Student Perspectives is our series of guest posts written by current #citylis students.
This post is by current #citylis student, Adelaide Robinson.
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A quick definition before we start:
“Cosplay (コスプレkosupure), a contraction of the words costume play, is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture and a broader use of the term “cosplay” applies to any costumed role-playing in venues apart from the stage. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject and it is not unusual to see genders switched. Favorite sources include manga and anime, comic books and cartoons, video games, and live-action films and television series.” (2)
I started cosplaying aged 15, as Jade Harley from the popular webcomic Homestuck, created by Andrew Hussie. My first cosplay was an elaborate headfirst dive into the world of dressmaking, with yards of lime green bias tape, sparkly fabric, and a very helpful mum to oversee the process. Later I branched out on my own into different characters and more complicated costumes, mostly women from comic books; like Dinah Lance (Black Canary), Dawn Granger (Dove), Agent Peggy Carter, and Wonder Woman. ‘Cosplay season’ (May and October for London-based cosplayers) are the most stressful but rewarding months of my year, and this year was no different. After swearing I’d never work with lycra again after last year’s mildly disastrous Carmilla Black (Scorpion) cosplay, I ended up making a full lycra bodysuit, mask and belt anyway to ‘play’ Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat.
After discussing cosplay as part of ‘fan participation’ in class, I got to thinking about the reason why I choose to stress myself out over colour choices and broken zippers twice a year. Is it just a chance to demonstrate my amateur sewing talents while meeting like-minded crafters, or is it a deeper expression of my personality through characters I like and identify with? Robin S. Rosenberg and Andrea M. Letamendi define the varied purposed of cosplay as including “the expression of adoration of the character, enjoying attention or approval from audiences/peers, and experiencing the creative process of the costume construction. Therefore, cosplay can extend to clothing design, fabrication, make-up, prop making, and other skills involved in creating costumes.” (1) I’m still not sure what drives me – a bit of everything, honestly – so I channeled Patsy Walker, investigator, and got to interviewing some fellow cosplayers.
Cosplayer: Yalinca, as Garnet from the Cartoon Network show ‘Steven Universe’. Yalinca has been cosplaying for the past few years, (and looked incredible).
Question: Why did you choose to cosplay Garnet today?
Yalinca: “She’s just so cool – f*ing awesome, really! I do identify with her because while she’s not explicitly a black character in the show, she’s voiced by a black actress and I consider her one of the first black cartoon characters that I’ve really connected with.”
Question: When you choose to play a character, do you base your decision more on the character themselves or the costume?
Yalinca: “A bit of both. I try to make the costumes as realistic as possible.”
Cosplayer: Charlotte, as Kaylee from the TV show Firefly.
Question: Why did you choose to cosplay Kaylee today?
Charlotte: “I’ve grown up with her, and I love the character. Also, Saturdays are the busiest days for photographers and cosplayers.”
Cosplayers: Lilo Greenan as Disney’s Rapunzel (Tangled), and Maisy Parr as Disney’s Alice (Alice in Wonderland).
Question: When you’re considering a cosplay, what is more important to you: the cosplay or the characters? And do you have a personal history with the characters?
Both: “Definitely the characters.”
Maisy: “Alice is mad – it’s perfect!”
Lilo: “We met at a big Disney group and found each other again today – I’ve made a lot of friends through cosplaying.”
Cosplayers: Drew (left) as Rey, and Tim as Poe, from the Star Wars universe. Drew has been cosplaying since she was 14, and Tim since he was 16.
Question: When you choose to play a character, do you base your decision more on the character themselves or the costume?
Drew: “It’s a mixture of both – I like making things – but it’s not too much of a challenge in either direction.”
Question: Do you have a personal history with the characters?
Tim: “They’re new characters: is a year history? But we both really liked them.”
Cosplayer: Manisha as Kamala Khan (Ms Marvel), from Marvel comics. (A personal favourite character!) Manisha has been cosplaying for three years.
Question: Why are you cosplaying Kamala today?
Manisha: “I’ve loved superheroes since I was a little girl – but Kamala’s the first one who looked like me. As a 2nd generation immigrant I’ve found her really relatable, especially her family life – anyone with an Asian background will find familiar themes in her story.”
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I’d like to thank all the cosplayers who I interviewed on Saturday, (and the ones who wouldn’t fit in the post). Everyone was so kind and enthusiastic about my questions that it ended up being a really run part of the day for me. From the answers of my interviewees, it seems that cosplay is much more dependent on identifying with the character than demonstrating sewing/craft ability. I also found from several cosplayers that they’d specifically chosen a character based on how they related to them as representatives of their race or sexuality. Nicolle Lamerichs writes in ‘Stranger than Fiction’ that “costuming is a form of fan appropriation that transforms, performs, and actualizes an existing story in close connection to the fan’s own identity”, and I think that’s very true. (3) While I previously considered myself to be fully focused on displaying ability rather than performing, I realised to what extent I do actually ‘get into character’ when I’m cosplaying. I’m often shy, but playing an outgoing character like Patsy made interviewing a breeze. Wearing a mask really can change your behaviour!
Cosplay is an integral part of fan participation, and it has a rich and important history. In the book world, cosplay manifests in many different ways; if you’ve ever dressed up for World Book Day, a midnight release of a Harry Potter book, or a teen manga evening (I’m guilty on all three counts) in a bookshop or library, then you’ve cosplayed. While cosplayers demonstrate an affinity with a particular character with their costumes, they’re also advertising their favourite books, movies, video games and comics. Libraries should definitely be encouraging this practice to keep enthusiasm going, and I’m glad to see from sites on the subject such as http://ccgclibraries.com/, that many of them are.
(Now, I need to plan my next costume… but no more lycra. I mean it this time.)
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay
(2) ‘Expressions of Fandom: Findings from a Psychological Survey of Cosplay and Costume Wear’, Robin S. Rosenberg and Andrea M. Letamendi.
http://www.drrobinrosenberg.com/resources/Cosplay-Expressions%20of%20Fandom.pdf
(£) ‘Stranger than fiction: Fan identity in cosplay’, Nicolle Lamerichs, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/246/230
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You can follow Adelaide on twitter.
This post is an edited version of the original which was published on the author’s blog, The Accidental Scientist on November 7th 2016 (see original post for Full Size photos).
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