Cosplay and Monstrosity
During the amazing time of a convention, the fiction is alive around us. Not just because of the many plushies being sold and the excited fervour of other fans who surround us, but because of cosplayers. We see our favourite characters, get to take pictures with them, and even sometimes get to see them perform our favourite moves as they go across a stage.
Cosplay: A Research Reflection
Anthropology is supposed to be like Star Trek’s prime directive: observance without interference. But like how it doesn’t work out cleanly in Star Trek, it sure doesn't in anthropology either. We, as people, are like drops in a pool, little ripple effects that hit other ripples, and send new ripples from these shock waves. We influence the people around us even if we don’t speak to them - sometimes maybe expressly because we don’t speak to them.
The Question of Sexy Cosplays
One of the most brutal responses in the ant-camp was my participant Sam. I normally have a prepped question for sexy cosplays, but I didn’t even get the chance to ask it. Sam went in about “certain” cosplayers when I asked about what makes a cosplay a good cosplay, complaining directly about people who “just glue things on a bikini”. In almost direct contrast to that, Bailey talked about how the best cosplays are ones that make you feel good - even if you’ve “just glued things on a bikini”.
Enskilment and Cosplay
But there are other less obvious skills involved as well. Character choice itself is a necessary skill, and one that involves a lot of different facets. Cosplayers discussed how so many different elements go into it: the abilities or finances they have at their disposal in comparison to how complicated the costume is, what costumes suit which environments they intend to wear it, and the personalities of the cosplayer in comparison to the character choice.
Cosplay and Communities of Creativity
While cosplay is something that may not be necessarily embedded in the everyday actions of wider society, and it can definitely be a form of resistance and subversion, it is not always like this. The wider cultural group, of course, can also be vastly different in different areas of the world, and yet cosplayers see themselves in cosplayers from a variety of locations, as described to us by Blake who found community in cosplayers even when in a different country - a different wider culture.
Fan Conventions and Places of Imagination
From a myth perspective, the idea of conventions as a place of imagination is actually kinda similar to the idea of legend-tripping, which is when individuals travel to places of urban legends or places in folklore in order to try and experience in some way the collective imagination of the story. The actualisation of the fan’s collective memory also, in some ways, sets up a type of ritual space.
Cosplay’s Photo Performance
Like aspects of the costume the players pick up on as quintessentially that character, the poses and ways of styling a photograph also have to be quintessentially that character. It’s what cues the viewer into knowing what they cosplayer is referencing. Everything else about the character can change, but these small subtle cues allows the viewer to know exactly what they’re looking at.
Cosplay as Sympathetic Magic
Let’s use Sam’s cosplay as our example case. Sam is the one Sam wished to change - it was themselves, rather than someone else. Instead of using a doll, Sam chooses, instead, a fictional representation, a character they see connection to but that there’s still a separation from. But the connection needs to be actualised through the ritual action of the consecration of the doll - or, in the case of cosplay, an act of performance.
Fieldwork Reflection: Cosplay and Performance
I had heard from participants that being in costume meant that you were able to be less awkward than your normal self because you were able to be someone else for a few hours. I’m not sure if I truly felt that, but maybe it is, like my fieldwork journal said, because I wasn’t alive with it.
Cosplay and Pop Mythology
I think the most interesting aspect of this is in how cosplayers decide on the characters they will embody. When I was first figuring out my own cosplays, this was actually a really hard decision – there was a lot to think about. I like a lot of things, so how do I choose who to cosplay as? Cosplayers generally think of two factors when deciding on their character: the cosplayer and the location of the cosplayer.
Cosplay - Defined
But when I allow myself to be confused and complicated by the field – even my own field – I start to see how things can actually get a little weird. When it comes to “costume play” – where cosplay originates – there are actually quite a few different options, from traditional cosplay to historical re-enactors, to Nerdlesque performers, to drag, and even Halloween costumes. So how do I define these terms in my etic voice? How do we define the boundaries of cosplay?
Cosplay as a Subversive Act
One of the more interesting aspects of cosplay that I am beginning to uncover is just how subversive of a performance the act of cosplay actually is. Cosplay's subversion lies in the alterations of the narrative, enacted by individuals who have agency over narrative, performance, and storytelling. So I wanted to spend some time today getting into just how I see cosplay's subversion happening, and how this works in the larger context of anthropology and the world outside cosplay.
Thinking About Clothes
Clothes are a form of implicit mythology. Clothing is a tool we use to communicate ourselves to others without ever having to open our mouths. My hair, my makeup, my jewellery, my clothes, are all part of the communication of self to others, and each aspect communicates aspects of myself and my story. Dressing as someone else is an important signature of the art of dress-play (cosplay, drag, etc.) because the clothing signals who we are.
Cosplay, Nerdlesque and Drag: the boundaries of dress plays
It's Vivian again, back with an update on the research project Playing With My 'Self' - an anthropological study into the world of cosplay. In this video, I explore other forms of dress play, including nerdlesque and drag. We dig into the connections between nerdlesque, drag and cosplay, and what these connections teach us about cosplay.
Fieldwork, Cosplay and Nerdlesque
I’ve already conducted some interviews, and looking into other ways of recruiting/gathering direct information. In this quick update, I’m going to start by expanding on my own cosplay project, and follow this up by expanding on some of the tangents I’ve uncovered in the research so far.
Project Update
The Organising Bit
I'm just updating you on the beginning stages of research. In this video, I tell you about roughly where I am now, and how to organise yourself using Trello (which is my organisation software of choice).