Cosplay
Recently I have found the confidence to enter a world I have always wanted to enter, the world of cosplay. I guess the best way to start is to try and explain what 'cosplay' is to the uninitiated.
'Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure?), short for costume play, is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character or idea that is usually identified with a unique name. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centred on role play. A broader use of the term cosplay applies to any costumed role play in venues apart from the stage, regardless of the cultural context.' (Taken from Wikipedia.)
Basically you can take any character you like. It could be from your favourite film or manga or anime or cartoon or comic...literally anything you can think of. The next step is to build your costume. Some people go to great lengths to do this and meticulously put together their costumes over month (and sometimes years) and spend hideous amounts of money doing so. The idea is then to attend functions (usually a convention like Comic Con) as the character.
Many of you at this point will be thinking that this is just fancy dress. Nope, there is more to it than that. You don't just dress up 'like' the character, you 'become' the character. You act as they would act and speak as they would speak. You become the living embodiment of that particular character and give them life and a voice.
With the use of social media today there is a real outlet for cosplayers to share their experiences and creations. Instagram is fast becoming a great way to share this art form as the cosplayer can set up situations and act them to the camera before posting a comment or a line of speach. Whole stories can be told using Instagram for the cosplayer. Other outlets that are popular include Tumblr, where users can post their cosplay pictures and words and also swap costume ideas and communicate freely with other members of the cosplay community.
Many cosplayers work together on projects or collaborations for conventions or even social media stories. It really is a community and that community is generally very supportive. The idea of cosplay is not that you look identical to the character you are portraying, rather that you put your stamp on that character and you have fun doing so. There has been some unpleasantness around various websites and facebook pages trying to belittle cosplayers because of their body size, etc. However, these views are not shared by the cosplay community. It doesn't matter if you are fat, thin, white, black, brown, purple with pink spots, gay, straight, bi, lesbian...hell, even gender is irrelivant!
On to that last point about gender. You have to remember that cosplayers are bringing characters to life so it doesn't matter on the cosplayer's gender at all. If you feel you can do justice to your favourite character then you do it. I have given three examples of my own cosplay below. As you can tell...gender is not important here.
L - Death Note. This is the first character I wanted to cosplay and is from the first manga I read and fell in love with. He is the super detective who can use the world's police forces to help him solve any case. L is super intelligent, quick witted and can do practically anything. When 'Kira' starts to use a death note to kill criminals he gets involved with the case to track him down and finally meets someone who is equal to his brain power. The character interested me because he doesn't let emotion get in the way and yet is often cocky and confident. This is something that I am trying to learn, to be a little more confident in myself, so becoming L is helping to boost this. Plus, he is a fun character to represent.
Misa - Death Note. I often feel sorry for Misa. She is the 'second Kira' who is also in possession of a death note and falls in love with Light (who is Kira). She is often put down as an idiot by Light and others and seen as someone who gets in the way of the 'real' work taking place. Misa is not stupid though as she is able to track Light down as Kira and able to find out information that ends up being crucial to the case and the main story line. She is driven and positive and never lets anything get her down. Even when Light tries to put her down, Misa comes back with a way to make him proud. Really, she just wants him to love her as she loves him. I love her positive nature and confidence and again, she is a joy to become.
Grell - Black Butler. Sorry, no pictures of me yet as I am building this character so you will have to make do with the 'real' thing. Grell is a Grim Reaper who is flamboyant, confident and generally kicks arse. It is often wrong to give Grell a gender as this character is more gender neutral. Perhaps, if we are to attempt it, you could say that Grell is either a gay man who refers to himself with female pronouns, or a transgender man to woman. I really don't like committing to these descriptions though. I just think of Grell as Grell. This character is important to the plot as Grell turns out to be one half of Jack the Ripper and is also madly in love with the demon butler, Sebastian, who is in a covenant with Ciel Phantomhive, a young Earl who is in service to Queen Victoria as her 'guard dog'. What I love the most about Grell is the confidence (there's a theme here) and how Grell makes a significant impact both in the manga and anime. Grell is important and beautiful and confident and brilliant. I hope I can do Grell justice.
As you can see, cosplay is not a simple case of 'playing dress up'. It is not something that is done once a year at Halloween or for a birthday party. It is something that is done all the time for love of a character. It is a way of life and a community. It is brilliant.
'Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure?), short for costume play, is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character or idea that is usually identified with a unique name. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centred on role play. A broader use of the term cosplay applies to any costumed role play in venues apart from the stage, regardless of the cultural context.' (Taken from Wikipedia.)
Basically you can take any character you like. It could be from your favourite film or manga or anime or cartoon or comic...literally anything you can think of. The next step is to build your costume. Some people go to great lengths to do this and meticulously put together their costumes over month (and sometimes years) and spend hideous amounts of money doing so. The idea is then to attend functions (usually a convention like Comic Con) as the character.
Many of you at this point will be thinking that this is just fancy dress. Nope, there is more to it than that. You don't just dress up 'like' the character, you 'become' the character. You act as they would act and speak as they would speak. You become the living embodiment of that particular character and give them life and a voice.
With the use of social media today there is a real outlet for cosplayers to share their experiences and creations. Instagram is fast becoming a great way to share this art form as the cosplayer can set up situations and act them to the camera before posting a comment or a line of speach. Whole stories can be told using Instagram for the cosplayer. Other outlets that are popular include Tumblr, where users can post their cosplay pictures and words and also swap costume ideas and communicate freely with other members of the cosplay community.
Many cosplayers work together on projects or collaborations for conventions or even social media stories. It really is a community and that community is generally very supportive. The idea of cosplay is not that you look identical to the character you are portraying, rather that you put your stamp on that character and you have fun doing so. There has been some unpleasantness around various websites and facebook pages trying to belittle cosplayers because of their body size, etc. However, these views are not shared by the cosplay community. It doesn't matter if you are fat, thin, white, black, brown, purple with pink spots, gay, straight, bi, lesbian...hell, even gender is irrelivant!
On to that last point about gender. You have to remember that cosplayers are bringing characters to life so it doesn't matter on the cosplayer's gender at all. If you feel you can do justice to your favourite character then you do it. I have given three examples of my own cosplay below. As you can tell...gender is not important here.
L - Death Note. This is the first character I wanted to cosplay and is from the first manga I read and fell in love with. He is the super detective who can use the world's police forces to help him solve any case. L is super intelligent, quick witted and can do practically anything. When 'Kira' starts to use a death note to kill criminals he gets involved with the case to track him down and finally meets someone who is equal to his brain power. The character interested me because he doesn't let emotion get in the way and yet is often cocky and confident. This is something that I am trying to learn, to be a little more confident in myself, so becoming L is helping to boost this. Plus, he is a fun character to represent.
Misa - Death Note. I often feel sorry for Misa. She is the 'second Kira' who is also in possession of a death note and falls in love with Light (who is Kira). She is often put down as an idiot by Light and others and seen as someone who gets in the way of the 'real' work taking place. Misa is not stupid though as she is able to track Light down as Kira and able to find out information that ends up being crucial to the case and the main story line. She is driven and positive and never lets anything get her down. Even when Light tries to put her down, Misa comes back with a way to make him proud. Really, she just wants him to love her as she loves him. I love her positive nature and confidence and again, she is a joy to become.
Grell - Black Butler. Sorry, no pictures of me yet as I am building this character so you will have to make do with the 'real' thing. Grell is a Grim Reaper who is flamboyant, confident and generally kicks arse. It is often wrong to give Grell a gender as this character is more gender neutral. Perhaps, if we are to attempt it, you could say that Grell is either a gay man who refers to himself with female pronouns, or a transgender man to woman. I really don't like committing to these descriptions though. I just think of Grell as Grell. This character is important to the plot as Grell turns out to be one half of Jack the Ripper and is also madly in love with the demon butler, Sebastian, who is in a covenant with Ciel Phantomhive, a young Earl who is in service to Queen Victoria as her 'guard dog'. What I love the most about Grell is the confidence (there's a theme here) and how Grell makes a significant impact both in the manga and anime. Grell is important and beautiful and confident and brilliant. I hope I can do Grell justice.
As you can see, cosplay is not a simple case of 'playing dress up'. It is not something that is done once a year at Halloween or for a birthday party. It is something that is done all the time for love of a character. It is a way of life and a community. It is brilliant.
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