Fantastical body narratives : cosplay, performance, and gender diversity.

This dissertation aims to explore how the phenomenon of cosplay has been able to produce and sustain a diversity of gender expression due to its emergence from an activity-based community that emphasizes creative play. This creative energy is manifested through cosplay as an active, ritualized practice in which gender diversity is invited to be realized as a distinct possibility, resulting in a display of a full range of masculinities and femininities as well as crossplays and genderbend cosplays. I argue that cosplay can therefore be understood as a phenomenon that destabilizes the gender binary—its active practice promotes the production and interpretation of gender as being within a spectrum for cosplayers and their audiences alike. I also assert that the degree of diversity of gender expression observed through cosplay at fandom conventions is better accounted for as social change achieved through ritualized practice rather than as a subversive performance. This dissertation hopes to demonstrate that the sustainment of diversity of gender expression hinges upon the interdependent relationship between a ritualized, repeated practice and the individuals, community and space that promote it

EMBODYING COSPLAY: FANDOM COMMUNITIES IN THE USA

Cosplay is a portmanteau of costume and play, referring specifically to role-play. Cosplay consists of various costumed role-playing, such as anime, manga, video games, science-fiction, fantasy, horror, mythology, etc. In the 1990s, cosplay emerged as a popular street fashion subculture in Japan that has become a worldwide phenomenon. Cosplay was already present in North American popular culture in association with comic and science-fiction conventions. These events at the time were considered masquerades, not cosplay. Cosplay communities rely primarily on maintaining social relationships via internet communication and word of mouth. The standards for what constitutes cosplay are upheld by individuals, the community, and organizations. These organizations are made of security personnel, cosplay contest judges, local police, and convention staff. Through this ethnography on cosplayers, I will identify the hidden power structures, agency, and resistance or replication of hegemony in the community; by using a combination of interviews, participant observation, and auto-ethnography

Keeping Quiet: Investigating the Maintenance and Policing of Male-dominated Gaming Space

Despite the near parity between the number of female and male gamers (Entertainment Software Association, 2014), studies on gender in videogames illustrate a culture that typically reflects hegemonic masculinity and excludes women on a multitude of levels. Because these interactions occur within real and virtual space (both online and within games), a holistic approach is warranted to analyze these mechanisms of oppression. This paper seeks to uncover the ways by which gaming culture is maintained and policed as a male-dominated space, through qualitative data collection. By using ethnographic, participant observation at a large, multi-genre convention the experiences of both male and female gamers were collected and analyzed. Their stories shed light on the means by which women are silenced, or kept quiet, by voice chat profiling, verbal abuse, and hostile Internet communities. They are subject to strict policing of gamer identity, relegation as casual gamers, and their calls for inclusiveness all too often fall on game developers\u27 deaf ears

Cosplay and (Be)coming-of-Age: An Autoethnographic Inquiry into the Spectacularly Feminine via Boudoir, Maid Café and Idol Cosplay Groups in the UK

Even though cosplay is a female-dominant subculture, there are few studies that locate it as a feminine phenomenon. Based on 18 months’ autoethnographic fieldwork at over 25 cosplay and anime-related events in the UK, I focus on three, yet-to-be-studied, feminine-presenting cosplay groups that are inspired by anime and other media related to Japan: idol groups, maid cafés and boudoir cosplayers. As I argue in this doctoral study, all three groups are evidence of social developments in the early 21st century in which gender is becoming increasingly symbolic, providing insights into discourses surrounding femininity and feminine adolescence (Driscoll, 2002) which are necessarily shaped by “a postfeminist sensibility” (Gill, 2007). Using a poststructuralist, feminist framework, I explore how femininity becomes manifest via cosplay, providing the subject with an opportunity to experience empowerment, transforming from a position of “pariah femininity” (Schippers, 2007) into an ideal vision of the “spectacularly feminine” (McRobbie, 2009: 60). I conclude that Japanese media provides an alternative for adolescents in the UK to negotiate global and local gender hegemonies, which ultimately reflect what it means to (be)come of age in the digital age, under the shadow of internet technologies

This Isn\u27t for You, This Is for Me : Women in Cosplay and Their Experiences Combatting Harassment and Stigma

In the past two decades, cosplay, or “costume play,” has become increasingly popular among fans of anime, manga, and video games. Despite the community’s nature of embracing social difference, problems persist with regard to gender discrimination and breaching of consent boundaries. Discussion in the extant literature on cosplay has yet to address the views of women in the community, specifically the idea of cosplay and popular culture conventions being a “boys’ club.” The principle research questions of this study are: (1) What are the lived experiences of women cosplayers at anime conventions? (2) To what degree have they had to endure stigmatization, unwelcome attention, and sexual harassment from fellow convention attendees? (3) What coping mechanisms have they developed to help them navigate this maledominated space? Using a theoretical framework combining Goffman’s dramaturgy and stigma theories with Butler’s gender performance theories, I address these questions through two qualitative methods: participant-observation and in-depth interviews. Traveling to three anime conventions in West Virginia, Virginia, and Ohio, I observed events at all three conventions and interviewed 30 women cosplayers about their convention and cosplay experiences. Findings suggest that women find deep personal connection to the character and to themselves through the performance of cosplay, that women cope with stigma through community attachments, and that subjugation by men is a rare and often unnoticed phenomenon

The Wonder Women: Understanding Feminism in Cosplay Performance

Feminism conjures divisive and at times conflicting thoughts and feelings in the current political climate in the United States. For some, Wonder Woman is a feminist icon, for her devotion to truth, justice, and equality. In recent years, Wonder Woman has become successful in the film industry, and this is reflected by the growing community of cosplayers at comic book conventions. In this study, I examine gender performativity, gender identity, and feminism from the perspective of cosplayers of Wonder Woman. I collected ethnographic data using participant observation and semi-structured interviews with cosplayers at comic book conventions in Florida, Georgia, and Washington, about their experiences in their Wonder Woman costumes. I found that many cosplayers identified with Wonder Woman both in their own personalities and as a feminist icon, and many view Wonder Woman as a larger role model to all people, not just women and girls. The narratives in this study also show cosplay as a form of escapism. Finally, I found that Wonder Woman empowers cosplayers at the individual level but can be envisioned as a force at a wider social level. I conclude that Wonder Woman is an important and iconic figure for understanding the dynamics of culture in the United States. In the era of #MeToo and TimesUp, Wonder Woman is a character that defies normative boundaries of gendered expectations

Manga Vision

Manga Vision examines cultural and communicative aspects of Japanese comics, drawing together scholars from Japan, Australia and Europe working in areas as diverse as cultural studies, linguistics, education, music, art, anthropology, and translation, to explore the influence of manga in Japan and worldwide via translation, OEL manga and fan engagement. This volume includes a mix of theoretical, methodological, empirical and professional practice-based chapters, examining manga from both academic and artistic perspectives. Manga Vision also provides the reader with a multimedia experience, featuring original artwork by Australian manga artist Queenie Chan, cosplay photographs, and an online supplement offering musical compositions inspired by manga, and downloadable manga-related teaching resources

Manga Vision

Manga Vision examines cultural and communicative aspects of Japanese comics, drawing together scholars from Japan, Australia and Europe working in areas as diverse as cultural studies, linguistics, education, music, art, anthropology, and translation, to explore the influence of manga in Japan and worldwide via translation, OEL manga and fan engagement. This volume includes a mix of theoretical, methodological, empirical and professional practice-based chapters, examining manga from both academic and artistic perspectives. Manga Vision also provides the reader with a multimedia experience, featuring original artwork by Australian manga artist Queenie Chan, cosplay photographs, and an online supplement offering musical compositions inspired by manga, and downloadable manga-related teaching resources