“The most beautiful things I’ve ever seen” –diegetic and extra-diegetic found families in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, and their Fandoms

This project utilizes close reading and affect theory to create an autoethnographic reflection and analysis of three bodies of work—the American urban fantasy serial Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind (manga 1995-1997, anime 2018-2019), and the fandoms of these series. This dissertation explores the idea of found family, which is the informal name for kinship bonds between those who are not genetically related, in these works and in fanworks written by the author falling into the popular fanfiction genre of hurt/comfort. Using the framing of being an acafan, the author interweaves her own experiences in academia, graduate school, and fandom spaces to create a wholly unique narrative of personal growth, self-discovery, and the importance of media’s effect on audiences and their identities.