Re: Why do we Cosplay

[blinkyblues.livejournal.com]

Sorry to repost the same basic question but my brother wasn't satisfied with the responses. His main question why do we go out of our way for a TV show? Doesn't that seem a little toolish, to dress up as a cartoon character?

Comments

[theash.livejournal.com]

Just HIT him already >(

[blacknymph.livejournal.com]

Seriously.

[theash.livejournal.com]

Donno. Maybe I'm just in an easily agravated mood today but seriously, just smack the boy. Really really REALLY hard.

Thats what usually works with siblings <3

[imarobotica.livejournal.com]

word.

[xx-neko-zuki-xx.livejournal.com]

After 48 comments on the previous post... I second theash (http://theash.livejournal.com/) ... just put him out of his misery already...

We do it because we can. Dressing up is fun. He says it's immature, but don't the people in the theatre & cinemas do the same thing? (just we don't get paid for cosplaying *sniff sniff*)

[mercurychaos]

Cosplaying is more than just dressing up, although that is a big part of it. For a lot of people who make their own costumes, the process of making the costume is a challenging project that they enjoy... sort of like people who build models for fun. I generally don't make most of my costumes (I can't sew to save my life) but I do get all the materials assembled, sketch out a design for the person who is going to do the sewing, and make my own props when the costume calls for them: in fact at the moment I am working on a katana for a cosplay I plan to do sometime in the future.

I don't cosplay "for a TV show"; I do it because it's fun and it gives me the opportunity to show off something that I designed or made myself... and I don't consider it any more "toolish" than any other hobby. Also I agree with the other people's comments: just hit him already. -_-;

[cleopie71.livejournal.com]

i haven't had a chance to cosplay yet, but, we do things because we want to. different people have different tastes and ways they want their lives to live on. that's it, i guess...

that and smack the boy kekekekekeke... seriously tho, if he is a serious kind of boy, then tell him that the time will come that he will understand all of these things..... i think he might be young right now to understand or even feel the need to understand cosplaying. now im rambling *runs and hides*

[leaf-kunoichi.livejournal.com]

Doesn't it seem a little toolish to look down on people who are enjoying themselves and not harming anyone else in the process?

To each their own.

[rinnychan.livejournal.com]

In that case, we're all tools :(

[leaf-kunoichi.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily. I'm not looking down on anyone for doing something harmless that they enjoy.

[rinnychan.livejournal.com]

I'm just saying that a whole lot of people are.

[napkins.livejournal.com]

Lock him in a closet. Always works for me!~

Anyways, since they're cartoon characters, the costumes can be more elaborate and detailed, and present more of a challenge. Plus, they're mor colorful, and more recognizable. They make you stand out more. Try cosplaying as someone who wears normal clothes. Doesn't really work, unless you've got something else recognizable (like Phoenix Wright signs)

[kylara.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why the comments on your last post are not adequate enough. It is by no means a leap to take those answers and apply them to these "new" questions.

Please remember that even though these are your brother's questions, you are the one asking them here. It is hardly appropriate to be asking if cosplaying is "toolish". If you have anymore follow-up questions, please do not continue to post them in this community.

[blinkyblues.livejournal.com]

I meant no disrespect, and I did post this one I let my brother post this one because he wasn't satisfied with the wording I provided.

[rinnychan.livejournal.com]

See icon.

[rainejoybringer.livejournal.com]

=/ Your brother is a pretty tough cookie, isn't he?

Ehh... well, why even go out of your way to go to a band's concert? If you like the band, you'll try to go to a concert, maybe even wear some of the band's merchandise. You do it because you want to, it's fun, and you want to show your appreciation.

And sometimes you just go so you can flash your boobs at the band.

[sagesse-reine.livejournal.com]

I saw this post the first time, but I didn't want to reply because I'm not actually a cosplayer.

But if I did cosplay, I would do so because it would be fun to bring these brilliant characters of Kishimoto's to life. Bringing something imaginary and original into this unoriginal and mundane world would be a lot of fun, at least I think so.

If he asks why cosplayers do what they do, then why does Disney world have people walking around dressed up as Greecian heroes, fairies, and princesses? To bring imagination to life, simply put.

[sagesse-reine.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I do what I can 8D

[side-reflected.livejournal.com]

Tell him that if he doesn't get, make him dress up has a fav character of his. Then with a first person point of view he can explain it to himself.

Or tell him "stop being an ass and accept the fact loyal fans dress has someone."

or It's fun, you meet people, it supports the show! (free advertizing), we have nothing better to do, we can act like kids again (i'm 16... so i am a kid ^-^), it's a free country and we can do whatever we want. U - S - A! U - S - A!

[dollhouse--x.livejournal.com]

i just want to say one thing.

do not compare american cartoons with anime PLEASE. Cartoons like spongebob squarepants with no plotline what so ever cannot be compared to something such as Naruto.

The thing is, animation isn't only for kids. You can do SO much more with art and take it so much further than real life acting. Sure special effects now are extremely advanced and such, but there are still some limitations that don't apply to animation.

Has he ever seen Death Note or Gantz? Those are anime that are in no way targeted to children, in fact, its quite inappropriate for children imo. Anime has different themes and have a wide range of audiences all the way from chidlren to 5 to adults of 20+. Its way different from cartoons here, which are mostly targeted at kids.

I mean, ok so we people don't dress up like simpsons characters and stuff, but come on, american cartoons are ugly.

[sitiomania.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure that Avatar: The Last Airbender is all American, but it is done in a Japanese style. Correct me if I'm wrong. n-n;

[dollhouse--x.livejournal.com]

I don't really know what you mean by all American. It is aired in america, but there are plenty of japanese and korean animators on the team. And the fact that it is based ON anime makes it not all American. Because it is in JAPANESE style, as you said. Like if there were some anime that was done entirely in teh style of say, marvel. We would probably refer to it as "an american style" would we not?

Urghh I said some things I shouldn't have said in the heat of the momment. I got a bit too worked up because the poster's brother obviously views "cartoons" as something childish, with no meaning. But thats probably because he has never seen anything that's animated besides the cartoons that are aired in america, where the targeted audience is mostly children, are one episode based cartoons with no actual plot, and have very simple character designs or animation.

But of course there are exceptions (such as Avatar, which does have a on going plot, and very wonderful art.)

[sitiomania.livejournal.com]

Okay, let's see if this makes it through....stupid LJ error....

I had previously thought that the animators had been animating in the American style but were emmulating the Japanese style for Avatar. If that makes any sense. I was just trying to point out an American show that is really good, though I will agree that most of it is pretty bad. Thank you for the information about the animators.

Here, have some brownie points for being mature. I really realy appreciate it. :D

[dollhouse--x.livejournal.com]

Glad it made through 8DD

Yah, it's my fault really for not including exceptions. Because there's always an exception to everything 8D (most of the time. see, i learned :])

^^ Yah, no point in being all defensive to make an ass out of myself.

[oddityangel.livejournal.com]

I find your willingness to dismiss the animated output of an entire country a little distressing. Remember the cultural and artistic exchange goes both ways and without those 'ugly' North American cartoons anime would not exist as we know it.

[dollhouse--x.livejournal.com]

Should have made myself specific that was in fact speaking in majorities. I apologize for that .. err to America. And mostly speaking of cartoons today, cartoons that are only one episode based. Short ones for kids like spongebob or kim possible cannot exactly be classified in the same catergory with more mature anime like say .. Claymore or Inuyasha. I do realize that the early cartoons really started it all. Disney, for example was a great influence for the creator of Astro Boy, one of the earliest animes. But the point of my comment wasn't really focusing on the origins of anime, nor was I putting down american animation on a whole, rather than that, I wanted to focus on how the range of anime is so wide, that he (the posters brother) couldn't compare it to the saturday morning cartoons that he probably only has knowledge of..

And I apologize for calling it ugly x__x;; because there are actually alot of animations here with GREAT art. But yah, the point was to tell this poster's brother that no, 17 year old kid or 20 year old man would not dress up as say, Homer Simpson (or maybe he would?) but they probably would like to cosplay Cloud or something.

[oddityangel.livejournal.com]

Ah, no problem. I get what you were trying to say. I just have a knee jerk reaction when it comes anime/manga fans dismissing comics/cartoons (as well as when the opposite occurs) because I really love both.

You're right about most cartoons being episode based, though there are a few exceptions. Avatar and Justice League Unlimited may have had self contained episodes, but they also contained over arching plots, for example. I'd also make the argument that cartoons like Spawn and The Maxx could be considered as mature as Claymore, and easily more mature in terms of content than Inuyasha. Those are the exceptions of course, most cartoons are of the Saturday cartoon variety but I think its important to recognize that cartoons do vary. I mean heck, there is the anime version of the Saturday morning cartoon, with no changing plot and almost exclusively aimed towards young children.

For the record I have seen men dressed up as Homer Simpson once or twice...can't say I really get the appeal, but they seem to enjoy it ^^()

[rainejoybringer.livejournal.com]

I've seen quite a lot of Avatar cosplay before...

[sitiomania.livejournal.com]

Look, I really don't give two shits WHAT your brother thinks about cosplayers. People tried to explain it to him in the last post, if he still doesn't get it than he can ask somewhere else. It really doesn't matter if he gets it or not. It doesn't matter if he thinks it's juvenile or 'toolish'. We enjoy it, and we're going to keep doing it regardless of what some random faceless boy on the internets thinks. I say break his nose, depending on how old he is. If he's under twelve than just yell at him for a while.

[blinkyblues.livejournal.com]

Personally I don't think he will get it no matter how we explain it. Also I have been tell him that we "enjoy it, and we're going to keep doing it regardless of what some random faceless boy on the internet's thinks" message for several hours know.

[kapn-kark.livejournal.com]

The same reason we dress up as vampires, monsters, and weirdos at Halloween. For fun. :)

[fujiappletan.livejournal.com]

Your brother needs to stfu. Living to advertise is a beautiful thing.

[azartti.livejournal.com]

I've never dressed up for a cosplay, but I want to.

It's a form in which you can express a kind of honor to the creator of the anime/manga/series/book. Like dude, I know the creator don't usually go, but he knows that people dress after something he made, and man it would make them proud...I guess xD

[mymonkeypjs.livejournal.com]

Mmkay, I left a list on your other post, but that doesn't appear to be enough.

How old is your brother? I mean, are you trying to explain this to a five-year-old who doesn't understand things due to youth (not in a GAI-SENSEI! sense) or to a twenty-year-old who just isn't a part of the subculture? Does your brother enjoy anime at all, or is this just a Naruto thing? (If it's anime in general, I would have to agree with the other posts above about it not being appropriate for this community.)

Why do some people wear all black? Why do some people only wear designer clothes? Why do others dress up in Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or other costumes? Partially, it's a personal fashion choice. It's also part of showing your personality and expressing your interests via dressing as your favorite characters. It also has to do with being a part of a subculture. It's not that you have to dress up to fit in, but if you do, you have one more thing in common with the other fans, and you are making yourself more easily identifiable as a member of that particular fandom community.

I'm not sure what you mean by "toolish."

Yes, Naruto is animated, but it's not a simple cartoon. I'm not going to make any "anime is better than other cartoons" statements because I don't believe that's true. Many anime (NOT ALL!!!) series include more intricate storylines, deep character development, and elaborate themes. Although the colorful animation and certain themes make Naruto appealing to a younger audience, the themes in the story are not exclusively for children.

If you were to list American cartoons that include jokes and themes that are not only meant for the entertainment of children, you might include Fosters Home, Spongebob, South Park, the Simpsons, Futurama, Invader Zim, Ren and Stimpy, etc. Why does Naruto not fit in with these? For the same reason Avatar doesn't. Naruto is not a comedy. It is humorous at times, but it is an action/drama. Also, Naruto has a long-running plot that spans more than one episode. It is more complex.

Maybe the problem is your brother's concept of "cartoon." Just because something is animated, does not put it on a level lower than other forms of entertainment just as live-action does not make something more sophisticated.


...It's 2 am, and I lost my train of thought.

[toosleepytocare.livejournal.com]

Why do people make movies out of comic books like X-men or ordinary books like Harry Potter? Why do people have fancy dress parties? Why can you dress up as a dead Egyptian mummy that you know nothing about but can't dress up as a character you actually know something about from TV?

Ask him questions that he can't answer, srsly -_-

[rhea-foxx.livejournal.com]

Id like to think that i cosplay because im retarded.... And im very proud of that. XD

[nejlbana.livejournal.com]

No, see, the best reply to that question is "Why do you ask such stupid questions?" ;]

Cosplay FTW.

[spiderhood.livejournal.com]

I second theash and fujiwara_san.

You don't have to explain why you like something to continue doing it, by the way.

[psychedelic-aya.livejournal.com]

We want to do it. Its fun.

Besides, its our choice if we want to go out of our way for a TV show to make fools out of ourselves parteeeh.

We just like having halloween any time of the year, is all, minus the candy.

XD

[rozekage.livejournal.com]

lol, I'm 100% sure your brother does things that are "toolish." It's all a matter of opinion.

If he doesn't like it that people dress up which is what I'm assuming because he's had you ask...twice then he can just ignore it. :) If he doesn't want to dress up, he doesn't have to.

Asking a question like "Why do people dress up like cartoon characters?" is like asking "Why do people write fanfics?" or "Why do people make fanart?" or "Why do people memorize the theme song to Spongebob?"

It's just something some people like to do. And it's only "toolish" if everyone's doing it to try to be cool. Not everyone does it. And you can not dress up and still be cool. ;p

Please let your brother know that it's no more "toolish" than wearing a hockey jersey to a professional hockey game. You're at the hockey game, so you show your pride/team spirit by dressing to match your team. When people cosplay, it's normally at a convention...an ANIME convention. They can show which characters/animes/mangas they like the best by dressing up.

It's actually a lot of work to put together an outfit. And a lot of people take pride in dressing as their favorite characters. So, let your brother know he should be nice and respect the people that choose to dress up. Calling them tools, or toolish is very rude.

:) And those are basically my 3am thoughts on this matter. Thanks.