This essay aims to study the relationship between cosplay content creators and TikTok’s algorithm. To study this relationship the essay will conduct a qualitative semi-structured interviews with creators from the cosplay community on TikTok. Since the rise of digital plattforms the media and the role of producer as well as consumer has changed drastically. TikTok has been growing rapidly in popularity since its entry on the market, and by 2020 it had 500 million active users. Since many of today's digital platforms have consumer produced content, the consumer of today has taken on a mixed role between consuming and creating content, which creates a new relationship. The content consumers produce vary vastly on TikTok but one kind that has been present in much of TikTok’s existence is cosplay content. Cosplayers are creators who design costumes to already established characters or franchises. Since a discourse has started in the cosplay community on TikTok about the algorithm suppressing their content the study found it to be a good way to start examining content creators as individuals and how they behave towards an algorithm in their content creation process. The study aims to use algorithmic “folk” theory to examine what theories have been created in the community and how the theories affect the creators. The study also applies gatekeeping theory and social cognitive theory (SCT) to paint a clearer picture in how these creators view the algorithm. Seven interviews with cosplay content creators were conducted and with the help of a thematic analysis method the study found several themes in how the creators view and behave in relation to TikTok and its algorithm. The results of our study shows that there’s a definite present of “folk” theories created inside of the community. The most distinct behaviour relating to “folk” theory among the creators was that they can’t use the hashtag cosplay in the belief that the algorithm would suppress the content. This study concludes that the creators are more aware of the algorithm then they themself know and have different ways of working with and around it.

As fandom studies are becoming more popular and important, one fandom yet remains largely unstudied: the fandom surrounding Disneyland. The Disneyland fandom is unique in a number of ways, chief among them the fans’ relationship to the content creators: unlike many other companies in similar positions, Disney seeks to put boundaries on fan participation and to discourage or stamp out behaviors it deems unacceptable. And yet, in spite of this official meddling, the fandom continues to thrive. I propose that the reason for this unique dynamic is the Disney “Magic”—that is, fans’ recognition of a unique emotional experience inherent in visiting the park, composed of a mix of nostalgia, immersion in the park experience, and the unique Disney atmosphere, all of which is often described using quasi-spiritual language. I posit that the Magic is what keeps fans coming back: they feel that something is special about the park, and seek to engage with it more deeply through various fan activities—activities which, paradoxically, seem to threaten that same Magic that inspires such dedication in the first place. In this thesis, I look at three specific fan activities, both to explore this concept of Magic further, and to learn more about this understudied fandom. The first topic is urban legends of ash scatterings in the Haunted Mansion ride, which appear to simultaneously be a commentary on harsh working conditions inside the park, and, more importantly, a perhaps-misguided attempt to pay respect to the deep connections fans have to Disneyland. The second is pin trading, which functions both as a folk activity guests can use to build their public identities, and also as a market for cheap fakes that tarnishe the Magic. The third is Disneybounding, a costuming activity that expresses fans’ love of the park, while carefully stepping around Disney’s regulations preventing such activities. Even in the diverse and fascinating array of fandoms, the Disneyland fandom deserves some additional attention. Disney Magic, and its resultant fan behavior, has no clear parallel elsewhere. Understanding what makes Disneyland fans tick will lead to a better understanding of how fandoms work in general.

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本文首先介紹Cosplay角色扮演的背景與歷史沿革，接著以參與觀察的所得為基礎，提出兩個研究問題。第一個研究問題是，在Cosplay活動漸往商業化發展的趨勢下，該場域內的動漫迷處在消費與抗拒之間的尷尬位置，他們是否能抵抗商業化的全面收編企圖，又是以何種方式抵抗？第二個研究問題為，在Cosplay場域內，性別與服裝間的所謂合法對應看似不成立；也就是在Cosplay中，生理性別未必要呼應社會所認定之應有裝束，這種性別疆界的暫時打破是以何種方式在何種條件下得以成立？這兩個研究問題的軸心被置放在「踰越」之上，探求在Cosplay中反叛性是否存在。以踰越為發問起點，本研究試圖探討Cosplay角色扮演這項活動，是否具有抵抗消費，以及反叛現行性別疆界的潛力。 在分別回顧與消費和性別相關的文獻後，本研究採行深度訪談法和參與觀察法，進行為期一年一個月的田野研究，並在整理田野資料後，讓所得發現與文獻對話，在詳實紀錄田野發現的同時超越文獻，處理過往文獻未能回答的田野現象。 研究結果發現，在商業體制赤裸裸的收編企圖下，角色扮演者們的確無法完全避免消費，但這不代表角色扮演這項活動是純然的消費。本研究分別檢視角色扮演者參加活動，與角色扮演者本身實踐兩個部分，著重在整個角色扮演的「過程」並加以論證，發現消費乃是其執行生產的一個難以避免之手段。消費之後，角色扮演者施展巧妙的戰術與挪用的藝術，挪用不只呈現在有形的準備層面上，甚至在抽象的氣質揣摩上，這些都是其生產力的展現。 在跨越性別疆界的部份，角色扮演亦有顛覆固著性別疆界的潛力。在Cosplay場域內，性別疆界的踰越僅在特定場合與特定時刻下得以成立，透過將霸權文化中暢行的規則挪為己用來達成目的。即便性別疆界的搖擺或模糊只在活動間成立，潛在的踰越特質卻是無法否認的；儘管性別疆界難以根本地消除，Cosplay依舊透露出試圖改變的力量。

<p>This study charts the real-world impact of Superman and how embedded the superhero is within American culture. Since debuting in 1938 as the first superhero, kids embraced Superman as a heroic symbol to emulate while adults mainly used him as comedic fodder to discuss race and ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Although Superman is a fictional character, he maintains traceable documentary footprints and should be treated as a historical figure. Through sincere and satirical play, the public brought the Man of Steel and his make-believe world to life as an immersive realm and metatopography. This project studies the reception and adaptation of Superman by the populace and the geography of Comicland, a surreal realm mirroring our own modern reality that exists both within the imagination and the material world through pageant, masquerade, and multimedia. The beauty of this fictive universe is its mutability, being a permanent yet intangible place that imprinted itself in the real world. Comics fans do not have to travel to a theme park, even though it is now part of that type of entertainment, to participate in the fantasy. Comicland is, thus, a mental and physical landscape that audiences can inhabit as their own regardless of location and serves as a portal between fantasy and reality. From Superman’s inception, critics dismissed the superhero as a fad and its culture as marginal. However, multigenerational and multidecade engagement with Superman shows that the genre is mainstream and an unfading facet of Americana.</p>

Costume play (i.e. cosplay) is a performance of fandom rife with rituals and communication practices. Cosplay roleplaying performances are cultural practices that reveal how cosplayers interact with one another and among non-cosplaying members of their fandoms. This study examines the expectations that cosplayers hold for roleplay, the forms of roleplay, and the ways in which roleplay can become an instigator of harassment. Through the lens of Face-Negotiation Theory, the author discusses how roleplay functions to maintain or threaten the public images of cosplayers and their audiences, and what strategies cosplayers implement to avoid the loss of face.

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“Big in Japan: The Novel” chronicles the struggles of American Kent Richman, has-been gaijin-tarento. The novel alternates between a collage of tabloid articles, letters, YouTube video, excerpts from an unfinished memoir, manga story boards, botched interviews, notes scribbled on napkins, and a third-person narrative. Set primarily in central Japan, “Big in Japan” is at once a satire of celebrity, a study of personality, a romance and a mystery. Kent Richman—John Lennon look-a-like known as RI-CHU-MAN-SAN! and husband to popular model Kumiko Sato—was a regular on the nightly game show The Strange Bonanza, despite having little talent beyond his resemblance to the popular Beatle. Following a foolish affair with a young Quebecois named Monique Martine, Kent and Kumi’s celebrity world is shattered when Monique’s husband, Australian Denis Ozman—an edgy, violent shock comic—seeks his revenge on Kent and, by default, Kumi. The “Ozman Incident,” as it becomes known in the Asian press, escalates Kent and Kumi to new levels of celebrity, but impels them to abandon stardom and Japan for a new beginning on an island in the Gulf of Thailand. In Thailand, Kent and Kumi try to make a new start, but Kumi is unable to forgive Kent for what Ozman did to them and paradise quickly goes sour. In the frenzy of a passing storm, Kumi disappears with a local entrepreneur named Darren. Kent’s search for her leads him to Bangkok and a painful but puzzling discovery. When we first meet Kent, he has returned from Thailand without Kumi, who has vanished. He is unemployed, abandoned by his once adoring public, and penniless, living in a capsule hotel. Kent’s failings are aggravated by a minor drug habit that leads him to often comical, painful, and revealing extremes. At the heart of Kent’s troubles are the unanswered questions about Kumi’s disappearance and his fall from grace. Once a star, he both abhors and misses his former life. What begins as an attempt to exorcise nagging questions becomes an aimless and dangerous plunge into obsession: why did Kumi disappear, where did she go and what will he do now?