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

“Cosplay is simultaneously a détournement, a requisitioning of prefabricated materials in order to fashion new identities” (Mountfort et al., p. 35, 2018). According to Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, Geczy (2018) détournement means ‘to reroute’ or ‘to hijack’ and for situationists was linked to ‘ludic,’ (p. 24) In the urban dictionary (2003) the English translation is defined by the Situationist International movement of the 1960s as ‘diversion’ and that situationists used it as a way of method to express ‘artistic creation’. Détournement is applicable to cosplay because it is related to the situationists ‘ludic’ play and thus resulting is many people framing cosplay. According to Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, Geczy (2018) cosplayers add their own features or features from something else to create a product they are pleased with by create something new, this could be things such as parody, pastiche, satire, burlesque, and caricature (Mountfort et al., p. 24, 2018). Other cosplayers choose to edit media source materials instead of dressing up and acting a part, they mix, match and mash fanfiction and primary sources together to produce to their preference. To clarify, some people are so invested into cosplay that they use something that already exist to reshape and remake it into something else, thus ‘framing cosplay’ 

Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, Geczy (2018) claims “Détournement is useful for framing cosplay as not simply a form of fandom, but as a critical practice” (p. 24).

Cosplay is simply known as the practice of dressing up as a character from a film, book, or video game which most people know, seen or done on Halloween. However, cosplay is so much more than dressing up on Halloween, it is a form of art that demonstrates and celebrates diversity, acceptance and expression. Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, Geczy (2018) mentions that in order for the cosplayer and the audience to successfully accomplish the character that the cosplay community recommend being familiar with the story world.

There is no limit to cosplay characters due to vast story worlds you can jump into and become a part of.  is why so many fans enjoy dressing up. According to Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, Geczy (2018) in Cosplay representations of different race are possible if done so appropriately (p. 24). Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, Geczy (2018) also states “Cosplay also often subverts gender, as ‘crossplay” (p. 24).In Cosplay the change of gender appearance is openly accepted and done, men are able to dress as females and more commonly woman dress as females. However, do not confuse this with our stunning drag queens. Cosplay is becoming the character and drag is expression through gender, however there are drag queen cosplayers, who go the extra level to express themselves a little more through a character as well.  Spectators may watch and think characters but the individuals in those costumes become their characters.

“détournement is key to understanding cosplay not just as fan-based consumerism but also as a critical practice” (Mountfort et al., p. 24, 2018). 

References:

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

Sonic. (2003). Detournement. Urban Dictionary.       https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Detournement.

3. To what extent can narratology, translation and adaptation studies aid us in understanding cosplay ?

According to Onega and Landa (2014), narratology is the science of narrative. Formerly restricted to the structure and analysis of narrative, it now encompasses gender studies, psychoanalysis, reader-response criticism and ideological critique. Narratology is a multi-disciplinary study of narrative which compromises and integrates the creative text of many discourses and critiques that involve narrative forms of representation that are both literary and non-literary such as advertisement, merchandises, lyrical poems, films, history and dramas (Onega, S., & Landa, J., 2014). In relation to cosplay, according to Mountfort et al. (2018) cosplay is the “dressing up and performing as characters from popular media” translating and adapting their costumes into our world and thus creating a new narrative text.

Using narratology in relation to cosplay, “Fan cultures […] contain many material practices that use the text as a starting point for new forms of play and productivity” (Lamerichs, N., 2018), meaning that both material and text used by Cosers is often used in conjunction to understanding and interpreting their popular media texts. From this combination of creative text and material, the Cosers are crafting their own stories or fabula, and opening discourse among the wider communities through Costume and Role play, broadening the narrative texts of their individual medias and even combining them with other fandoms of their choosing as their Cosplay characters meet and interact both with other Cosplay characters as well as “real world” fans of their creative texts.

Through understanding Cosplay through narratology, translation and adaption, Cosers are able to take their creations to new realms, adapting popular characters, concepts or models from one fandom and into another as “creative reinterpretation[‘s]” (Mountfort et el., 2018) via producing “Hello Kitty Darth Vaders, steampunk Bobba Fetts, and zombie Jedi” (Mountfort et el., 2018).

References

Lamerichs, N. (2018). Productive fandom: Intermediality and affective reception in fan cultures. Amsterdam University Press.

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Planet cosplay: Costume play, identity and global fandom. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/

Onega, S., & Landa, J. (2014). Narratology: An introduction. Routledge.

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

Referring to Mountfort et al. (2018), in what ways is cosplay analogous to citation?

Cosplay is analogous to citation in two key ways. The first being the obvious, in that it makes reference to a specific text. This is argued in the 2018 book, Planet Cosplay, by Mountfort, P, who writes that, when looking at the act of cosplay from the perspective of it being a referential form, ‘cosplay can be regarded as a form of citation, with cosplayers collectively involved in performing myriad ‘citational acts.’ (Mountfort, 2018)

While cosplay takes many forms and can be executed at various levels of professional to casual, generally, cosplayers make an effort to appear as a very specific character from a specific text, or portion within a larger text (for example, a lengthy, on-going series such as comic books or manga), rather than simply bearing a resemblance to the character in general; the difference between merely having green hair, and wearing make-up, a purple suit and wide-brimmed hat, and slicked back green hair to cosplay as Jack Nicholson’s Joker from Batman (1989, dir. Tim Burton).  As put in Planet Cosplay (2018), ‘The thousands of costumes and accoutrements, such as weapons and other props, are, on one level, like trees in a forest of citation that link the cosplay back to the source text’. (Mountfort, 2018)

Alongside the costumes and props, there is also the behaviour and actions of the cosplayers. Many stay ‘in character’ as their chosen character while in cosplay dress; doing various actions, skits, or even playing out certain notable scenes with other cosplayers. This constitutes the ‘act’ portion of Mountfort, P.’s naming of cosplay as a ‘citational act’. (Mountfort, 2018) These ‘acts’, just as with the costuming, are specific to the chosen character, whether it be in direct quotation of dialogue or mimicking speech mannerisms, body language and character-specific tics.

This specificity goes even further in the case of cosplay; to continue the Joker analogy, there is a marked difference between a person cosplaying as Jack Nicholson’s 1989 Joker, and another person cosplaying as Heath Ledger’s 2008 Joker, despite the two being the same character. This is because the cosplayers are specifically referencing the text in which these characters exist, and not just the character themselves – Burton’s 1989 film and Nolan’s 2008 film, respectively. This is pointed out within Planet Cosplay’s section on cosplay as citation, ‘After all, where cosplay differs from dressing up more generally—including fashion subcultures that are sometimes part of the milieu but not strictly cosplay, such as steampunk and Lolita—is in its specific indebtedness to source media on which it is heavily reliant.’ (Mountfort, 2018)

The second key way in which cosplay is a citational act is in how it makes (often new) meaning out of text by making reference to it within a new context. The majority of cosplay takes place at fan meetings, which are most often in the form of conventions such as San Diego’s Comic-Con or New Zealand’s Armageddon Expo. At such meet-ups, there are often many other cosplayers embodying different characters from a range of texts. This can lead to interactions between characters, originally from wildly different franchises and ‘worlds’, who would have otherwise never met; not unlike the fanfiction trend of ‘crossovers’ between texts. These can also occur between characters from the same worlds/texts; the difference between these interactions and the aforementioned skits, etc. is that these interactions are wholly new and improvised by the cosplayers themselves. They are the product of the cosplayers embodying their characters completely (truly ‘playing’ as them) and creating new meaning in the form of their interactions as the characters with others that they encounter within the new context (in this case, conventions). Examples of this can be seen in popular online videos from fan conventions, such as a video of Deadpool and Spiderman (established friends within their shared canonical universe) doing a choreographed dance sequence together. (Star Dragonair, 2018)

It is worth noting that not all instances of this occur within the context of fan conventions, or even with other characters, however. A popular trend within the online ASMR community has been for creators to act out ‘roleplay’ ASMR videos as certain characters. This involves all the aspects of cosplay – in both costuming and acting – and is another instance of fans creating new meaning within the new context of ASMR and an ASMR roleplay, as these are, once again, either improvised or new material written by the cosplayer themselves ‘in character’. An example of this would be ASMR Youtube creator Gibi ASMR’s video in which she cosplays as Linda from Bob’s Burgers. (Gibi ASMR, 2017)

References

Gibi ASMR. (2017, October 27). [ASMR] Eat At Bob’s Burgers! (Linda Roleplay) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/jS51HkoP2PE

Mountfort, P. (2018). Cosplay as Citation. In P. Mountfort, A. Peirson-Smith, & A. Geczy, Planet Cosplay (pp. 21-24). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Star Dragonair. (2018, May 28). Deadpool and Spiderman Dance at Anime Convention [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/kDe2J16Zqn8

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

Cosplay refers to the words ‘costume’ and ‘play’ which were first used together in Japan through 1980 (Mckay, n.d.). Cosplay is a form of dress-up that is targeted more for adults, and usually includes individuals dressing up as famous characters from movies, T.V shows, books, and even games. Although cosplay was thought to have originated in Japan during the late 19th century, it has been around since the early 15th century during carnivals where people would dress up as anything from famous people of that time, to objects and ideas (Mckay, n.d.). Mountfort, Pierson-Smith and Geczy (2018), explain that dressing up is a part of many cultures and communities and it is a form of communication and socialising. They also explain that in the 21st century, cosplay consists highly of popular fandoms and the engagement of different cultures. 

In an article written by Mountfort, Pierson-Smith and Geczy (2018), there is a word that is associated with intellectuals and artists that are based in Paris but is also used to describe and explain the basis of cosplay. Détournement in French means to ‘hijack’ and was used to deliver political pranks and was later used in the punk movement of 1970. Détournement can be applied to cosplay because the word is known to be related to ‘ludic’ play, which is also how many individuals see cosplay. According to Mountfort et al. (2018), détournement applies to cosplay because it is potentially reforming an idea into something else. Cosplayer’s often visualised their ‘dressing up’ as a serious practice, and from this they took it a step further and instead of just dressing up as the character, they became the character. Cosplayer’s today also reinvent their characters in different settings with different characteristics. An example of this would be gender-bending or typically sexualising a character that would not necessarily be sexy. 

Cosplay is a popular art form that many fans have taken up as a hobby. It refers to détournement because of the way it combines media materials that already exist to create masterpieces that are almost like parodies. One of the great and powerful characteristics of cosplay is the fact that race representation is usually fluid which means as long as people are respectful and less appropriating, they can dress as a character that is the complete opposite race to them (Mountfort et al. 2018). Popular characters are created as particular genders and races but this does not mean that only that minority can dress up as them. Instead of just plainly dressing as a character, many cosplayer’s go beyond this and they become the character through artistic ability and creativity. 

References

Mckay, R. (n.d.). Cosplay 101: Everything You Need To Know About It. Who Australia. https://www.who.com.au/what-is-cosplay

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Planet Cosplay: Costume Play, Identity and Global Fandom. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/

To what extent can narratology, translation and adaptation studies aid us in understanding cosplay ?

The Oxford Dictionary (2020) defines narratology as “the branch of knowledge or criticism that deals with the structure and function of narrative and its themes, conventions, and symbols. From a traditional standpoint, a narrative text is simply a text in which a story is told. The story (or fabula) is simply a series of logically related events that are experienced by the characters. On the other hands, scholars such as Ryan (2004) call for a more fluid, socially situated definition of narrative texts. Either way, it can be said that there is a basic grammer of narrative events and repotoire of character types out of which all narratives are fashioned (Propp, 1928). Cosplayer mimic characters from the narrative of a text. However, it could be argued that since each fan may appreciate and emphasize different aspects of a character in their performance based on their perception of the text, it has a closer similarity to Fanfiction. In terms of cosplay, the question remains as to the extent of which the narrative of the original text survives adaptation to cosplay, and whether the terminology of narratology is relevant to cosplay (Mountford, 2018).

Kirkpatrick (2015) says that “Through embodied translation, cosplayers embody source characters from a textual realm into a material one. Consequently, in so doing they subject super or fantastical characters to the laws and limitations of the real world”. Though translation used to be extremely strict in terms of ‘faithfulness’ to the source text, this point of view has shifted due to concerns with the function of a text. Now, cosplay translates and adapts texts in order to cater to the cosplay community. In cosplay, the character (visual) trumps the narrative (text). The narrative is largely lost in translation (Mountford, 2018).

Narratology, translation and adaption studies aids us in understanding cosplay because it reveals cosplay as being its own genre. Because the majority of the original text narrative not truly adapted to cosplay, and these gaps are adapted and altered, it creates a slightly altered story, similar to a Fanfiction. There is endless possibility for where the narrative can be taken, and this altering creates a potential alternate genre from its source material. It also helps us understand cosplay in terms of its creativity. Many critics see cosplay as simply copycatting existing characters and narratives, being uninspired and unoriginal. Narratology and translation/adaption studies shows the alterations and changes in cosplay, revealing the creative roots behind the genre.

References

Mountfort, P (2018). Planet Cosplay. Intellect Books.

Oxford (2020) Oxford Learners Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/

Referring to Mountfort et al. (2018), in what ways is cosplay analogous to citation?

On the surface, cosplay is universally associated with fans dressing up as characters from comics, film, tv and many other popular media texts. This practise can be seen as analogous to citation, due to it’s act of requiring a source text to reference. Mountfort (2018) explains this concept with the example of walking through a convention space occupied by cosplayers. The costumes, props and movements performed in this space are live and ‘in action’ acts of referencing by cosplayers of a variety of source texts.

We can look at cosplay and the process of direct quotation/paraphrasing as very similar. Cosplayers choose characters from a source text and recreate them, providing their understanding or view of said source text, in the same way we might incorporate a direct quote or reword a portion from a peer reviewed journal in order to clarify our stances or claims in a piece of academic writing. The difference here is in the visual, performative nature of cosplay – which acts as citation itself – as opposed to written citation where authors and referenced texts are expected to be present through the use of in-text citation and bibliographies. Citation is otherwise understood as a form respect and acknowledgement for existing work, so it is no surprise that cosplays modern take has been criticised as ‘textual poaching’ of popular culture (et al. 2018).

Cosplay and citation also have in common that their sources could be potentially ‘messed’ with (Mountfort, 2018). Citation in writing is used to either support and negate ideas, resulting in carefully picking references that fit the preferred argument. This could be data, quotes and other findings on an argument. The other side to this is that sources are not immune to being manipulated to appear as though it supports or negates certain ideas. With cosplay, a source is also required for reference and support however it is a single source text that is used, since the physical body is the ‘canvas’ more or less where the citation occurs. The source text here, is used to provide a base for the creation of costumes, props and performances by the cosplayer. Like citation, these texts are also not immune to being manipulated, however, it is the vast layers of interpretation that are a pillar of cosplay itself. Gigaba notes this freedom-of-expression aspect has created a blur between appreciation and appropriation (2017), especially in instances where political or cultural histories are utilized for ‘play’ by cosplayers who may or may not have prior knowledge of such things. For example, a non-white cosplayer darkening their face as part of their costume is in essence blackface, however in the context of a cosplay convention this would be overlooked by many, perhaps the cosplayer himself. “Politically correct cosplay requires a critical consciousness and willingness to compromise certain representational aspects of our personal heroes of fiction” (Gigaba, 2017).

References

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Cosplay as Citation. In Planet Cosplay: Costume Play, Identity and Global Fandom (pp. 23-38). Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press.

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Cosphotgraphy and Fan Capital. In Planet Cosplay: Costume Play, Identity and Global Fandom (pp. 23-38). Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press.

Gigaba, A. (2017, June 27). Cosplay – A Blurred Distinction Between Appreciation And Appropriation. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ayanda-gigaba/cosplay-a-blurred-distinction-between-appreciation-and-approp_a_22492070/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKHjl0cWxGpVAvpiOgfiR4lwW8f6wKlJuHb4Y0rTAaP4e9RzE6evs0jVfg4AVhDydzXDJxcMfZPhUweZIBd02lxHFfZKoD4iOXTK1ceNALRMDy-RsjyKApFrd4v4Aj52xCkiogM2snqLcjBjKejDtrr60I3JjpgrEVhiOZv8KGe5

1. Referring to Mountfort et al. (2018), in what ways is cosplay analogous to citation?

Cosplay, more or so often refers to the promoted phenomenon known to be “costume play.” With establishes situated in both American and Japanese culture, it includes the demonstration of taking on the appearance of a character. The word “cosplay” itself correlates to the demonstration of getting changed into such ensembles in order to reproduce the presence of a character from a work of fiction. Mainstream types of cosplay include dressing yourself up in the outfits of characters from for example: computer games, comic books, well known anime, cartoons and additionally movies of more or so realistic nature, and so on.

Cosplay can tend to also include dressing for non-character costumes that could be unrelated to any series or movie. Such as for example dressing up in school uniform (often more popular amongst females). The concept of cosplay is generally viewed as a sort of execution workmanship, as the individual endeavors to move their personality to the character they are ‘cosplaying’ using ensembles, adornments, even motions and mentalities in an approach to embrace the persona of the character. It tends to be viewed as that the individual possesses the part of this character which is both true and intellectual. That being said, the idea and uses of cosplay in today’s time is a means of engagement in terms of culture. It can both be seen in person ( especially in conventions of manga/anime or conventions such as comic con/armageddon) as well as on the online community. Asides from that they (cosplayers) also tend to have their own cosplay communities (Mountfort et al, 2018).

The idea of cosplay is very different due to an element which then isolates it from other means of costume exhibitions like festivals, theater or circus. The element being that cosplay relies generally upon messages from present or overall popular types of media. A source or a reference text is required, and this is the place the fundamental motivation for a cosplay is gotten from. Another component which recognizes cosplay from theater or potentially screen exhibitions is simply the length of the given overall execution.

A cosplayer doesn’t reproduce/showcase the whole content/plot of their picked text. They often just perform what can be called ‘portions’ of the first source of the text, ones which the cosplayer himself/herself sift through as being critical to the real exhibition. In correlation to that, cosplay can be viewed as a type of reference as cosplayers ordinarily reference their picked text, and play out a large number of citational acts (Mountfort et al, 2018). This is more or so because it is the cosplayer’s own costumed body which at that point goes about as the content or as a ‘cite’ referring to a book, on such accounts of cosplay, this would be the particular media source which is picked by the cosplayer to be performed. This overall brings the theme of citation to full circle.

References:

Mountfort, P. Pierson, Smith, A. Geczy, A. (2018) Planet Cosplay Intellect Books.

Referring to Mountfort et al. (2018), in what ways is cosplay analogous to citation.

The modern phenomenon of cosplay has become extensively cherished and practised by an extensive community around the world. First coming into fruition in the late 1960s, cosplay involves individuals dressing up and acting as beloved characters from popular media texts (Mountfort, 2020). Throughout the early years, cosplay mostly centred around popular science fiction texts, such as Star Trek, Star Wars and Superman. However, as cosplay achieved an international reputation in the 1990s, due to globalisation and the advancement of technology (Napier, 2007, as cited in Rahman et al., 2012), cosplay began to both expand and diversify. 

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, cosplay had started to gain mass appeal in Japan. Cosplay appeared in Japanese publications such as issues of My Anime in 1983, which coined the term cosplay. With the rise of cosplay in Japan, cosplay would become indebted with Japanese popular culture sources such as manga, anime, gaming, otaku and idol culture. Cosplay quickly developed into an international sensation with cosplayers frequently incorporating or blending eastern and western influences into their costumes. Thus, Mountfort (2020) argues that cosplay “sat at the intersection of American and Japanese popular culture flows”. Mountfort et al. (2018) state that cosplay is a form of citation, in which individuals are referencing a parent text through the act of dressing up, performing and posing as a chosen character. Mountfort et al. (2018) elaborate by stating “it is the cosplayer’s costumed body that becomes the text or site that references another text— that is, the specific source media that the cosplayer chooses to perform” (p. 23). Furthermore, Hale (n.d., as cited in Mountfort, 2020) states that there exists a distinction between different types of cosplay, in which cosplay can either be ‘direct imitation’ or ‘textual transformation’. Direct imitation focuses on maintaining a faithful adaptation, while textual transformation allows cosplayers to adapt and transform the parent text. Textual transformation enables cosplayers to recontextualise the parent text by applying “parody, pastiche, satire, burlesque, and caricature” into their designs (Mountfort et al., 2018, p. 24). Yet, cosplay differs from conventional forms of costume performance in that cosplayers are not attempting to enact an entire script or story, as it would be impossible. Consequently, cosplayers are not bound to the same boundaries of traditional costume performances. Therefore, cosplayers have more freedom in how they adapt or reference the parent text into their designs. Cosplaying often references a specific character from a pre-established text. Thus, when cosplayers create their costume, they base their designs on extensive knowledge and research. Furthermore, cosplay enables participants to reinterpret and recontextualise the parent text through their costume designs (Mountfort, 2018).

In summary, cosplay is analogous to citation in that participants are adapting or referencing a parent text in their costumes. Furthermore, the medium of cosplay allows participants to push the boundaries of fan practices.

References.

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

Mountfort, P. (2020). Popgenres week 8 cosplay as citation [PowerPoint Slides]. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/

Rahman, O., Wing-Sun, L., & Cheung, B. H.-m. (2012). “Cosplay”: Imaginative self and performing identity. Fashion Theory, 16(3), 317-341. https://doi.org/10.2752/175174112X13340749707204

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