Cosplay is a fan practice centered on constructing costumes and embodying characters. The creative process often involves extensive interaction with other participants, particularly within online communities. Cosplayers share works in progress, exchange technical knowledge, offer encouragement, establish community norms, and anticipate how their costumes will be received both online and at conventions. This study asks how these online interactions shape cosplay as a creative practice and contribute to cosplayers’ understandings of identity and community membership. Using preliminary digital ethnography, it conducts a qualitative thematic analysis of publicly accessible cosplay-related posts on Instagram and TikTok. Particular attention is given to progress photographs and videos, tutorials, requests for advice, costume reveals, performance videos, and the interactions surrounding these posts. The analysis considers how cosplayers navigate three overlapping identities: fan, creative maker, and community participant. Expected results include recurring patterns of knowledge exchange, encouragement, community recognition, and negotiation of community norms. Online cosplay communities are anticipated to function simultaneously as workshops, audiences, archives, and support networks, while also creating pressures surrounding visibility and recognition. These findings will contribute to research on participatory culture, fan creativity, and the relationship between digital and physical fan communities.

Authors:
Jillian Rae Suter, Shizuoka University, Japan

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Posted by James Alexander Gordon

Last updated: 2023-02-23 23:45:00

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