HW3: Cosplay

I started liking anime when I was in Elementary. I saw my brother watching Samurai X and it caught my attention because the characters are perfectly drawn, their looks, and their clothes. Actually, Kenshin Himura was my childhood inspiration during those times. Because of that, I started to watch for more and became a total fan. 

Aside from just sitting in a comfortable bed while watching, I also aspired to become a Cosplayer because I wanted to experience how it feels to be dressed like my favorite character and act the same. I want to make friends with the cosplayers because we have the same hobby. However, if one wants to be a cosplayer, he/she must have enough budget to come up with a good costume. I’m always trying to watch a cosplay for real but I always don’t have enough time because of my studies. Honestly until now, I’m still hoping that someday I may be able to fulfill this simple dream. 

Cosplay is a form of appropriation that transforms and actualizes an existing story in close connection to the fan community and the fan's own identity. When cosplaying, fan produces their own costumes inspired by fictional characters. It motivates fans to closely interpret existing texts, perform them, and extend them with their own narratives and ideas. Cosplay does not only focus to the fan activity of costuming but is also embedded in fan practices as a whole. If they have a strong preference for certain characters they may role-play them, write something about them, draw fan art depicting them, and others. It creates an intimate and complex relation between the fan and the character. Through the acts of constructing and wearing a costume, the fan constructs his or her identity in relation to fiction and enacts it. This fan practice is very costly and time consuming because of too much preparation in order to produce a perfect costume. 

Some people perceived cosplay as a way of to be famous but do you know that some cosplayers also suffers cruelty in the “Cos” culture? 

According to an article Cosplay, Race, and Fat-Shaming by Joanna, some cosplayers experiences cruelty who were the fat ones. They find cosplaying anxiety-inducing because they are being judge by others. If you’re a woman seen as conventionally attractive, you’ll probably be creped on regardless of your costume but many female cosplay options seem to invite more unwanted creeping just like what these fat geeks experiences. In terms of the decision of what character to cosplay, fat geeks definitely have a disadvantage. This is the reason why fat geeks are less likely to be seen cosplaying. Actually, these people are not only being judge in the cos-culture but also in the society. 

For me, cosplaying does not require a person to be thin, slim, or sexy because no one can please everybody. It is important for all of us in the geek community to think about the particular obstacles faced by our fellow geeks who don’t live up to the thin ideals of our society. As a community, we must not discriminate them because everybody has the right to prove themselves. We must accept our fellow people as they are and respect everybody.