L. Blackburn

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Vesperi, Maria

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

This thesis explores cosplay at two Florida conventions and approaches cosplay as a fandom production and as a performance. I discuss how cosplay functions in the convention space as a fan production that interprets mass media and creates new meanings and texts, working with Fiske’s analysis of active audiences in Television Culture. I also explore how cosplay performance is negotiated within the social space of the convention, which is approached using language produced by Richard Schechner in his book Between Anthropology and Theatre. Through participant-observation at the 2014 conventions of Chibi-Pa and Holiday Matsuri and unstructured interviews with cosplayers, I explore how fans use cosplay to interact with canon narratives, create new texts, and perform fan texts, identity, and fandom. Through this exploration, I offer an in-depth discussion of how cosplay is used as a social tool by the fan community to negotiate social interactions within conventions.

Download

Share

COinS