blog eight

What does the term détournement mean and how is it applicable to cosplay

Détournement is “…translated into English as ‘diversion’ and was the method of artistic creation used by the situationists” (Urban Dictionary, n.d.), also, it is “an artistic practice conceived by the Situationists for transforming artworks by creatively disfiguring them” (Oxford References, n.d.), then, this term was adapted by Situationist International (SI) in 1951. Détournement works in two main ways. Artists can either add details works to existing works or delete a range of works and then reunite the works in a new way (Oxford References, n.d.). 

Cosplay can be interpreted as “cross-play”, it means that female fandom dress up or acts as male characters or male fandom dress up as female characters (Mountfort & Geczy, 2018). In the case of cosplay, cosplayers can be both directly reuse or delete the work to present or they can add their own features to recombine the work, and it involves cosplayers’ preferences of clothes, social concern, accessories and their body shape (Mountfort & Geczy, 2018). Moreover, fan fiction and produce relative videos are also forms of détournement in the cosplay field instead of solely dress up or act as characters. Audiences can directly change their position and role from readers to writers as détournement allows them to build their own values, stories and features to reconstruct the works in myriad ways. The authors also state that “Fan fiction and parodies, cosplay is part of the feedback loop that allows fans to enter into a text and transform it, turning readers into authors and blurring the distinction between fan and critic, as well as reader and text”. Correspondingly, détournement can be applied and represented in cosplay in various ways. It can be imitating the characters or fandom to recreate and reconstruct directly from the works in their fan fiction.

References

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Planet cosplay: Costume play, identity and global fandom. Intellect.

Urban Dictionary. (n.d.). Détournement https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Detournement

Oxford Reference. (n.d.). Détournement

https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095713704