Part of the awake time that I spent in bed last night was tied up in thinking about this cos/play thing (I started to say idea).

I began to wonder if it was a general category that included nudism, tattoo, body modification, fad, fashion, etc. or whether it was a category on the same level as them.

Nudism would seem to be a complete rejection of cos/play while being tattooed would be a complete embracing of it. Now I realize that people with tattoos could and do appear without clothes but are not they naked rarther than nude? Well, they would be under this concept!

Body modification ranges from the generally acceptable such as pierced ears and circumcision to however far you want to go. Cos/play would require that one be modified by one’s own choice so some pierced ears and most circumcisions wouldn’t qualify.

Choosing a pet and public display of interaction with that pet might also be a kind of cos/play.

Well, I have probably gone completely off the beam but maybe it will cause you to have some idea that might otherwise not entered your brain.

Robert

That’s so funny you found this post, and on the same day as I posted it. Especially considering how infrequently I blog.

Thanks for sharing the pictures - they’re awesome. Also thanks for adding your insider’s point of view.

From my post it does sound like I’m taking the subject way too seriously. Sorry about that. My conversation with Jon has been overlooking the more lighthearted elements of cosplay because as he’s researching for his senior thesis, I’m urging him to consider some theory that’s relevent to his investigation. I’m suggesting identity, performance, play, escape. These will surely come up in a panel discussion. Can you advise us of other issues that are worth considering? Also any reference material for research, artists whose work might be relevant, etc?

As I was reading along through this very long post, I thought of how creating one’s physical look out of one’s emotional self-image mght be related to early childhood activity such as coloring books where one makes a choice of what colors to use and, if adventurous, how much to stay within the lines. I thought of your painting of the crayons.

Obsessive fandom was a new term that led me, after I did a little Googling and thinking, to have a whole new idea about myself in a relationship that started almost exactly a year ago.

And then I see your line: “These are the helpless truths of being human.” What a wonderful way to introduce a discussion of how the outer self and inner self interact and what is and is not possible. Or maybe, is desirable….

You are making me do more thinking.

Robert

That it is not all that serious. I do not think I am a live or die fan of many of my costumes. This last convention I did a flightsuit from Battlestar Galactica and the very popular Sweeney Todd.

I thought the movie was pretty good, but that the costumes were great and I wanted to try my hand at making it and seeing how close I could get. I don’t identify myself as a Sweeney Todd or Johnny Depp stalker. More like I have an ability to make these things and it would be fun to dress up like it for a night. (plus dancing to 80’s in this costume was really funny)

Even my more common costumes, with identities which match my own more (ie Pan or Satyr) I do not feel like this is part of my inner turmoil at wanting to be someone or something else, but just something fun to dress up as. If you get too serious then we even have to question why we dress up a little more at art openings.

The other thing that cosplaying creates is just like everything else, a little community that we can be a part of. No one I know really thinks they are a stormtrooper or an elf, but it gives people something to relate to others about, just like art shows give us something to do.

You used to put picturse up all the time. Whats up with all the nerdy writing all of a sudden?

You used to be cool.