Cole Armitage

Cole Armitage is a third-year Cinema Studies PhD student at the University of Toronto. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Media Studies from Trent University and his Master’s Degree in Film Studies from Concordia University, where he published his MA thesis entitled “Destabilizing Animation: Structures of Agency and Uncanny Animacy in Animated Media.” Cole’s research interests include animation theory, media theory, transmedia studies, and fan studies. His current work explores how techniques of databasing, limited animation, and transmedia mobility support “parasocial” life and engender online performativity within the phenomenon of “Virtual YouTubers” or “VTubers.”

Selected Work

“Destabilizing Animation: Structures of Agency and Uncanny Animacy in Animated Media”. MA Thesis. Concordia University, 2020.

“Deborah Levitt. The Animatic Apparatus: Animation, Vitality, and the Futures of the Image”. Book Review. Synoptique 9 (1). 2020.

Awards

• SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship (September 1^st, 2020)
• SSHRC Canada Graduate Master’s Scholarship (May 1^st, 2019)
• JSPS-Mitacs Summer Program Fellowship (June 2019)
• Fine Arts Travel Award (Concordia University, 2019)
• De Seve Scholarship (Concordia University, 2018)
• Faculty of Fine Arts Fellowship (Concordia University, 2018)
• Symons Medal (Trent University, 2018)
• Rita Chiu Study Abroad Bursary (Trent University, 2016)
• John Stubbs Prize (Trent University, 2015)