Personification
what is cosplay? ; my thoughts on cosplay ; as a cosplayer being interviewed
Cosplay, or kosupure, is widely thought of as a contraction of the words Costume and Play. Some say it originated from America, where people would dress up as their favourite characters in Star Trek or Star Wars conventions. Most people believe it is a Japanese hobby, and it might be true that the actual word Cosplay may have been invented by a Japanese, as the contraction of two loan words is often practised in Japan.
Either way, cosplay is in essence, dressing up as a character, and then playing out that character whilst in costume. Very often, that character may come from an anime or manga series, members of a japanese visual-rock band, video games, even live-action movies or television series. There are people who cosplay as original characters, such as a character they or someone else has created, mostly to partake in RPGs or role-playing writing boards. There are also those who believe that simply wearing a costume, which may or may not be modeled after a character, should be considered as cosplay, but there is dissent on this point.
To members of the public who do not partake in this hobby, seeing people, mostly young teenagers, dress up in strange and expensive-looking costumes, just for the sake of play-acting but not actually being in a play or a skit, cosplay is often a confounding hobby. Some dismiss it immediately, and often as in the case of Singapore, cosplayers were seen as delinquents when the hobby first emerged. During cosplay events, activities may range from karaoke competitions, art and illustration competitions, games, tutorials, booths selling merchandise, even cosplay competitions, but the main activity is really to mingle whilst in costume and in character, and to meet others doing likewise. To many who do not enjoy this hobby, cosplaying and cosplay events are often seen as pointless.
Why people enjoy cosplay and why cosplayers don't seem to see that cosplaying is pointless, is different from person to person. There is a theory that says that cosplaying is a form of escapism, that people escape into the folds of a costume and the facade of another person in order to escape from their own world. Although not impossible, from experience this does not seem to be the predominant reason. They may look to cosplaying as a form of enjoyment to break the monotony of daily life, similar to how a stamp collector or a football fan would view their respecive hobbies, but escapism is not common.
There are some people who enjoy cosplay because they like exhibiting themselves and enjoy the fame and glamour that comes with dressing up. There are those who do it because their sheer passion for the series or the character spills over and cosplay is just another method by which they can channel their enthusiasm into. Some people like the planning and crafting part of cosplay, delighting in the creation of costumes from 2D art or from the TV, into something that they can wear themselves. There are a multitude of reasons for cosplayers to be so interested in their hobby, and for each cosplayer out there, there might be another unique reason.
Cosplay for me started out as just another fun thing to do in connection with my love for anime and manga. But even from my very first cosplay event, cosplay seemed to be fun just because I was in the company of my friends who were also cosplaying, and I got to meet other like-minded people, people who also enjoyed anime and manga, people who also had a similar passion as me. Having been a poet when I was 13, and going to a camp where I was surrounded by people who were also writers and poets, I understood what it felt to have thought that you were utterly alone and secluded and outcasted because of your hobby or interest, and suddenly get thrust into an environment where everyone was just like you, and you realise you're not alone, you're not a freak, you're not an outcast anymore. From the start, I think cosplay was an activity that had social connotations to me.
A cosplay event is usually fun for me, because I'm with my friends. Having met my group of friends through cosplay, and having strengthened our friendship outside of cosplay, we always end up cosplaying together, recently in big groups where we drag in more and more people and end up getting closer to those people. As a result, I find myself happier when I'm cosplaying with my friends, especially when I'm cosplaying from the same series. In a huge cosplay event with so many people around, sometimes hitting above a thousand people, cosplaying alone can sometimes feel very lonely. As a result, sometimes even when we are cosplaying from different series, we end up congregating together.
Having learned how to sew and otherwise construct a costume by myself out of necessity (something called a thin wallet...), over time I have also started to love cosplay for the planning and sewing part of it. I started off by modifying off-the-rack clothing, and slowly moved on to sewing the costumes from scratch, buying cloth and beginner's patterns, and modifying existing patterns. Along the way I bought a sewing machine and accumulated more skills from sewing different types of costumes, but even so, the standard of my costumes have never been very high. One day I hope to be more professional in my sewing and make clothes that aren't just up to cosplay standard, but to normal clothing standards too.
as a cosplayer being interviewed
When people call me up and ask me whether they could interview me on the basis of me being a cosplayer, I often feel that I have be some form of an ambassador for cosplay. Such opportunities are not as rare as you may imagine: I've been interviewed five times for university projects, and once for a television programme. It comes from being one of the more outgoing and obliging cosplayers in my university, not to mention being an alumni of the executive committee of the japanese cultural club in my school. Cosplaying Queen Esther also brought a lot of (not wholly wanted) attention, and I guess it's pretty useful to have at least one "big" costume to talk about during interviews.
Not all of the interviewers are equal. Very often they come from different backgrounds: one interviewer was a cosplayer herself, doing a project for japanese studies; another was a japanese exchange student, gathering information on what in particular japanese sub-cultures that excite non-japanese people. Some come from a sociology background, trying to understand what it is about cosplay that attracts people, or about group behaviour and culture in cosplay. Some could just be trying to understand cosplay in general, trying to simplify the idea and culture of cosplay for the public. Yet, most of the questions asked are roughly the same: what is cosplay, what is it about cosplay that attracted you, why do you continue to cosplay.
Through interviews, I try not to be biased towards cosplay. It is more important that people understand and see cosplay for what it really is than try and impose a rose-coloured vision of cosplay onto them. I personally find such interviews particularly enlightening for myself. Being a cosplayer often means it's hard to see things from the other side of the fence; being asked questions gives me an insight to the preconceptions of non-cosplayers. Sometimes these preconceptions are really surprising to me, and my answers really surprising to them. Questions that I often occur revolve around the fact that cosplay essentially is a form of acting as another character. Do I see cosplay as a form of escapism? (As mentioned above, I think the majority of cosplayers do not. Not to the extent of "escapism" at least.) Do cosplayers have their personalities affected by the characters they play? (Most of the time, it's the other way around: people are more likely to cosplay characters that are similar to themselves in the first place, although novices might prefer to cosplay characters who approximate their dream personalities.)
But the most worrying part is that the conclusions from these interviews are often based on a handful of interviews only. Most of the time I end up worrying about what I say, how I say it, and what kind of impression am I giving. I make a lot of effort to emphasise that what I say is my own opinion only, but sometimes I'm afraid I fall into the trap of generalisation too. Other times I wonder whether I'm even qualified to be interviewed: there are cosplayers out there who are much better cosplayers for longer periods of time and know a lot more about the cosplay scene than I do. Thus for every interview I try hard to learn about the purpose of the project, their opinions and hypothesis, and constantly remind them that I am only one cosplayer and my views are only one cosplayer's views. Hopefully by doing that, even if I do say something wrong I hope I would not have done too much damage...