Rija Faisal
Referring to Mountfort et al. (2018), in what ways is cosplay analogous to citation?
‘Cosplay’ refers to the act of dressing up in a costume in order to recreate the appearance of a character from a work of fiction. Popular forms of cosplay involve dressing oneself in the outfits of characters from video games, comic books, popular anime series, animated and/or live action films, etc. Cosplay can also include dressing in non-character specific costumes, such as a maid or in a school uniform.
Cosplay is considered to be a form of performance art. Through the use of costumes and accessories, gestures, behaviour, and attitude, an individual ‘cosplaying’ a character attempts to morph his/her persona into that of the character he/she is dressed as. The idea is to inhibit the role of the character whom one is dressed as as skillfully as can be done.
Cosplay in the twenty-first-century is a form of mass cultural engagement. Mountfort et al. (2018). It can be found both online as well as offline, and especially in large events such as manga and anime conventions, comic con, and within its own fan-based cosplay communities.
A distinguishing feature of cosplay which separates it from other forms of costuming performances ( such as circus and carnival performances, or theatre performances), is that cosplay depends largely on texts from popular forms of media. A source or a reference text is required, and this is where the main inspiration for a cosplay is derived from.
Another feature which distinguishes cosplay from theatre and/or screen performances is the length of performance itself. A cosplayer does not recreate/act out the entire script/plot of their chosen text. Rather, they only perform what can be called ‘chunks’ or ‘portions’ of the original source text, ones which the cosplayer himself/herself filters out as being significant to the actual performance.
On the subject of citation, cosplay can be regarded as a form of citation as cosplayers commonly reference their chosen text, and perform a multitude of citational acts. Mountfort et al. (2018). In a cosplay performance, it is the cosplayer’s own costumed body which then acts as the text or as a ‘site’ referencing a text – in the case of cosplay, this would be the specific media source which is chosen by the cosplayer to be performed.
Props (such as weapons) alongside the costume also act as citation links, as they help in linking the cosplay back to its source text.
Citation in cosplay can also be seen being as similar to referencing. In a cosplay performance, a familiarity with the original narrative of the cosplay is important, as this is what allows the cosplay audience to recall the source of the original narrative. The cosplay audience play a crucial part. Without them, a cosplay performance simply would not be successful or be as powerful if say, it were performed for an audience that was unfamiliar with the original narrative. These three elements- the text, the cosplayer and the cosplay audience – together make up the citational qualities of cosplay.
References
Mountfort, P. Pierson, Smith, A. Geczy, A. (2018) Planet Cosplay Intellect Books.
Pop Genres 2020 