Open AccessFannish masculinities in transition in anime music video fandom
Author(s) -
Samantha Close
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
transformative works and cultures
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1941-2258
DOI - 10.3983/twc.2016.0713
Subject(s) - fandom , anime , queer , masculinity , scholarship , privilege (computing) , mainstream , sociology , gender studies , media studies , monster , queer theory , aesthetics , heteronormativity , art , literature , law , political science , computer science , artificial intelligence
Politically engaged scholarship often interrogates the experiences of groups without privilege. But in order for social change to happen, privileged identities must also be reworked. An analysis of anime fandom in the early 2000s shows that fan works, such as fan video and cosplay performances, concretize masculinities that are both transgressive and desperately seeking normative confirmation. By means of queer and masculinity theory, I argue that fandom is a uniquely generative space for reworking masculinity. This will only remain true, however, if it can hold onto its subversive practices in a time of increasing mainstream attention