Entering the Utopia through Cosplay

Transforming identities: to become the fictional characters

1. According to Duchesne (2005: 18), “...fandom is a particular kind of performance that many members boldly explore, playing with identity and finding their own layers of meaning.”

2. An activity that allows individuals to play with a variety of ideas and identities through their own bodies, creating an embodied way of relating to the world. (Lotecki, 2012)

3. Considering a fluid identity surface such as this can help us understand how cosplayers do not have to overtake their own identity in order to become a fictional character. Instead they are able to intentionally negotiate a temporary identity by acts of repetition such as through dress, posing, and physical actions, and often in a playful way. (Lotecki, 2012)

4. Identities, including the imaginative and alternative ones, can create meanings as they perform and consume within specific time and space. (Rahman, Wing-Sun and Cheung, 2012)

5. Cross-dressing: What struck me was that they identified with these female characters and professed a great enjoyment of the show—yet they also identified as utterly heterosexual and male. (Nesic, 2013)

6. Brokyo summarized the thought process behind his costume as, “How can I take this outfit and still make it manly?” We must recall that clothing operates as the personal front, wherein gender is performed along with all other appearance-related markers of identification. (Nesic, 2013)

7. In other instances, the cosplayer may directly alter his or her body type by losing or gaining weight to match the character’s frame. (Nesic, 2013)

8. (In video games,) players establish their identity as they interact with their avatar and the game but these interactions also change how players relate to the fictional content. This is similar to what happens in cosplay. Individuals identify in many different ways with the characters they choose to depict, allowing the fictional identity to transfer to the cosplayer, which is further reinforced by spectators and the individual themselves. The reverse of this also occurs as their interpretation of the character’s narrative through performance impacts the spectators (and themselves), and adds to what currently exists in the story or myth surrounding the character.

For the love of virtual characters

1. In general, cosplay enthusiasts attempt to produce a fantasy and bring their favorite character to real life (Chen 2007). They then work to express complete devotion towards their beloved avatar/character (icon, hero, villain) and the narrative. (Rahman, Wing-Sun and Cheung, 2012)

2. Some quotes from cross-players:

"Let's get one thing straight. I am not gay. I like girls a lot. That‟s why most of my favorite anime characters are girls. I like them so much that I sometimes dress up like them." Tenshi, Crossplay.net, quoted on “Why Crossplay?” forum,(May 2012).

“Good crossplay reveals the pure love for an anime character [...] that is at the heart of all cosplay, regardless of the gender of [the] cosplayer or the character being cosplayed. In my perspective, it takes a real man to dress like a 10-year-old girl.” Lyn, Cosplay.com, quoted on “Views on Crossplay” thread (Oct. 2011).

“[T]raditional societal perceptions of gender are no fun anyway. I can't fire, earth, water, or air bend so I Gender Bend [sic].” Lialina, veteran crossplayer, pers.comm., (Dec. 2012).

To live in a virtual World

1. Cosplay provides young people with dreams, pleasures, romances, and fantasies that can- not be fulfilled or cannot materialize in their daily lives. (Rahman, Wing-Sun and Cheung, 2012)

2. cosplaying can transform mundane surroundings into a surreal tableau. Participants are constantly exchanging and negotiating the boundaries of “affective play” between “inner” and “outer” or between what is “real” (the real self) and what is “fantasy” (the imaginative self) (Gross- berg 1992). (Rahman, Wing-Sun and Cheung, 2012)

Examples:

Cross-play:

Hakken / Jocker R / Kumaqi

Photo manipulation:

Photographer: Akunohako

Make-ups and wigs:

Faaaariii / Jocker R

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Bibliography

1. Rahman, O., Liu, W. and Cheung, B., 2012. “Cosplay”: Imaginative Self and Performing Identity. Fashion Theory, 16(3), pp.317-341.

2. Lotecki, A., "Cosplay Culture: The Development of Interactive and Living Art through Play" (2012). Theses and dissertations. Paper 806.

3. Nesic, N., 2013. NO, REALLY: WHAT IS COSPLAY?. pp.14-15.

4. Leng, R., “Gender, Sexuality, and Cosplay: A Case Study of Male-to-Female Crossplay,” The Phoenix Papers: First Edition, (Apr 2013), 89-110. ISSN: 2325-2316.