preview

Cosplay Costume Play

Decent Essays

Cosplay is the short form of “costume play” as first coined in Japan by Nobuyuki Takashashi, referring to fans who would dress up as their favourite anime, game or comic character. In recent years, cosplay has garnered more attention within cultural studies as well as within the mainstream media. Far from a childhood Halloween, cosplay has become a way for fans of many ages to share their interest in fandom, dress and identity at any age and during the years. Being introduced to Japanese’s culture at a young age and surrounded by similar preference people gave rise to this dissertation topic. The fascination expanded while reading more about this sub-culture and specific case studies. The amount of time put in while making the art of costume and costume-play is beyond impressive. It’s is also interesting to examine the psychology behind costume-play and to understand the fandom through their eyes.
Cosplay has …show more content…

It is necessary to understand this complex form of costume making as it is more than fervent celebration of a favourite fictional character. The key aspects of this research are to understand and differentiate between fandom vs. obsession and expression vs. escapism with respect to cosplay.
Cosplay promotes practice in which gender diversity is practiced resulting in a display of crossplays and genderbend cosplays. This dissertation also intends to analyse the phenomenon of cosplay that helped in sustaining diversity of gender expression and the social stereotype faced by cosplayers in the society. This study explores cosplay as a community and cosplay practiced around the world. As the costume play is relatively current and still evolving, online sources provide prompt information about cosplay therefore the influence of media on cosplay will also be studied during the

Get Access