What is cosplay?
Well, I will try to answer that question and provide a little more information on the subject. Huzzah!
Check out this blog for more information and photos.
Well, the term "cosplay" is a Japanese portmanteau of the English terms costume and play. The word was coined by Nobuyuki Takahashi in 1984 at the World Science Fiction Convention, Worldcon. He was wanting to move away from the term ‘masquerade’. More about this information is here.
But another answer is, cosplay can be whatever you want it to be. Cosplay is generally viewed as ‘costume play’ and is a performance art where the performers (cosplayers) are using said costumes and accessories to represent a certain character. When in costume, some cosplayers often seek to adopt the affect, mannerisms, and body language of the characters they portray (with "out of character" breaks). A part of the ethos of cosplay, is that anybody can be anything,
Now that being said, cosplay can, and should encompass many aspects. These include actual costumes, makeup, masks, etc. These costumes can be store bought or homemade, or a mix of it all. Cosplay costumes can be simple or really complex. It is generally considered different from Halloween and Mardi Gras costume wear, as the intention is to replicate a specific character, rather than to reflect the culture and symbolism of a holiday event.
However, cosplay can include movie and tv characters, fanfic, anime, or original characters. This can include variations of characters, such as a steampunk spin on a recognizable character. It is pretty much all inclusive to anyone, no matter their gender or age.
Pintrest ideas for groups.
Many people will recognize cosplay from venues like Comicon and other conventions of the like, (think Star Trek conventions). A rapid growth in the number of people cosplaying as a hobby since the 1990s has made the phenomenon a significant aspect of popular culture. Social networks, websites, and other forms of media are centered on cosplay activities. Cosplay is very popular among all genders, and it is not unusual to see crossplay, also referred to as gender-bending.
I hope this has answered a few questions about cosplay. If you have additional questions, feel free to comment them below.
NOTE: I will be adding more posts about things like makeup, styles, crafts, etc.
Stay tuned!
Very informative, I was not aware of the roots of cosplay as a term. Great start to what is surely going to be a successful series of articles.
I can hardly wait for the makeup one. I am horrible with face paint and such, I lack experience with detail in many, many, areas.
Thank you. I wanted to discuss some basics in this article while also not trying to overwhelm readers. I will be adding more to this series. The first makeup article will be posted soon.
I agree this is a very informative article, @nerdygeekyfreak but unfortunately I do need to point out that you've actually spun/rewritten a large part of this from the Wikipedia entry
For example, you wrote -
From Cosplay via Wikipedia
And unless you own the blog Midlife Crisis Crossover!, these photos also aren't your own, and I'm assuming the photographer would take issue with you using them here on Hive, where they are monetized.
In the future when you do posts like these (and I hope you do, as I think cosplaying is wicked interesting) please make sure to source any information, share images with a mind to copyright, and maybe take another peek at the Love Sniper comment under your first post.
Please feel free to shout out to me if you have any questions. 😊
Thank you for providing the information and the reminder. I'll fix what I can in this article and try to be better. Thanks again.
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