Abstract
Academic accounts of fan cultures usually focus on creative practices such as fan fiction, fan videos, and fan art. Through these practices, fans, as an active audience, closely interpret existing texts and rework them with texts of their own. A practice scarcely examined is cosplay ("costume play"), in which fans produce their own costumes inspired by fictional characters. Cosplay is a form of appropriation that transforms and actualizes an existing story in close connection to the fan community and the fan's own identity. I provide analytical insights into this fan practice, focusing on how it influences the subject. Cosplay is understood as a performative activity and analyzed through Judith Butler's concept of performativity. I specifically focus on boundaries between the body and dress, and on those between reality and fiction. I aim to show that cosplay emphasizes the personal enactment of a narrative, thereby offering new perspectives on fan identity.
Highlights
[1.1] When I was 18 years old, I attended my first fan convention, Animecon 2005, in the Netherlands
I was aware that fans often "cosplayed" at such conventions, meaning they dressed as fictional characters they loved
A friend of mine had made me an Aerith costume; Aerith is a character from Final Fantasy VII
Summary
[1.1] When I was 18 years old, I attended my first fan convention, Animecon 2005, in the Netherlands. Fan costumes involve four elements: a narrative, a set of clothing, a play or performance before spectators, and a subject or player Each of these can be used as a starting point for an analysis of cosplay. It is not uncommon to wear something in a Japanese style, such as a Gothic Lolita outfit or a kimono Though this is not cosplay in the narrow sense, in that one is not impersonating a fictional character, it shows there is an intimate relation between even uncostumed fans and their clothing. Most cosplayers do not wish to exactly duplicate the character they portray; rather, they want to bring something of their own, such as elements of their own appearance, into the cosplay In that sense, they can be compared to cover bands and other forms of impersonation in which performers enact their own versions of existing material. It is within these spaces between reality and fiction, and among these pluralities of meanings attached to a text, that subjects experiment with who they can be
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