Blogpost # 5: Anonymity: Cosplay Psychology Part 2

           ANONYMITY



  As I was searching the net for the term cosplay psychology, I first encountered the word escapism, which is my topic for my 4th blog post. But as I was scrolling down the page, I entangled with the word "Anonymity". I was curious about that and since I am not familiar with the word, I decided to look an article about it. And as it explains, I found it somehow related in the psychology of cosplay.

Since "Anonymity" is an unfamliar word, let us first define the meaning of it. According to Merriam Webster, "Anonymity is the state of being anonymous." To further understand its meaning I unlocked the word anonymous, and find that the meaning of it is "lacking individuality, distinction or recognizability."  When you read its meaning it wont come into your mind its connection in cosplay. But as I read articles about it, I found an understanding about it and another meaning has come to my mind. It is like hiding your real self  by your made up "masks" since it wont make others judge you and somehow makes you stronger inside.

According to an article, The Psychology of Conventions and Cosplay, written by John Del Greco, he said that "Anonymity of any type allows people to express themselves in ways that may be unusual for themselves or not readily accepted as normal in society. The ability to hide their identity and assume another may draw some people to participate in cosplay."  It  further states that when doing a cosplay or just by wearing mask could make a person feel a supernatural powers and that could do anything. It could also create a mysterious effect on a person and could lead to liberation and to act differently. There is also a study about people wearing masks. It is found out that people who wear mask could easily negotiate and talk to others. People also gain confidence and could participate more if they create diversion from their true self.

Sometimes people tend to get shy in a new environment or a place and situations they are not familiar with. It is true that we gain confidence when we wear masks, not because we assume that we have supernatural abilities but because we could  hide something and pretend someone. It's like the first thing that they would remember is the "mask" and the character you are trying to portray, and not who you really are. Most of us are also afraid to be judge and out of place so in the end we tend to pretend someone.


It is also the same for cosplayers. They wear costumes and masks to pretend a certain character which they are not. It has a good effect and a bad effect of course. The bad effect of it, is that sometimes a person couldn't separate his lie to the truth. He was being into a character which he only made up and that isn't a good thing. One loses his self identity and eventually would live a life that was made up all of his lies. But the good thing about this is we gain confidence and it could be stress relieving. There are also times that we have to act differently regarding the environment we live in.

Sometimes we people tend to lie and pretend someone we're not because of some certain circumstances. Which is not really a bad thing but we must always remember who we really are. The same thing goes for cosplayers, it is fine to escape your average day and pretend someone you're not as long as in the end you know what is real, and what is not.

Blogpost # 6: Cosplay in Media

Media has been influencing a lot of people. TV shows, movies, musics and now, social networking sites.
 Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.. these are only some of the popular social networking sites nowadays. These are used to interact with other people and give information. And sometimes, it is used to know the popularity of a person according to their followers, likes and comments from their posts.

It is also the same for the fame of cosplay. Cosplay has started to rise because of media's influences. It is first aired in several cartoon channels to spread the news and events for cosplayers. Then it became widespread through social networking sites. Now, even the rise and popularity of cosplayers has been affected by it. According to an article, The Pursuit of Cosplay Fame, written by Chaka Cumberbatch,he said that "The marriage of cosplay and social media has turned our hobby into more of a popularity contest than ever before."

It was stated in this article that the rise of cosplay had been  greatly affected by media. There is a good effect from this, since more people are getting hooked into cosplay and discrimination had been lessen. But we cannot turn our back from the negative effects of it. A cosplayer said this in this article,  “It brought cosplayers around the world closer,” she went on to tweet. “But we are no longer measured by our costumes, but by our page likes.” 

According to her statement, cosplayers nowadays are more concerned in their popularity based on their fans and followers.  And sometimes the real essence of cosplaying is forgotten. The unfair thing is when a cosplayer is not recognized on her talents but just because of her "glam photos" that was liked by many. And sometimes those good cosplayer are not appreciated because of the simple reason that "they are not popular."

For me, to recognize a good cosplayer, it should be through her hard work since cosplaying isn't an easy thing to do. It is through her craftsmanship and good imitation of a certain character. Also, networking isn't really a bad thing, since it sometimes help in some ways like giving information.  But we should remember that a line should be drawn towards fame and simply sharing your passion. I also found a good reason as to why networking is important to cosplayer. According to the same article, "Cosplayer Marie Grey wrote on her fan page recently  “I think it’s important to mention why I even have a cosplay page, I’m not here to generate likes and become ‘cosplay famous.’ I’m here to share my work with others, teach those who seek my help, and learn from those who came before me.”
And this is really a good idea. Social Networking Sites are not really established to gain popularity or to test someone based on their posts, followers and likes from fan pages. And cosplayers as well as other people should be aware of this..

the marriage of cosplay and social media has turned our hobby into more of a popularity contest than ever before - See more at: http://nerdcaliber.com/the-pursuit-of-cosplay-fame/#sthash.pgWntlKp.dpuf

the marriage of cosplay and social media has turned our hobby into more of a popularity contest than ever before - See more at: http://nerdcaliber.com/the-pursuit-of-cosplay-fame/#sthash.pgWntlKp.dpuf

Blogpost # 4: ESCAPISM: The Psychology of Cosplay

Have you ever tried to daydream?? Well, I guess most of us, no ALL of us had done that before. We sometimes imagine someone we aren't and something we don't really have. We escape reality through the fantasies we created. That is why fairytale is very popular when we are younger. They said that our imagination is unlimited, we have the power and our mind is the controller. And actually, these are examples of ESCAPISM.

Most of us are not really familiar with the word "Escapism", but we have actually done this and probably still doing this without knowing it. In this chapter, Escapism would be discussed thoroughly with a connection on the psychological field in cosplay. 

Let us first discuss the meaning of Escapism. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, Escapism is habitual diversion of the mind to purely imaginative activity or entertainment as an escape from reality or routine. It is basically the way to escape the ordinary routine of our lives through imagination and sometimes imitation. 

Escapism has two sides depending on how a person deals with a situation. According to an article, What is Escapism?, written by Veronica Scott ,  it is stated that  "A lot of people use escapism to retreat from depression or other mental anxieties. When people are generally sad or depressed, focusing on happier times or brighter things is a form of escapism that offers a healthy alternative to a rather bleak reality. This form of escapism can be healthy when it allows the person to realign themselves and approach reality with a more positive outlook. It can be harmful, however, when it causes the person to neglect reality and retreat from dealing with the depression or mental anxiety in a tangible and practical way."

 Escapism is really helpful and good way to relieve stress. It could help in any situations since you could control it.  Although the negative side of it is really harmful since we may live in our own imagination and wouldn't care about the reality.  Escapism  has already been part of the industry and in society. Television, movies, sports, music, books, role-playing games, the internet, computer games, recreational drugs, and other items that we do to escape the difficulty of life are examples of escapism in our society. The movie Inception is somehow an example of escapism. At the end of the movie, the protagonist Dominic Cobb, couldn't escape from his dream. He thought that he is already in the real world but the thing is, he is trapped in his own dream, in which he wishes to be with his children again.

It is furthers stated the importance of  daydreaming, especially in children. As escapism provides a release from reality and a greater desire for creative thought , it results for the children became more creative and be adventurous. It also improved the mental capacities of a child just like playing a game.

Now, let us relate it into cosplayers. Since an example of escapism is a role-playing games which could be connected in cosplay where cosplayers imitate a certain character and engage into a certain role. Sometimes cosplayers use the phrase " a fun escape from an average day", to explain as to why they love cosplaying. Since escapism is not really a bad thing, it is fun way to relieve stress the same thing goes for cosplay.

There are lot of things we do to escape our daily normal.. sometimes boring time.. But whatever thing we do, we must always remember to maintain the difference between reality and the fantasy which we created.

Blogpost # 3: Discrimination in Cosplay

"Yuck"," Weird"," What's up with that?".... These are only some of the insights we have when we met people who is kinda different from us. We often judge others because of their physical appearance, indifference and social status. And to extreme point, others were being bullied or discriminated. This is not really new to us, since in every part of the world there are always cases like these.

Sad to say, Discrimination is one of the notions that is already part of the norms in our society. Being hooked into Cosplay and being an "otaku" are only some of the reasons as to why people are being discriminated. Actually, in cosplay alone there are lot of discrimination that can be sighted.  Some of these are the "cosplayers" itself having different sense of fashion, cross dressing and on how well the cosplayers imitate a certain character.

 According to an article, The Multiple Patterns of J-Rock: Insights on Crossdressing and Crossplaying, written by Paula Vicol," In the western part of the world, crossdressing is seen as something ranging from unusual to wrong, and most of the time crossdressing as a form of art falls victim to people’s ignorance. For many of those who interacted for the first time with Visual Kei it came as a shock to find out that “that cute girl” was actually a boy."

Crossplayer is the same as crossdressing in cosplay. Actually in visual-kei, it does not have any boundaries in being a male or female, it is pretty much universal so you could be whoever you want to become. In this article, it featured an interview on a crossplayer where this crossplayer had problems just because he is a "crossplayer".
 According to him, "Some people try to start fights with you, but it’s easy to just walk away and ignore them. (laughs) That’s what I usually do in that kind of situation. I like to look like I do, and I won’t change my style to please other people around me. If they don’t like it, that’s their problem. I think everyone should be able to look however they want to.”

There are lot of cases like these. People would make fun of you and even would start a fight. But the best thing to do is to ignore them and Don't change your self as well as your style just to please people around you. Another interview was featured, and the problem is some of the cosplayers bash her just because she is fat and she is not suited in imitating characters that are skinny.As a result, she lost her self-confidence and even thought of giving up as a cosplayer. But in the end, a friend of her told her that she looks like a fictional character named, Miyavi and she started cosplaying again. Until now, she is still cosplaying her favorite character and regained her self-confidence that was once lost.

These are only some of the problems encountered by most of the cosplayers. Although cosplay is now popular, there are still some people who use their insecurities to bash and look down to other people. Imitation is not really bad and being different is not a crime. But why most people still discriminate others?

Cosplaying became popular because of  some discriminations. But thanks to those discriminations, cosplaying became more known and was supported by lot than being hated. The good thing about those cosplayers are they are not afraid being looked down and they believed in their selves than those unimportant persons who keeps on insulting them. We cannot stop discrimination and people who thinks bad about cosplaying since its their perception. But the most important thing is that we know who we are and we stand proudly on being different from them. 

Blogpost # 2: Music Conquers the World of Cosplay

Have you ever wondered why cosplaying is still in trend and popular? Some of the reasons are the countless anime and manga being featured and releases every time, but the most popular cosplaying nowadays are imitation of music idols. 

 
Music influences a lot of people in the world. And sometimes, music pop icons also influence the fashion sense of people and became the turning point that cosplayers also imitate artists. Since cosplaying is popular in Japan, J-POP music became one of the inspirations of cosplayers.

One of  the poplar J-Rock band is Versailles. It is known for its unusual costume and elaborate make-up that is known as visual-kei. But the newest and popular trend nowadays  is vocaloids. Vocaloids is actually a voice synthesizer, but it is more known as an anime singing icon.

According to an article, The Synthesized Rythm of a Costume, written by Ruxandra Tarca, she said that, Vocaloid has already become a turning point not only in music as such, but also in cosplay. In a very short time, it succeeded in attracting the attention of so many cosplayers, that presently there is almost none without at least a version of a Vocaloid costume. Maybe the most interesting of its features is its limitless versatility and its power of perpetual transformation.

ocaloid has already become a turning point not only in music as such, but also in cosplay. In a very short time, it succeeded in attracting the attention of so many cosplayers, that presently there is almost none without at least a version of a Vocaloid costume. Maybe the most interesting of its features is its limitless versatility and its power of perpetual transformation. - See more at: http://www.cosplaygen.com/how-to-bring-a-vocaloid-to-life/#sthash.to3IMrD0.dpuf

ocaloid has already become a turning point not only in music as such, but also in cosplay. In a very short time, it succeeded in attracting the attention of so many cosplayers, that presently there is almost none without at least a version of a Vocaloid costume. Maybe the most interesting of its features is its limitless versatility and its power of perpetual transformation. - See more at: http://www.cosplaygen.com/how-to-bring-a-vocaloid-to-life/#sthash.to3IMrD0.dpuf

ocaloid has already become a turning point not only in music as such, but also in cosplay. In a very short time, it succeeded in attracting the attention of so many cosplayers, that presently there is almost none without at least a version of a Vocaloid costume. Maybe the most interesting of its features is its limitless versatility and its power of perpetual transformation. - See more at: http://www.cosplaygen.com/how-to-bring-a-vocaloid-to-life/#sthash.to3IMrD0.dpuf

She interviewed Aki, a cosplayer playing as Kaito, as to why she chose vocaloids to cosplay.  She said that she was not drawn to Vocaloid due to the songs or the beautiful artwork usually associated with the virtual characters, but due to the feeling of their belonging to one big happy family – It gave me a feeling of warmth when they interacted with each other, and I thought it was very cute!

In that article where she interviewed other cosplayers, they said that chose to cosplay vocaloids because it fits into their personality. They are being drawn to the music and into the characters that'swhy they loved cosplaying it. The mood and the song itself as well as the projection of the characters are the main points as to why they started cosplaying it. It also offers a lot of variations in the character and sometimes new characters are being intoduced so it offers a lot of choices to choose from. Indeed, music is one of the reasons as to why they chose it.

Artists cosplaying is very popular in Japan. Since some J-POP bands and groups have different sense of fashion which they call visual-kei and they preserve it. At first, visual-kei is used to refer to some music genre but later on it was categorized as the artist's fashion and one of Japanese subculture.  But since music has influenced a lot of people in the world, artists cosplaying has become popular in K-pop and even in westernized style.

Now, there is another factor that influences cosplayers. It seems like music unite all of us and through it, we may discover another hobby, cosplaying. Cosplay has now became more known in the world and sometimes we are being drawn to it, especially now that music has conquered the world of cosplay.

she was not drawn to Vocaloid due to the songs or the beautiful artwork usually associated with the virtual characters, but due to the feeling of their belonging to one big happy family – It gave me a feeling of warmth when they interacted with each other, and I thought it was very cute! - See more at: http://www.cosplaygen.com/how-to-bring-a-vocaloid-to-life/#sthash.to3IMrD0.dpuf

Versailles has become an icon

Versailles has become an icon

BLOGPOST 1: FANTASY TO REALITY!

I was walking around the mall, somewhere in Pasay City, when I noticed a lot of people wearing weird stuffs. At first, I don't really get what's going on and thought that, "what's up with them?" But when I saw a group of guys wearing  black cloak with cloud patterns on it, that's when I realized that those persons are cosplayer and they were portraying akatsuki from the anime series of Naruto.

I was really amazed in their costumes and make-up. They seemed to put a lot of effort, time and even money just for that event. I don't really get what's good in being a cosplayer since there seems to be no benefit from it. That is the time that I wondered, why people are getting hooked in cosplay? 

But before we search the reasons as to why people love cosplaying, let us first discuss the meaning and misconceptions about cosplay. According to reference.com,"Cosplay", short for "costume play" is a type of performance art in which participants wear costumes to represent a specific character or idea from a work of fiction, especially from manga, animation and science fiction." 

To put it simply, people try to imitate a certain character of their choice in terms of costume and attitudes. When we heard the word "cosplay", the first thing that we would think of are people dressing up like a character from an ANIME. This is one of the misconceptions about cosplay. Imitating super heroes and other action figures are also considered as cosplaying. Even copying an artist style and fashion could be a form of it. Since cosplay is very popular in Japan and its influences in street fashion, it eventually develop a lot of forms like lolita and gothic styles. So as for others, cosplay develops a different sense of fashion and that is how it became known and later on became a trend.

In an article, Escaping the Everyday: Cosplay, written by Rachel Harts from  reportermag.com, she states other reasons as to why people are getting hooked in cosplay. She said that "Cosplay is a way to show support for a favorite character; imitation, of course, is the highest form of flattery". In that article, she interviewed a cosplayer and said that “ it"s chance to show off skills,” since costume making is a very time-consuming and sometimes talent-intensive process. Cosplay is an opportunity to show off one’s hard work and craftsmanship. It’s also a chance to “dress up and be someone completely different,” as Lee describes, a fun escape from the average day.

Cosplayers regard cosplay as their way to make their fantasies into reality. Dressing up and imitations show how much they adore and give importance to the character they portray.It is also a way for them to breathe and give life to their desired character. Costume is not the only thing that cosplayers must prepare, they must research and imitate the personality as well. Whew! .. But it does not end to the cosplayer itself; since, costume makers have to show off their talents in making a detailed costumes. It is their chance to show their creativity and craftsmanship. And in the end, it's a tiring yet fulfilling, exciting, and extraordinary day for everyone.

For me, it's really amazing on how much these people took time and effort just for their hobby, cosplay. Since I am also a fan of anime and manga, I really find cosplay as an exciting experience for everyone. Although I have never experienced it, I would probably try it, if given by a chance.  And in my opinion, it's not that bad to escape the reality for a day and just leave your imagination to experience the depths of your dreams...
After seeing those cosplayers, I make sure of myself to attend the next anime convention to experience  it's fantasy that has turned into reality.