Thanks and a Cosplay Question

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my survey! I have to say, you are the best data pool a sociolinguist could hope for--if I ever decide to go for my PhD, it will be your fault. :)

(Click Here to Take Survey, if you haven't answered and would like to.)

Quick question for cosplayers: if I wanted to find THE definitive, authoritative source on the subject, where would you send me? The unquestioned authority on all things cosplay?

Update: The source has to be something I can quote in a paper. :)

Comments

[geneticlemon.livejournal.com]

http://daenerys.livejournal.com/ -- Yaya :)

I don't know her or ever met her, but I do know she makes almost all of her costumes from scratch ... she's very, very talented, and she's been a cosplayer for a long time.

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm looking for information about it--origins, activities, that sort of thing. Not so much how to do it for myself.

[meowwl.livejournal.com]

http://www.reference.com/search?q=Cosplay has a good definition and origin of the word.

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

Thanks--I believe this is merely a copy of the Wikipedia article, though.

[betsytheripper.livejournal.com]

Check the source notes on the wikipedia page ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay ) quotable references, it may help. Also see if cosplay.com has anything.

I think for the most authentic sources, you may have to delve into Japanese sites, since it's been pinpointed as most likely originating in Japan, as far as I know/can tell.

Hope your paper goes well!

Sociolinguistics

[bantiarna.livejournal.com]

What a facinating field. I am very much looking forward to your paper :)

[naveen.livejournal.com]

cosplay.com or more specifically the man behind the machine, the creator of the site. i think his name is kevin, but i cant be sure. contact their press email and see what you can find: http://www.cosplay.com/info/contact/
also, something else that might be useful, the cosplayer that goes by Adella, was one of the people closely associated with the creation of the website and has been in the fandom for a very long time. http://www.cosplay.com/member/15/

and to my knowledge, Cosplay originated in america, with the trekkies and starwars nerds, as the first conventions were started here in the states in the 80/90's. comic book junkies probably had a big hand in their staying power in the beginning as well.

[naveen.livejournal.com]

im also going to go ahead and direct you to 4chan.org's cgl board. it's like the dirty underworld of cosplay, but i daresay has just as must driving power of the fandom as cosplay.com does, except most of the time, in a negative way.

hope this information helps in some way in your research. im very interested in the socialogy in cosplay, and have alot of observations about it. im interested in your results. :)

[london2191.livejournal.com]

As much as cgl may be a driving power and whatnot of cosplay, I wouldn't recommend it especially if this source is being quoted in the paper. They can be really vulgar on there and are mostly critical on cosplay, in a negative way.

I'd suggest the links posted above, cosplay.com and the wikipedia article.

[feuervogel]

The term itself has Japanese origins (コスープレイ, derived from "costume play"). The phenomenon's origin is likely debatable. People have been dressing up as characters since, well, Carneval and passion plays.

People who move in exclusively Western media/book fannish circles don't use the word "cosplay." They call it costuming; and the contests with skits in non-anime cons are called masquerades, not cosplay contests. (Though people who operate in both anime and Western circles may use either or both terms. And cosplay may be catching on more among Western fen.)

[lilacwire.livejournal.com]

The creator of cosplay.com is named Kyle Johnson. :)

[mari-posa21.livejournal.com]

CHeck out the book Cruising the Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo by Macias and Machiyama, 2004. It's a general guide to japanese subculture and some pretty good notes about its growth. How much it actually has on cosplaying I don't recall, but it could be a good launching point.

Although I'll be murdered by some people to suggest this, you may also find some good information looking at information on visual kei and gothic lolita street fashions, which the states are slowly getting information in on both.

Good luck hun!

[radegund-lj.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't call him an authoritative source on the history of cosplay, but for an academic professor's perspective on fan culture, check out the blog of Henry Jenkins, http://www.henryjenkins.org/ -- you can search for "cosplay" or "costume" and find some comments. I figure since he's a real professor, that makes him paper-quotable. ;)

[lilacwire.livejournal.com]

I would second taking your research to cosplay.com. I saw someone mentioned Yaya Han above in the comments, but by no means is she the final authority on cosplay (although she is EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD at it!). There is a long list of cosplayers who have been in the hobby for ten years or more, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind answering your questions, if that's what you need.

It's hard to say that someone is the authority on cosplay, considering that everyone has different strengths. You get the people who enjoy the reproduction aspect, the roleplay aspect, the ones who like doing skits, the ones who want to do craftsmanship, etc.

I've been in the hobby almost 10 years now, and I'm not sure if I could give you one cohesive source.

[aila-chan.livejournal.com]

Ah, if you want to go for the definitive source on cosplay, based on it's Japanese origins, I really think you'd need to find an actual Japanese cosplayer as your best best like some are saying. From my experience it's no different than what people do here at conventions or halloween, it's just people dressing up for fun, pretending to be someone else. The Japanese just came up with a fun word for it.

Cosplaylab.com is a site I use to communicate with other cosplayers, but they're mainly all North American, but Dr. Tomoe (the man who runs the site, I dunno his real name) would probably be more than happy to answer any of your interviews. He and his whole family do it, and his wife is a lovely seamstress and I believe from Japan herself.

[greyloch.livejournal.com]

Good question. I've been doing re-creation costuming, of some sort, for ... 20 years? (Bloody Hell O_O!!) ... and we never had a name for it except in masquerade competitions as "Re-Creationism." Might want to check on the International Costumers Guild (http://www.costume.org/) site to see if they have cosplay definitions and origins.