscapes, cute pets and couples walking hand-in-hand, when I came across one that jumped out at me…. I recognised the image instantly as a photograph of love-locks: the padlocks that had been appearing en masse on bridges and other public structures on a global scale since the early 2000s. And, having been researching the custom known as lovelocking for about five years at that point, it was with a peculiar sense of pride that I realised love-locks had accomplished the status of a stock image.