Week 6 [20.05 - 26.05] Let's talk about Cosplay

Cosplay is a hobby, a lifestyle or a method of living. It's an increasingly popular phenomenon that penetrates into mass culture. Year after year, the number of organized events bringing together characters from video games, comics, movies and books is growing. 

In short, cosplayers actually play their favourite characters. However, this is no ordinary game. It's not just a disguised costume of an imitated hero, but a style of being or speaking.  And how did this phenomenon begin? Since when do we call it subculture?

The story of an alien

The beginnings of the phenomenon can be found on the Apennine Peninsula. It was there that people marched in colourful and rich costumes, hiding their faces under the mask. However, these were not outfits reflecting fictional characters.

The first mention of disguise as a fictional character appeared in the history of the Ming Dynasty. An American historian, Jonathan Spence, wrote in his book “Return to Dragon Mountain” that the local farmers dressed up as characters from a Chinese novel – “Outlaws of the Marsh”. They can be considered the precursors of cosplay, but hardly anyone speaks of them in such a context.

Mr. Skygack, from Mars

Source: https://tiny.pl/t9c4f

At the beginning of the 20th century, William A. Fell dressed up as a character from the comic book "Mr. Skygack of Mars" and went to the ice skating festival. And two years later Otto James went to the streets of Tacoma in identical clothes, for which he was arrested. It was the year 1910.

In 1939, the first global science fiction convention was held at Caravan Hall in New York City. There were many visitors, the most important being Forrest J. Ackerman and Myrtle R. Douglas, also known as Morojo. They were dressed in futuristic costumes.  Myrtle created costumes on the base of the film "Things to Come" and the magazine "Pulp Magazine". This is how they became the first cosplay.

These costumes made a big hit, which resulted in the event's growing popularity. In the following years, there were even competitions, where prizes for „best costume” were awarded. The „Costume” conventions started to progress and their number was growing steadily. Americans described such events as „masquerade”.

Japanese impetus

Over the years, conventions have changed form, and so have costumes. The real boom came in the 1960s and 1970s when the Start Trek series and films such as Rocky Horror Picture Show were made. There were fans who were really dedicated to their favourite characters, they gathered in bigger and bigger groups. And the authors of comic books and books also appeared at conventions, dressed up as characters created by them, promoted their works.

In Japan, conventions began to appear in the 1960s, and in 1975 the first Commiket took place. This place gathered fans and everything related to cosplay. At that time the term kasou( 仮想) was used. In 1983, the My Anime magazine published the article „Hero Costume Operation” by Takahashi Nobuyuki, a journalist who used the word „cosplay” for the first time. The author used two phrases in the article, costume play (コスチュームプレー) and cosplay (コスプレ), the latter adopted and functions now.

Cosplayers in Harajuku

Source: https://tiny.pl/t9c4l

Anime and manga had a great impact on cosplay. The Japanese are dedicated to prepare costumes and organizing events. All this makes Japanese cosplay unique. Cosplay culture has infiltrated the everyday life of the Japanese and many of them identify themselves with it. In the Tokyo district of Akihabara, there are many cosplay restaurants where waitresses dress up as video game characters or anime characters. And Harajuku, in turn, hosts informal cosplay meetings.

Cosplay is a business

Jessica Nigiri cosplay Lux

From League of Legends

Source: https://tiny.pl/t9c4n

Many cosplayers attend conventions for fun, but there are some who make money from their "disguise". One such a star is Jessica Nigri, who appears at conventions as a model presenting many fictional characters such as Connor Kenway (Assassin's Creed III), Vivienne Squall (Killer is Dead) or the female version of Captain Edward Kenway (Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag).

Jessica has accounts on Istagrami, Facebook and Twitter, where she is watched by millions of fans. And on her website you can buy an autographed poster. In addition, Jessica creates outfits for new video game characters for which she is paid.

Cosplay is an interesting and constantly evolving phenomenon. The evolution began with a masquerade ball on Venetian streets to an art form and a way of life. Every hobby can turn into a simple and fast income. What can be seen through the influence of business on this subculture. Game developers invite cosplay players to work together to promote their products.

That's all, and now I invite you to answer the questions.

1. How do you think cosplay can develop?

2. Have you participated in any cosplay convention? If not, would you be interested in participating in such an event?

3. Is there a character that you could cosplay? If so, what is the character and why.

Bibliography:

[1] https://the-artifice.com/cosplay-overview/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay

[3] https://geeks.media/history-of-cosplay
[4] https://www.gordsellar.com/2015/05/20/late-ming-cosplay/