Cosplay is the act of dressing like, or inspiration of a fictional character. It’s the perfect blend between fashion and art because cosplayers either style their outfits to look like the character or they utilize costuming skills to make their cosplays. Both ways not negating the fact that these costumes are based off of another person’s creation; almost creating this self-maintained cycle of artistry. With the rising popularity of cosplay, we found that it would be important and interesting for people to understand the ins and outs of this cultural phenomenon.
This is accomplished by visual artist, and Multimedia Journalist, Toby Brogsdale attending Control+Alt+Delete, an anime convention in Rosemont, Illinois, in order to interview cosplayers and examine what it’s like to be apart of the community and figure out if there’s more than meets the eye with cosplay. As well as address controversy surrounding racism and sexism that persists in the community.
Many types of cosplayers were interviewed for this exposé in order to gain a broader understanding of the artform. As a result, We gained an understanding of how people got into the cosplay lifestyle; with many stating that they were inspired by friends or people on social media. Others already had backgrounds in costume creation thus cosplaying was a natural alternative artform for them to explore. We also explored how these cosplayers were getting their costume; whereas some would buy or create it themselves others would commission others to do so. Some would resort to a tactic called “closet cosplay”, which is when you just take things from your own personal closet to represent a character.
We were able to address some controversial reports during conventions. When we interviewed people that day, thankfully many had stated that they were never harassed but notably a number of them stated that they didn’t make their cosplays public on social media because they were worried about such. One cosplayer, Tyla, shared stories about such harassment off and online. After this we asked cosplayers why they would continue in such an environment and a mother and daughter duo put it in perspective. That the community fosters a lot of comradery and the creative thrill of seeing others do their own thing makes it worth it.
After gathering answers, the popularity of cosplay and the cosplay community can be interpreted as a reflection on the nature of social media. Being able to easily share cosplay because of social media makes more people want to try it, growing the community and possibly making it more fun. But because we’re still dealing with humans, things like prejudice, racism, and sexism can be found in the community and targeted at minority groups. But, we at Mildsauce, would like you to know that cosplay is a vast hobby that there’s no one community, perspective or way to do it. Although the reports of sexism, and racism are terrible and should never happen; the actual artform of cosplay is worth fixing those community issues.
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