Me: This is not an interview, this is degrading. I’m done. (I walk away)
Him: (clearly dumbfounded and surprised) ..Come on, it’s all in good fun!
Me: Being degraded is fun?Go to Google Images™, and type in "cosplay".
Mandy Caruso, Beautilation
(Go ahead, I'll wait…)
What you'll see is an apparent Who's Who of characters from comics, movies, games, animé, and television shows. A closer look reveals that it's pictures of people (and a few dogs) dressed as those characters or interpretations of them - mashups, steampunk, crossplay/Rule 63* versions - at conventions, studio setups, or appropriate locations. And there are a LOT of pictures.**
Originally, cosplay - an obvious combination of "costume" and "play"- was almost exclusively an homage to characters from Japanese animated programs, or animé. Cosplayers would construct intricate costumes faithfully based on those of their favourite characters, and then have themselves photographed in appropriate settings for the characters they were portraying. Cosplay originates in Japan in the late 70s or early 80s, and as it became increasingly popular, it made the transition to the rest of the world.
Having made that transition, it has become hugely popular on a global basis, to the point that a separate industry in cosplay support has developed, with companies suppling accessories, weapons, patterns and costumes to the cosplay community. (I've listed a few stellar examples at the end of this posting.)
In spite of my own costumed appearances at Hallowe'en, cosplay doesn't really appeal to me as a hobby, for a very simple reason. I'd rather make something completely original rather than duplicate an existing creation - not to suggest for a second that there isn't room for originality in cosplay, but it's generally a venue for duplication and interpretation rather than genesis. However, due to cosplay's enormous popularity, I consider it to have achieved a status as its own genre within the community, and follow it the same way that I follow books, comics, games and so on. I admire cosplayers for their creativity and their craft, and the sense of commitment, accomplishment and enjoyment that they bring to their hobby.
That being said, cosplay has been the target of some of the stupidest comments and problems that have ever plagued a fan community. Cosplayers have been the victims of three main problems: sex, race and entitlement.
Let's start with sex. (As the bishop said to the actress.) Comics and genre movies and games are all guilty of idealization and objectification of women to a greater or lesser extent, no argument there. (I've commented on this previously, regarding Red Sonja and Wonder Woman.) What this means to the cosplay community is that in order to accurately portray certain characters, women wear costumes that reflect the objectification from the original material - in other words, tight spandex and outfits without a lot of coverage.
The question of female empowerment has already been discussed here, and as in that discussion I can only comment from my own perspective. Regardless, I think that any sensible person would agree that if a woman actually did decide to dress provocatively to attract male attention, there are easier ways to do it than by spending three months sewing a Poison Ivy costume and wearing it to a convention.
However, the problem is not the people in the costumes. The problem is people who come to the false conclusion that because someone at a convention is dressed in a leafy bathing suit or spandex tights, they are a valid target for verbal or physical harassment.
Although she's probably not the first person to actively protest this kind of treatment, cosplayer Mandy Caruso certainly stands at the front of the line in terms of having both stood up to an abusive interviewer when dressed as Black Cat at a con, and in posting the details of her encounter on Tumblr for all and sundry to read. Mandy's experience became part of a growing movement to address the issue of harassment at conventions, resulting in the recent Cosplay ≠ CONsent campaign started by 16-Bit Sirens, which has struck an obvious chord within the community.
Next we have the problem of race. Astonishingly, there are people who feel that cosplayers should only play characters of their own colour. This particular bit of insanity was brought to the forefront several years ago when cosplayer Chaka Cumberbatch posted a picture of herself as Sailor Venus, prompting unbelievable comments like, "For a black cosplayer (not to be racist) she did an amazing job!"
Ahem. Everyone, I'd like to introduce Yaya Han.
So what? Ms. Han obviously possesses an incredible eye for detail, mad skills with a sewing machine, and a huge commitment to her hobby/profession. How unfortunate to try to limit that commitment by suggesting that she should only appear as Mulan or Chun Li because she's Chinese. What a bizarre idea! Does that mean that Canadians can't go to conventions dressed as Captain America? (Any American readers who have the urge to say "yes", be careful about what you start. Wolverine was originally a Canadian...)
I think that what this really comes down to is the question of entitlement, or lack thereof: the decision by part of the fan community that cosplayers - especially female cosplayers - are literally just posers, without a "real" commitment to the genre. Unfortunately the poster child for this sad philosophy is an actual comics professional, an artist named Tony Harris whose 2012 FaceBook rant against fake geek girls was so extreme that at first it was assumed that his account had been hacked.
In spite of my jokes about wanting a higher geek rating, I don't for a moment think that there's a ranking system for geekhood - we are not better or worse than each other, we are just different in terms of what we know and like, and how we choose to express it.
In a way, this blog is an example of that. I started this blog partially as a writing exercise, an ongoing motivation to sit down at a keyboard on some kind of regular basis and put words in a row. But I didn't randomly decide on science fiction novels, fantasy games, Doctor Who and comic books as topics - those are the things that I enjoy and are a large part of my life, and this blog gives me a way to have my own voice regarding them.
On that basis, I have nothing but respect for anyone, regardless of race, creed, colour, religion or cup size, who has made the same decision - the decision to commit, to have a voice, to tell the world what they love. The fact that their voice may involve fabric and wigs rather than adverbs and HTML just adds depth to the topics that we're all talking about.
So, just to summarize: we're talking about people who have spent countless hours and hundreds of dollars to create costumes, who have then invested in plane tickets, hotel rooms and con tickets in order to show off their handiwork and share their craft with their peers, who then get hassled by slack-jawed mouth-breathers who ask them about their cup sizes or grab their butts - and there are people who don't think that they're serious enough in their commitment to be allowed - allowed - to wear the costumes?
To quote the Bunny, it is to laugh.
- Sid
SHOUT OUTS:
Mandy Caruso:
http://beautilation.tumblr.com/
Anthony Misano:
https://www.facebook.com/HarleysJoker
https://www.facebook.com/TheBatmanChronicles
Chaka Cumberbatch:
http://www.xojane.com/issues/mad-back-cosplayer-chaka-cumberbatch
Yaya Han:
http://www.yayahan.com/
https://www.facebook.com/yayacosplay
http://yayacosplay.deviantart.com/gallery
Svetlana Quindt:
http://www.kamuicosplay.com/
https://www.facebook.com/KamuiCos
Harrison Krix:
http://www.volpinprops.com/portfolio
http://www.flickr.com/photos/volpinprops
Catherine Jones:
https://www.facebook.com/gstqfashions
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gstqfashions
* Rule 63 states that for every fictional character, there exists a counterpart of the opposite sex: Antonia Stark/Ironwoman, Prince Peach, Lucia Skywalker, Harlan Quinn - you get the idea. A formal example would be Starbuck in the Battlestar Galactica reboot.
** As a generalist geek, I cast a wide net, so I have a pretty good recognition factor for costume origins. Ironically, considering that cosplay starts with animé, those are the outfits that I generally don't know, and I am unfortunately forced to categorize them in my head as "based on one of the thousands of Japanimation sources".
"oriental women" smh
ReplyDeleteNoted - changed to Chinese women.
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