Cosplay In The 1930's
In the world of cosplay, there are many ways one could be involved successfully. While cosplay has been around since the 1930’s, it is just recently starting to branch out into more mainstream genres. A common type of cosplay is crossplay (crossdress and play) which is not to be confused with gender swap. The photo below shows a prime example of crossplay in which a female is representing a male character while adding her own twist to the costume yet still making the overall male character recognizable. A gender swapping cosplay takes a female character and transforms it to a male version of that character or vice versa. Crossplayers face the same risks and rewards as cosplayers of other categories such as superheroes, anime, video game characters,
…show more content…
Participants simply needed to dress appropriately for the specific genre. It wasn’t until 1984 that the term “cosplay” was invented when Nobuyuki Takahashi, a Japanese reporter, combined the words ‘costume’ and ‘play’ after a trip to WorldCom in Los Angeles (YsabelGo). Nowadays it is not unusual to see cosplayers at conventions around the world taking on a complete character role either of the same sex or opposite sex. According to YsabelGo’s article, the reasons cosplayers participate vary for each person. For some it may be a confidence builder and for others it may just be pure enjoyment. The same enjoyment one gets from dressing up at Halloween, cosplayers achieve this feeling by portraying a complete character. There is more to cosplay than a simple costume and this is where most of the audience is lost with their connection. Most cosplayers take this extra-curricular activity very seriously. They put in countless hours of thought and skill into a successful cosplay. The crossplayer faces these same dilemmas; therefore, they must plan ahead, be creative, and pay close attention to detail (YsabelGo). For a complete character, one must not only adhere to the costume, but also the personality and behaviors of the character being portrayed. This is often times harder when playing a character of the opposite sex or a character one does not easily identify
Participants simply needed to dress appropriately for the specific genre. It wasn’t until 1984 that the term “cosplay” was invented when Nobuyuki Takahashi, a Japanese reporter, combined the words ‘costume’ and ‘play’ after a trip to WorldCom in Los Angeles (YsabelGo). Nowadays it is not unusual to see cosplayers at conventions around the world taking on a complete character role either of the same sex or opposite sex. According to YsabelGo’s article, the reasons cosplayers participate vary for each person. For some it may be a confidence builder and for others it may just be pure enjoyment. The same enjoyment one gets from dressing up at Halloween, cosplayers achieve this feeling by portraying a complete character. There is more to cosplay than a simple costume and this is where most of the audience is lost with their connection. Most cosplayers take this extra-curricular activity very seriously. They put in countless hours of thought and skill into a successful cosplay. The crossplayer faces these same dilemmas; therefore, they must plan ahead, be creative, and pay close attention to detail (YsabelGo). For a complete character, one must not only adhere to the costume, but also the personality and behaviors of the character being portrayed. This is often times harder when playing a character of the opposite sex or a character one does not easily identify