Fandom Evolution: From Entertainment to Cosplay

The development of technology has actually introduced different mediums of home entertainment to our country - from the VHS of our parents' generation to the PC these days. This has resulted to a high exposure to entertainment media such as tv series and music of different countries in addition to ours. Prior to, in the generation of our moms and dads, enthusiasts of certain series or music groups would get together and speak about their interest. They would even share and trade merchandise of their interest.

This interest soon became a pastime - a pastime of seeing programs you enjoy and listening to music groups you appreciate; a hobby of speaking about your interests and making good friends along the way; a pastime of collecting merchandise associated to your fascination; the possibilities are endless.

Today, enthusiasts are easily able to connect through the web. It is easier to consult with fellow fans in online forums and chatroom. Sharing and trades are not as common considering that items relating to these pastimes are made easily readily available by the internet too.

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If you weren't able to see a tv series at the time they air on tv, it is possible to enjoy it by streaming or downloading from the internet. Today, the fascination these enthusiasts have has now been coined as fandom.

Find out more: The individual whom I appreciate essay

Naturally, the accessibility of your interests does not make you like them less. With the enhancement of innovation, fans likewise have a broader series of outlets for their fandoms.

The fans need to level up too.

Lovers express their fascination through numerous types. As I have actually discussed earlier, the collection of merchandise associated to the fandom such as CDs and figurines. Another method is revealing it through art-- numerous are into drawing their preferred characters or composing fanfiction of the story they like. As the word suggests, fanfiction is fiction developed by fans based from an already existing story.

A hobby that enthusiasts have levelled up to to express their love for their fandom is cosplay. Cosplay is a combined term by Japanese enthusiasts from the words “costume” and “play.” It is the act of dressing up as fictional characters from your fandoms. However, for the true cosplayers, cosplaying is not just dressing up and posing for pictures as most people assume but it is the act of embodying a character or person that you admire.

An avid fan of, let’s say, Naruto, will not only love the story of the series but will undoubtedly develop a preference for one of the characters. He will have a favourite character and as an example, I will use Sasuke. A fan is a fan because he likes who Sasuke is as a person of the fictional world. He has been made known to the personality and history of Sasuke and the little quirks he may have. A fan knows all these and is a fan because of it. True cosplay is to display the love you have for a character by being them through costume.

There are many misconceptions about cosplay. One of them is the misunderstanding that cosplay is just about anime. I have mentioned earlier that cosplay is the act of embodying a character or person you admire. It doesn’t have to be limited to anime. Since the start of the Star Trek fandom, there have been people dressed up as their favourite characters and acting like them. Maybe even before that. As long as you have the true values of a cosplayer then feel free to be whoever you want to be. You can dress as a politician as long as you support that politician or it might send the wrong message. You can also dress up as a Disney villain if you so desired. Cosplay is all about having fun.

Many do not understand cosplay and find it silly. Some think that people who do cosplay are society misfits who can’t accept reality and who they really are. Others think that cosplayers are just attention-seekers wasting time and money. These may hold true for some cosplayers but they are only a minority. Hey, every large group do have a few bad apples.

Cosplay is an outlet for people who have an interest in designing clothes and a fandom. It is the same as playing an instrument or participating in a certain sport. Both music and sports are outlets of interests and are hobbies in which we can display our skills. Cosplay is the same. Cosplayers express their creativity through making costumes and putting on make-up and they display their skills by dressing up.

It is true that cosplay do costs a lot of money to maintain but it is not a waste of money. Spending on something you love is never a waste of money. Cosplay can actually be used as a medium of earning money. This isn’t possible with just winning in contests but there were already cases wherein cosplayers were hired to be endorsers and models. It has been said through the ages that you should do for a job what you love.

There are many who have made businesses out of their hobbies and why should cosplay be any different. Many cosplayers have established businesses involved in prop making and costume making. A cosplayer also has the choice to be a professional make-up artist or a professional photographer. Many hobbies develop skills in those that are part of it. Cosplay is no different. Actually, cosplay hones more skills than an average hobby. If a cosplayer is truly active in the hobby, he may also be involved in hosting conventions for other cosplayers.

Outside of a convention, cosplayers are real people with real feelings. They are living everyday with the rest of us and are not objects of amusement. They are not freaks with mental disorders nor are they dressing up for our viewing pleasure. Cosplayers want us to be happy as much as they enjoy cosplaying but we have to treat them with the same respect that we demand from others.