Real Life Superheroes: An Ethnographic Exploration Behind Cosplay and Politics
Description
In this undergraduate thesis, I explore the relationship between politics and popular culture through an ethnography of Justice League Arizona, a cosplay ensemble devoted to costumed civic activism. While existing scholarship addresses cosplay ensembles and political theory, there is very little that examines how the act of cosplay can be a form of politics and what the impact of that interpretation has on both individuals and the community at large. Through both participant observation and interviews with members of the ensemble, I discovered that cosplay has the ability to intensify aspects of the self, the ability to expose new aspects of the self, and the ability to bring one closer to a particular character. I also found cosplay to be political through the sensibility and situated knowledge that proves to be in practice during cosplay, ultimately having the power to be used as a form of political resistance.
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2016-12
Agent
- Author (aut): Burrus, Ella Rene
- Thesis director: Mack, Robert
- Committee member: Behl, Natasha
- Contributor (ctb): School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
- Contributor (ctb): Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts
- Contributor (ctb): Barrett, The Honors College