Ryan Licht
1. Abstract
Have you ever wondered about the artistically talented
culture of cosplay? In this research paper I reveal the history
and culture of where cosplaying came from. I investigate what differentiates a
cosplayer from art to just wearing a costume.
the results on how people outside and inside view the group of people
who cosplay. I also inform the reading audience of the discrimination that
imposed on to cosplayers. Other accounts of cosplayers and cosplayer writers
will be noted on how they feel on being a cosplayer. By studying the psychology
of bullying, discrimination, and cosplay, the audience will have a better
understanding of how people think. I elaborate on the different reactions that
were observed during my survey in the public. This research is important in
informing the audience of this sub-culture group of what cosplay really means
to those who participate and how people who do not, view eachother.
2. Intro & Thesis
Picture yourself in a place filled with all of your
favorite movie characters walking around like it was just a normal day. These
places exist as conventions where cosplayers dress as
characters from every
media source. Cosplay is far more than
just pretending to be a fictional character. It is a way of escaping reality
and becoming someone else. It is both an art form and entertainment. The
costume and the process involved in designing and making or choosing an outfit
is art. The act of wearing it and acting out the character is entertainment.
Cosplay is a way of being creative and unique through costume role playing,
socializing, and having fun. But how much of cosplay is truly art and how much
is entertainment? What makes cosplay different from merely wearing a costume as
a school mascot or a kid on Halloween? It is a lifestyle which uses identity to
enhance performance as a way of expressing self and making connections with
others. Through my research, I will investigate the cosplaying history and
culture to reveal what cosplay is to cosplayers and others who do not partake
in this sub-culture.
3. History of Cosplay
Cosplay has a complex and confusing history. It is
debated amongst cosplayers whether it started in North America or Japan.
Cosplay grew out of costume fandom which started at the first Worldcon in 1939.
For several years, this kind of costuming was only found in science fiction and
fantasy conventions in North America. It wasn’t until Nov Takahashi first
coined the term “cosplay” that the phenomenon of “costume play” came to be. He
started an entire Japanese cosplay movement with his coverage of the 1984 Los Angeles
Sci-Fi Worldcon in Japanese sci-fi magazines. The idea took hold in Japanese
readers, imaginations and in turn they made it their own by dressing as their
favorite anime characters. In a matter of a few years, fans began to dress as
these characters at comic book and sci-fi events. Cosplay was then reintroduced
to America in a much larger scale than before in the mid-1990s as manga and
anime began to become popular and spread across the nation (Flynn 2012). Cosplay in North America started with
costuming. In North America costuming was heavily influenced by the long
history of masquerade in Europe and the creation of the holiday Halloween.
Therefore Americans have separated cosplay with earlier costume costume-wearing
traditions such as masquerade and Halloween by East (Japan) and West (North
America) (Napier 2001). For Americans cosplay is all about making your own
costume and competing or showing it off for pride at conventions or events. There
is a heavy emphasis put on being original and creative with your designs. It is
practiced by people of all ages and from all different circles of life (Flynn
2012). For a while cosplay in North America has been associated with what some
may consider geeks, nerds, weird-o’s, and freaks. However, according to my
friend Anthony Tinnermon, most cosplayers are younger and for the most part
just average people. Apparently he isn’t the only one that thinks so, when
interviewed by The New York Times, this is what one person had to say, “The
fans of this genre are getting younger. It’s not the stereotype of a
40-year-old male fan living in his mom’s basement. It’s actually a lot of
women.” (Lamerichs 2011). In my
observation at DragonCon, I found most of this to be truth. Most of the cosplayers
at the convention were indeed younger and mostly women. I could tell that
originality and creativity were very important to the cosplayers there because
there was so much variety in people’s costumes and even ones that were dressed
as the same character had their own variation or unique twist to the costume.
For instance, stormtroopers may look similar in design, as most try to have
some weathering or unique piece of material that makes them stand out amongst the
rest. The concepts of competition and pride were also evident because there was
a costume contest that several serious cosplayers decided to be a part of and
everywhere I looked, people were posing for pictures and showing off their
costumes.
4. Cosplay and Japanese Culture
Cosplay is a large part of the Japanese culture of youth
today. In Japan there isn’t as much emphasis put on making the costume and
competing as it is on having fun and taking pictures (Flynn 2012). But the
Japanese also take cosplay more seriously than Americans. There can’t just be a
casual fan of something. They are so serious about cosplay that they even have
their own chain cosplay costumes stores, where people can go buy professionally
made costumes. Most Japanese find the appeal of dressing up as an anime, manga,
or game character as normal, largely because they see these characters all the
time on TV and they are therefore glorified and treated just like pop stars or
famous icons. However, unlike famous actors or rock stars, the fans can’t
actually meet these characters, so they dress as them instead to give
themselves a chance to become them. Unlike in North America, cosplay in Japan
is not thought to be restricted only to video games, manga or anime characters,
but can encompass dressing in all sorts of outfits: maid, nurse, schoolgirl,
etc. (Napier 2001). Also, cosplay in Japan is a huge hobby of teenage females
(Flynn 2012). Naturally, this popularity
of cosplay has heavily influenced Japanese fashion with the creation of Gothic
and Lolita stlyes. Lolita fashion first
had its start in the early to mid-1990's. It first started among Japanese
schoolgirls inspired by the band Malice Mizer and in particular by the band’s
guitar player whose unique style consisted of black and white ruffled dresses,
elaborate bows, false eyelashes and heavy white makeup. Over time this look and
the Lolita style of fashion became closely associated with cosplay (Holson
2005). In fact, it has become its own type of cosplay and thus is not just
about clothing. Teenagers who wear Lolita engage in activities such as tea
parties, ballroom dancing, and playing children’s games like hopscotch, jump
rope and hide-and-seek. It is these innocent and cute activities that explain
how Lolita reflects a lifestyle of modesty and youthfulness (Neko 2008). Lolita
is an example of how cosplay is not just costuming or fashion; it is a
lifestyle. People choose to act that way and participate in those activities because
that is how they express themselves. Another type of fashion or style closely
associated with cosplay is steampunk. This style has a distinct Victorian look
to it. What sets a steampunk character apart from just standard Victorian garb
are the accessories. In cosplay, a steampunk character has several elaborate, ornate,
and detailed accessories usually clashing modern or futuristic technology with
old steam-powered technology. An example of this would be a ray gun made of
wood and metal. Just as a cosplayer’s character is a part of a separate fantasy
universe, steampunk has its own universe which allows people to act or do
improv within usually in group. Cosplayers do this as well. They get groups of
cosplayers within the same series or universe and create scenarios to act out
and play in (VanderMeer, Chambers 2011). Another Cosplaying group that has
become famous for its charity works would be the infamous 501st Legion. The
501st Legion (Albin 2011) is a Star Wars fan club dedicated to celebrating the
Star Wars universe through costuming; specifically the costumes and characters
of the stormtrooper and other Imperial forces, as well as non-affiliated villains
and denizens. The Legion is an all-volunteer organization formed for the
express purpose of bringing together costume enthusiasts under a collective
identity within which to operate. The Legion seeks to promote interest in Star
Wars through the building and wearing of quality costumes, and to facilitate
the use of these costumes for Star Wars-related events as well as contributions
to the local community through costumed charity and volunteer work.
5. The Costume & Identity
The costume is one of the ways a cosplayer expresses him
or herself. It is a form of visual expression. The costume is used to build
character, concept, and physical movement. The costume is not just made or
chosen to be simply looked at, but to create the best visual representation of
the character chosen (Cahill 2006). In choosing or making a costume, a
cosplayer is taking on an identity and is genuinely becoming a character. Therefore,
when picking a character, a cosplayer must think about choosing a character
they are attached to and can play well. Anthony Tinnermon explained to me in
our interview that he chooses to buy his costume because he knows if he tried
to make it he wouldn’t be able to successfully portray his character. However, there are several cosplayers out
there that can make better costumes than you could ever buy. These cosplayers
express themselves through creativity and being unique. They consider costume making
an art. By manufacturing their costumes themselves, these cosplayers express
themselves artistically and share their interests and inspiration with others
thus allowing them to make deeper connections with people. People will
appreciate the work and effort you put into the costume and thus compliment you
on the costume because it is interesting to them. They will recognize your
character and thus engage with you socially because they share a similar
interest. When interviewed by The New York Times at a convention in San
Francisco, a woman said, “You don’t know everyone, but you know their
characters, so it’s a good icebreaker,” At this same convention a photographer
was very impressed with the way the individuals she observed could tap into so
many genres to express themselves. She said, “They can float in so many
different worlds that most of us don’t,” she says. “Gender, culture, race. It
doesn’t matter. It’s open-ended, really.” She goes on to explain how she felt a
mutual respect between her and the strangers she was photographing.(
Cahill 2006).During my observation at
DragonCon, I experienced something very similar. I felt drawn to characters
that I recognized and was more comfortable engaging socially with those people
because I shared a similar interest in their character. I didn’t have any
trouble asking to photograph them, because to me I only recognized them as the
character and the identity they had taken on. So in a way I felt closer to
them, than I would have if they hadn’t had that identity and been merely a
stranger to me.
6. The Act of Cosplaying & Performing
The true essence of “cosplay” is really becoming the
character and acting like them (Flynn 2005). This is the other way a cosplayer
expresses himself. By not only taking on the identity of a character but by
becoming them and acting just like they would if they were real, the cosplayer
can almost become an entirely different person. According to a fellow 501st
member, performing is about expressing your admiration for the character you’ve
chosen to cosplay. It is about being able to temporarily become the character
you think is admirable. In my interview, Kyle made it clear by saying, “I see
cosplay as a good opportunity to be someone else for a little while, someone
that I think is an amazing character and I can enjoy dressing up as. It’s also
a great and fun way to socialize.”
During my time spent at DragonCon, I noticed several people who not only
accurately looked like their characters, but were in character and interacted
with people just like their character would have done. Also, whenever someone
wanted to take a picture, they had a pose that went perfectly with their
character. Several cosplayers, when one spoke to them, spoke with accents or
dialogue that their characters use. Some people even acted out scenes together
with other people who were characters in the same series. Others created scenarios
between characters from all kinds of series.
7. Discrimination against Cosplayers
Throughout my research and participation in cosplay, I
have come to notice resentment from people who do not cosplay. These
discriminators are people who follow the mainstream social norms. Unlike the
culture in Japan, most Americans view sub-cultural groups or out-groups
negatively. Because social discrimination results from the generalization of
in-group attributes to the inclusive category, it becomes a criterion for
judging the out-group. (Mummendey 1999)
“I feel that it is important to express your feelings about something
you love instead of hiding it.”(Anime-e 2011). Being a cosplayer and a writer,
the author known as Anime-e felt as if her particular group was being
discriminated against. Her group is an anime group which likes to dress as
their favorite characters from their favorite shows. The writer states that there
are many people who laugh or make jokes about the people displaying in public
and believes this is discrimination. As a cosplayer, the author has also
experienced being bullied by people, being called horrible names and insults.
Anime-e gives many examples of this discrimination across the country. Being
insulted for something you love can be stressful on the individual because all
they are doing is enjoying and expressing their feelings about something that
they are passionate about. To prove that this discrimination was truly
happening, I took it upon myself to experiment with people in public for
testing grounds. I took the opportunity to wear my stormtrooper armor at the
Best Buy where I work. There I stood in front of the store in full armor and
greeted shoppers, while my girlfriend, on the side, wrote down the expressions
and reactions I received. This particular day also happened to be the day for
the Star Wars bluray release, so my being there was not totally unexplainable.
Out of all the reactions and expressions I received, I found them to be
surprisingly rude! I was either told that I had "too much free time"
or to acting like I did not exist. But there was hope from the data I received;
some appreciated what was doing! I had many fathers and mothers come up and say
that they would come back and bring their kids. These people made me feel like
a celebrity versus the majority that made feel like I was scum or invisible. Street preachers are some of the few that also
take it upon themselves to preach in front of conventions, literally telling cosplayers
and fans alike that they are going to hell because of the activity that they
are taking part of. This is just another form of discrimination towards
cosplayers who may or may not believe in Christ. Why should cosplayers be any
different from artists and actors who are usually glorified in the church
community? It is our constitutional right under the First Amendment to wear
clothing that displays writing or designs. In addition, the right of an
individual to freedom of association has long been recognized and protected by
the United States Supreme Court Counstitution thus, a person’s right to wear
the clothing of his or her choice, as well as his or her right to belong to any
club or organization of his choice, is constitutionally protected. Discrimination
not only comes from outside the cosplaying group; it also comes from the
inside. Some cosplayers believe that cosplay is about dressing as anime
characters or anything that derives from Japanese culture and nothing else.
They do not consider Star Wars cosplay since it is a film of US origin. But
Star Wars has been mostly accepted as cosplay from the majority.
8. Entertainment, Social Connection, & Fun
The cosplay lifestyle consists of two parts: creating or
choosing the costume and becoming the character and performing as them. The
costume construction is a form of visual art. The acting out of the character
is performance art. Ultimately, the performance is the key element of cosplay that
allows the cosplayer to fully express himself and make social connections. This
is because it is simply not enough to just wear a costume of a character and
not portray them and feel any desire to become them. The cosplay lifestyle is
not about costuming but about costume roleplaying. It is necessary to have both
parts, but the truth is, the costume just adds to the performance aspect. The
costume is chosen or made to add more authenticity to the performance of the
character and help not only build the outside appearance of the character but
to the build the character from within the cosplayer (Cahill 2006). A costume
expresses what interests a cosplayers might have, but it is only the
performance that explains why the cosplayer has interest in their character and
how it expresses who they are. Although cosplay is art, at its core the role of
cosplay is to entertain. And just like actors in a theater production, a
cosplayer’s performance and portrayal of a character is significantly more
important than his costume. A person is not actively engaging in cosplay if he
or she is not attached to a
character to know enough about them to act out
their character. By performing or acting as the character, a deeper social
connection is created between cosplayers. This is because the viewer can
connect on a more personal level with the character itself than they can with
just how they look. Whether it’s through certain mannerisms, dialogue, or emotions,
a cosplayer makes his character relatable by performing. If the character isn’t
relatable, then no social connection will be made. This social connection is
absolutely necessary to make the cosplaying experience fun. Although the
costume manufacturing or purchasing can be done individually, the performance
must be done with or around others whether it’s in a small group, a large
crowd, or just to one person. It is a public lifestyle, not private. Cosplayers
must perform and share their characters with others in order to express
themselves, socially connect to people, and have fun.
9. Conclusion
My research of
cosplaying history and culture reveals what cosplay is to cosplayers and to
others who do not partake in this sub-culture. Important pieces of cosplay
revolve around these three things: expression of the self, making social
connections, and having fun. These are the central elements of the cosplay
lifestyle. Cosplayers participate in this lifestyle by choosing, making, and
doing. First they choose an identity, then they make the costume for that
identity, and finally they become that character through acting. The fun of
cosplay is found in making a fictional character come to life by becoming that character.
Discrimination is also found amongst cosplayers as they find themselves to be
the out-group from society. Although cosplay is both art and entertainment, it
is more entertainment than art because it is the performing of the character
chosen that creates the ultimate form of personal expression and creates the
strongest connections with other that share similar interests.
The world is becoming one big melting pot. As everything,
meaning "everything" dealing with our polictical ideas, religion
ideas, the different ways of farming to running a press in the world, is coming
together, from large groups to one, and to the positive ideas to the negative
ideas. This is globalization. As we are becoming more of the future of modern
techniques and of the new improved faster way, technology is becoming of the
simple things we do. This is making the rate of globalization much faster from
these improved ways. A major invention of technology is from the first
invention of the airplane. For now we can travel the fastest way and meeting
other people in the world sharing and learning each others techniques and ways
of their culture, speeding up the process of globalization. Another major
technology was the invention of the telephone. For now we can have cellphones,
computers with internet which this allows people to interact live with each
other learning from each other from around the world. The internet is such a
variety of open things to learn from the news, videos, it replaces the
encyclopedia, phone book, or any other book needed. You are now able to access
so much by using the internet. As technology keeps improving, globalization is
still working. As the years pass the world will come together pouring their
ideas into one pot for us to live from.
I love the internet and how fast it is to look for
anything you need. People are constantly on their phones searching for answers
as what time is a movie or where is a address to go to. It's amazing how it
keeps improving. But the best way to learn from another's culture is to travel
to them. You actually live, learn and witness the way they do everything in
life. I remember going to Cancun, Mexico for a family vacation and how much I
changed myself during my week there. I was speaking more Spanish from listening
to them, I was enjoying their foods learning how to eat it. Even their Wal-Mart
sold their food different with open baskets of bread and the seafood laying on
ice to help yourself to what you needed to buy. I was getting more involved in
their culture even by wearing a few different clothing pieces to fit in like
them. I enjoyed their way of having fun and seemed like a fiesta everyday with
dancing, eating and drinking. One thing I was not comfortable with the party
atmosphere is the amount of drinking, especially tequila. They kept wanting to
give me shots or some form of it in a drink, which I was not even of age when
we traveled there, but they thought I was a "big boy". 
You don't have to travel far to learn things either. Just
by traveling from the North to the South can be a culture shock. Traveling lets
a person take these parts of their culture with you back to your own. Then the
person has taken these ideologies and taught their culture, making things new
and improved, which contributes to globalization. 
Besides globalization, there is glocalization which is
bringing in a global idea and then changing it to meet the local cultural
standards. It is cultures bringing ideas and practices into a culture that is
not their own. Just like Chinese restaurants you have everywhere and it is the
Chinese people working there. They are sharing their culture with the
Americans. I have also noticed you could go into a store like the Wal-Mart in
Cancun, Mexico and find similar items we have here but it is different there in
Cancun to fit the means for their culture. But it was great ideas they had
selling it to their standards. 
