Cosplayer Connections

My cousin loved the show. When I told her she could take pictures with anyone, it blew her mind. Here were people dressed as her favorite characters letting her be near them. Eventually she was convinced she needed to dress up as well.

Which brings up, why do people want to dress up? Don't they know these are fake characters? Some even view the characters as gods. They aspire to something greater. Others let their imagination flow, and create imaginary friends. There are questions of money, and whether or not they can get paid. There is even a thought of sexiness around them. In the end they are looking for connections between themselves through the characters they are dressed as.

The first thing you need to know is most of the people know the characters aren't real. This doesn't mean they don't wish they stayed that way. In fact, you can see in many eyes a wish or desire to recreate the world the characters come from.

To some, these become imaginary friends. Remember the characters you made up in your mind as a child? You wanted them to be real, so then you could spend time with them. They had voices and quirks you loved.

Many people view them in that way. The costume isn't just a character from a book, but an imaginary friend they want to be real. The girl in the costume above created her character on her own. She was invested into it as if it was a real thing. A friend she wanted to be or to know.

In fact some view them as gods. Just think about the arguments you had as a kid arguing over which character could beat up the other. Sometimes the characters in your mind becoming greater than anything.

They become gods who can destroy mountains and call down thunder. It's common in comics to have literal gods stand next to superheroes, and times when there is no difference. When someone dresses this way, it's not just that the character is cool, it's that there is a desire or even a faith in that character.

This isn't a big surprise. A very common thing in cultures is for people to dress as their gods. It can be a part of a reverence that few receive.

For example, many people not only wish there was a Black Panther, but they wished they could.be part of that world. In a place where they feel.their own skin color is looked down on, it is great to see a powerful African king. They reverence the idea of their heritage as powerful.

Some dress up to see themselves as they aspire. They want to be funny, so they dress up as Deadpool or the Teen Titans. They want to be kind, so they dress as a Disney princess. The connection both something they want to be, and what they see in the mirror.

Take the ladies dressed as the good witches in Sleeping Beauty. They worked hard to be in order, and also represent the characters as seen. They were quiet, but jovial and made sure to be happy when people recognized them.

Often times in life, we don't have terms for what we want to be. When I first got into anthropology, I didn't know the word, so I called myself Sherlock Holmes. In the same case, when I decided to become a story teller, I called myself a Neil Gaiman.

We don't look for words, we look for people that best represent what we want to be. I know some comic creators aspire to be Superman or Iron Man. This dressing as them, is part of us seeing ourselves achieving our dreams.

I don't have a picture to show or signify the next subject, because I don't want to burden someone with scorn. There are people who do not aspire to be great, or find imaginary friends, or be like the gods. Instead they dress up to make money. They might look like a character, or know some basic robotics.

This is a great way to promote your skills to others. My brother want to go to a Comicon so he can show off the mech he built. He thinks going to a place like this, and letting people see the machine working would get far more attention than anything else he would try.

Likewise, there are actors or actresses who can get spotted way easier by dressing up. This is there chance to get fans and followers for those auditions. And yes, popularity does help you get parts.

So as much as some would judge, there are good reasons to do cosplay for money.

Another awkward one is the desire to be sexy. This doesn't mean every cosplayers wants this, but there are costumes that make it obvious this is a thing.

If people aspire to be things, one of them can be sexy. Many of these cosplayers dress normally when at work or going out with friends. But when they look at the character, they see the athleticism, strength, and ability combine to make a very good looking figure.

This is one of the reasons why cosplayers get overly mentioned in websites and journalism. A hot character is going to draw more views than other things.

This doesn't mean the person dressing this way wants to be talked to badly, or touched randomly. They want to be an image, and that image will be attracted to what they consider to be perfect for themselves and that character.

Then there are the geek connections. There will be more essays on this subject, but people come to connect with others to be geeky. They see someone dressed from a show or book they are also dressed up in, and there is a connection.

It's more than just becoming a Disney princess but being with many more. It's not about being a supergirl, but finding another. The clothing is a symbol of a character who is loved, and aspired to.

My favorite story came from a geographer who I chatted with on the second day of the show. He was dressed as Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, and saw someone dressed as Turlough. They had a moment as both their characters. It was almost religious in how they were connected by a show they saw.

Often the characters are more than just made up. They can be imaginary friends. Some even look to them as gods. Others see something to aspire to. A few make money off of the deal. Many try have a certain level of sexiness. In the end, they seek the geek connections that the comicon brings.  

In many cases there are a multitude of reasons to dress up. There is no way to say if someone covers every one discussed, or just one. I doubt the kids are trying to be sexy, and most cosplayers aren't there for money. But they dress up, and become a part of the stories we tell of our travels to a convention.