Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

English

Committee Director

Kevin Moberly

Committee Member

Margaret Kilcline

Committee Member

Don Rodrigues

Committee Member

Andrew Kissel

Abstract

The instability of the last decade, due to factors including climate change, economic uncertainty, political extremism, mass violence, and the COVID-19 pandemic, has left many people—particularly those who identify as part of the millennial or older Gen Z demographics— feeling disillusioned and defeated by the state of the world. Fantastic literature and media, which engage with cultural issues through the process of estrangement, often incorporate larger-than life monsters and grand struggles between good and evil that invite audiences to map their real world anxieties onto the narratives and to imagine solutions. While dystopias and epic quests that lead to large-scale social upheaval remain popular, the last decade has brought with it a shift in the kinds of fantastic media many people seek out.

This dissertation examines a relatively new subgenre of literature and video games—the cozy fantastic—as an answer to the cultural anxieties of the present moment. Drawing on a variety of theoretical approaches including fantasy studies, care ethics, feminist and queer theory, and Marxist theory, this project contributes both to game studies and studies of the fantastic. I explore how the genre offers a vision of a better world by centering personal growth, community development, and care practices as ways of resisting harmful world-systems. By estranging real world problems through the fantastic, the genre creates room for audiences to consider the systems in which they currently reside and imagine alternatives. These alternatives, which are rooted in the wisdom of often-overlooked voices—particularly those of women and queer people—center ways of being and thinking that are often dismissed and devalued as too emotional, too soft, or too idealistic. I argue that in doing so, the genre meets an important need for audiences. First, by giving voice to those often-dismissed perspectives, the genre offers validation to the marginalized perspectives and suggests that resistance can come in many forms. Second, and perhaps most importantly, the genre offers hope. By suggesting that regular people can and do have the potential to improve the world—even in small ways—the cozy fantastic invites audiences to consider not only what a better world could look like, but how they might help to create it.

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.25777/1nx3-ht66

ISBN

9798197810311

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Available for download on Monday, June 26, 2028

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