Portrait of a Fangirl is a brand-new web series created by Monica Duarte and Emily Schuck. At the core of the project is the necessity of telling the stories of women who have found inspiration, growth, and power through fandom. We’re thrilled to share our first webisode, featuring cosplayer Utahime Cosplay.
In this episode, we talk with the cosplayer known as Utahime Cosplay! She talks to us about how being a fangirl has influenced her life, in both positive and negative ways. She shares her hopes for the fandom community. Her optimism and warm spirit is an inspiration to cosplayers and geeks who have struggled with balancing their geek life and their everyday lives.
Portrait of a Fangirl began as a photography project with the goal of capturing the rich and diverse manifestations of fangirling. The idea was to take portraits of geeky women as a way to celebrate their fandoms. We soon came to realize that, even though a picture–as the cliché goes–is indeed worth a thousand words, these women are so much more than their fandoms; they are so much more than their portraits. As a result, we decided to interview them and find out more about them. What resulted was a web series. But, to us, the photos are still important. We believe that having photos of what fangirls do like would help break the stereotype of what a fangirl alleged to be. Fangirls are found everywhere from sports, music, movies, books, history and countless other fandoms and their expression vast and unique.
We asked Utahime Cosplay to chose outfits that reflected her personal style, personality, and expressions of fandom. Although she is best known as a cosplayer, she didn’t choose to cosplay: there is so much more to a fangirl than (literally) meets the eye.
Utahime is a big fan of Anime and Manga. It’s one of the main things that she fangirls over. She especially enjoys the Studio Ghibli film My Neighbor Totoro. The hoodie that Utahime is wearing in these photos looks like the title character, Totoro.
Kida is one of the main characters in Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis II. Young Kida is voiced by Natalie Strom and adult Kida is voiced by Cree Summer. This character is special to Utahime. The T-shirt worn in these photographs depicts the character of Kida in a scene from the first film. The crystal around Utahime’s neck is a nod to this character as well.
Utahime is on Instagram as @utahimecosplay. Here she showcases her amazing cosplay, and announces her latest projects and when she will be streaming on Twitch.
Our Instagram is like a small community. here you can find the latest news for Portrait of a Fangirl. We also geek out about a wide variety of fandoms.
Webseries on fangirl culture ‘Portrait of a Fangirl’ Trailer
Temple Of Geek Podcast Announces Portrait Of A Fangirl
Portrait of a Fangirl – Episode Five “Alice Fanchiang”
Portrait of a Fangirl: Episode Four – Tiffany Michelle Cagle
Portrait of a Fangirl – Episode Three “Victoria Male”
Portrait of a Fangirl – Episode Two: “Jordan Ellis”
Portrait of a Fangirl – Episode One – “Utahime Cosplay”
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Portrait of a Fangirl is produced by Temple of Geek.
Video & Photography by Monica Duarte
Audio by Doc In The Box
Edited by Emily Schuck
Produced by Monica Duarte, Emily Schuck, and Danniel Slade
Some Additional Footage filmed by Madison Natalie Morrow at Los Angeles Comic Con
Convention footage filmed at Los Angeles Comic Con 2019
Portrait of a Fangirl created by Monica Duarte & Emily Schuck
Portrait of a Fangirl theme “Girls Say” by Coyote Hearing
Additional music Blue Moon by JVNA and Future Girl by RKVC
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