Q: What does the term détournement mean and how is it applicable to cosplay?
Détournement is a term coined by a group of artists and intellectuals known as the Situationist International (1957-1972), which refers to a novel variation or artistic practice of transforming artworks with a political message (Oxford reference, n.d.). Its original purpose was to provide a ‘re-route’, disfigurement or a subversion of social hierarchy or authority; in other words, the activity is synonymous to satirical parody (Mountfort, 2018). In context to Cosplay, détournement encompasses the ‘direct reuse’ of ‘faithful imitations’; in its world of fandom, Cosplay sees this technique as a critical practice, which is mostly played and observed through ‘parody, pastiche, satire, burlesque, and caricature’ (Mountfort, 2018). Cosplay is applicable to extent where the character in play is cited from a source text and has the appropriate audience to actualise its validity (Mountfort, 2018). The concept can easily be interchangeable with the term détournement; the factor of recontextualization differentiates citation from détournement when features such as body type and collaborative role are considered (Mountfort, 2018).
Material and social aspects of the cosplayer are considered in détournement, such as the body type, accuracy of costume, and their role in a collaborative cosplay group (Mountfort, 2018). The concept can be termed as ‘cross-play’ wherein female players dress as male characters and vice versa; simply put, the representation of gender in addition to race is fluid (Mountfort, 2018). A subtype of détournement in Cosplay is fanfiction, where cosplayers mess with the source material to create their own text; this is only able through the player’s familiarity with the source material’s story and fandom (Mountfort, 2018). Often these type of subversions are created to transform the text for readers and audiences with specific interests in ‘disfiguring’, or following up the story with their own plot twists to cater ‘fetishes’ (Mountfort, 2018; 2020). With this technique, Cosplayers display textual mashup and creative reinterpretation; in a way, players have the freedom to knit their identity through mixing and mashing up of the character’s original ideology and their material interests (Mountfort, 2020). In addition to giving their character a three-dimensional aspect in Cosplay, the cosplayer attempts to reconstruct the character by becoming the character but with a derailment in either act or feature (Mountfort, 2020).
References
Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Planet cosplay: Costume play, identity and global fandom. Intellect.
Oxford reference (n.d.). détournement. Retrieved from https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095713704
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