Have you ever been to a sporting event where the teams have a mascot that stands on the sidelines, entertains the crowd, and acts like a fool for our amusement? Well, chances are, the person behind the mask is a furry, or someone who is a member of the furry fandom. What is a furry? Furry is one of those words with no one definition. If you ask ten people you will get twelve different answers. Levi Wolfstrom, cohost of the webcast Wagztail, defines it as someone who likes stories, artwork, or other media featuring animals with human characteristics (Levi Wolfstrom). This type of people makes up the furry fandom, and makes it what it is. The furry fandom has many things that make it special, but the three main differences that make it its own group of people are: furries and their diversity, the many artist and their artwork, and the conventions that gather thousands of furries together in one place.
In order to fully comprehend the furry fandom, people must understand the idea that ties its members together. The Furry Fandom is a broad community of people that come from all ranges of socioeconomic and political backgrounds. Different people count themselves as “Furries”. Some are fans or artists of visual, written or theatrical arts such as animated cartoons and fantasy stories. Some are mascot and character fans or performers such as professional theme park and corporate mascots or volunteer character performers. Because the Furry Fandom encompasses such a wide range of people and interests, to term someone as a “Furry” is similar to calling someone a “Sports Fan”.
Although the fandom has a wide range of diversity, a common misconception is that all furries are fursuiters. A fursuiter is any person that wears any form of costume...
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...get together in smaller numbers as well. Gatherings of furries where attendance is under one hundred are called “fur meets” and are not regulated by the board of anthropomorphic conventions (furry fandom info center).
As you can see, the furry fandom has three major characteristics that make it what it is. There is the diversity in the fandom and the reasons for that diversity. The art and the amazing artist that create it help differentiate the fandom, and the conventions that allow furries to come together and enjoy what the fandom has to offer. Furries are a group of people that like the idea of animals being able to walk and talk just like we do, this is the only thing that makes them one group of people. Furries come in every shape, size, race, gender, personality, and nationality. So the next time you see a furry, don’t classify him before you get to know him.
Do Rozario, Rebecca-Anne C. "The Princess and the Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, the Function of the Disney Princess." Women's Studies in Communication, vol. 27, no. 1, Spring2004, pp. 34-59. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,url,custuid&custid=magn0117&db=a9h&AN=13143218&site=eds-live. This work analyzes the popularity of Disney’s princesses. Their merchandise, theme parks, animations and ice shows are what they are known for. The reader also gets a deeper understanding of the princesses’ relationships to be loved ones and other characters.
So what does transgender mean and what is transgender identity disorder? According to the American Psychological Association," transgender" is "umbrella term whose gender identity, gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they wer...
This term was coined by Insane Clown Posse at a concert in 1994 during the song, “The Juggla”. The fans believe that being a Juggalo is being in a gigantic family that spans internationally. They believe that within this family, they will be accepted and follow Ruth Stafford Peal’s wise words: “See a need and fill it”. In the documentary, “A Family Underground” and “American Juggalo-Often Mocked and Misunderstood Subculture”, there is an inside look at what being a Juggalo means to the fans. These documentaries are about something called “The Gathering of the Juggalos” (often called “The Gathering”), which is a bunch of concerts in the woods and people camp out there together and have a good time. Though it may appear that all these people do is paint themselves and basically have Woodstock in the woods, but you often hear them shouting, “Family!” Why? Because to them, being at The Gathering with fellow Juggalos is like coming to a family reunion, like they are
Wood, L. J., Giles-Corti, B., Bulsara, M. K., & Bosch, D. A. (2007). More Than a Furry Companion: Ripple Effect of Companion Animals on Neighborhood Interactions and Sense of Community. Society and Animals, 15, 43-56. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://www.animalsandsociety.org/assets/library/638_morethanafurrycompanion.pdf
In Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel entitled Fun Home, the author expresses her life in a comical manner where she explains the relationship between her and her family, pointedly her father who acts as a father figure to the family as she undergoes her exhaustive search for sexuality. Furthermore, the story describes the relationship between a daughter and a father with inversed gender roles as sexuality is questioned. Throughout the novel, the author suggests that one’s identity is impacted by their environment because one’s true self is created through the ability of a person to distinguish reality from fictional despotism.
In conclusion Ponyboy would be a kind of person that people would judge from his appearance rather than digging deep and finding out what who he actually is. Even though he is different from his gang, and has a different personality that doesn’t match his appearance, that doesn’t mean that he has to be labeled. Ponyboy had several conflicts that he had to go through just because people started to label him as a greaser, but they didn’t understand who he really was.
As I explored this particular term “Bronies” I was intrigued, this term is something I’ve never heard of, or was aware was actually real. The term, “ ‘Brony’ is an internet slang term used to describe a teenager or adult male fan of the TV cartoon series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” (Triple Zed). Bronies get together and have their own events, trends, and have their own unique interests, the Brony fandom comes together and supports each other, they are a unity. As I continued my research on Bronies I found out in depth why they are so interested in this cartoon and fandom, ultimately this is their escape to happiness.
Bronies occupy a space easily misunderstood by individuals not familiar with the fandom as effeminate men relishing in a fantasy world of ponies. As Henry Jenkins suggests, most fandoms have negative connotations surrounding them because of their seemingly obsessive practices and rituals in relation to the media text. Discovering young adult men enjoying a show targeted toward little girls is potentially unsettling to people looking at the fandom from the outside because they cannot fathom what the show could offer these fans.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) campaign “I'd Rather Go Naked than Wear Fur,” in order to argue that, rather than changing people's thoughts and behavior for the benefit of animals, the campaign succeeds merely in demeaning and hyper-sexualizing women. While PETA has often been successful in generating visual rhetoric that appeals to both the public’s logical reasoning and emotional sentiment, the visual rhetoric in this campaign is unable to generate the same effect. An analysis of the implementation of the three rhetoric appeals - pathos, logos and ethos - show that the organization’s inability to catalyze behavioural change in their target audience can be largely attributed to conflicts
Muth, Douglas. "Just What IS "Furry" Fandom? | Anthrocon 2011: The Anthropomorphic Institute of Magic, June 23 to 26, 2011." Anthrocon 2011: The Anthropomorphic Institute of Magic, June 23 to 26, 2011 | "Fur, Fun, And So Much More!" 28 Mar. 2006. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. .
Fandoms are considered to have a positive ideology. However, there is some discretion over the intensity of devotion from fans with some fandoms being critiqued as having a more worshipful audience, than what is considered the ‘norm’. These texts that have a more worshipful audience are often “defined as ‘cult media’ through the fact that such media texts attract passionate, enduring, and socially organized fan audiences.” (Hills, 2000) This explains the main difference between Cult fandom and more mainstream fandom, which is down to the intensity of fan activity. Fans are dedicated to their cult interest and often create strong emotional bonds with characters, actors, directors and producers, which goes beyond the
Hi all! Anyone who knows me knows that I am a true animal lover! I know those of you just like me truly understand what it feels like to receive the unconditional love we receive from our fur-babies! Our pets become our best friends and part of our families!
Stop buying fur, “go faux for fox sake!” said Peta earlier this spring. Animals are suffering just because greedy humans want their fur for fashion related reasons. One may think: “so what, it’s not like dogs and cats are being napped and being skinned”, but they would be wrong. Cats, dogs, and other animals alike, are being killed for their fur. Peta,
"Ten Fast Facts about Animals in Entertainment." Born Free USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2014.
For decades Disney has been the source of happy endings, fairytales, and family friendly stories for children of all ages. These stories range from realistic and familiar, to the eye-catching magical fairytale. The key to each of these stories are the happy endings brought about by each of the characters unique personalities and dreams. Disney’s films are attempted to provide children with the basic understanding of wrong versus right, but instead influences our society’s beliefs and awareness. Although Disney’s efforts to provide the basic morals to our children are misleading and affect our society strongly, they also contain the use of racism in a form which shows the major differences between characters. The once admired and well-known characters are seemed to be recognized by their species, ethnicity and even their social class. Disney films have taken out of context and have persuaded their viewers understanding of racial stereotyping, which is thoroughly explained in Henry Giroux and Grace Pollock’s novel, The Mouse that Roared. They bring awareness to the underlying racial stereotyping in Disney films, which deeply affect our societies understanding today. Giroux and Pollock bring into perception these admired and regularly watched films through precise examples and racist rendering of the specific characters species and ethnicities which strongly influence our society and lead children to intake these negative influences.