Cosplay and the Art of Play: Exploring Sub-Culture Through Art

Description

This book is an introduction to cosplay as a subculture and community, built around playful spaces and the everyday practices of crafting costumes, identities, and performances. Drawing on new and original ethnographic data, as well as the innovative use of arts-led research, this book adds to our understanding of a popular, global cultural practice. In turn, this pushes forward our understanding of play, fan practices, subcultures, practice-led research, and uses of urban spaces. Cosplay and the Art of Play offers a significant addition to key contemporary debates on the meaning and uses of popular culture in the 21st century, and will be of importance to students and scholars interested in communities, fandom, identity, leisure, participatory cultures, performance, and play. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: What Is Cosplay? (Garry Crawford, David Hancock)....Pages 1-20 Contextualising the Artwork (Garry Crawford, David Hancock)....Pages 21-50 Cosplay and Art as Research Method (Garry Crawford, David Hancock)....Pages 51-85 Cosplay as Subculture (Garry Crawford, David Hancock)....Pages 87-117 Identity and Performance (Garry Crawford, David Hancock)....Pages 119-161 Crafting Cosplay (Garry Crawford, David Hancock)....Pages 163-197 Playful Cultures and the Appropriation of Urban Space (Garry Crawford, David Hancock)....Pages 199-230 Conclusion: Decentring Cosplay (Garry Crawford, David Hancock)....Pages 231-247 Back Matter ....Pages 249-258