Of all the interests/hobbies in my life, cosplay is probably one of
them that has made a greater impact on me these last 7 years. It
helped me meet my current friends, made me get out of my comfort zone
and try new things, like getting on stage. It helped me fight my
insecurities/phobias. It truly is an hobby that has played a
important role in my life. I'm not the only one who has been deeply
affected, most of my friends have a close relation to this hobby...
some even told me that it saved their life and motivates them to
fight their inner demons. For some people, cosplay is their raison
d'etre (reason for existence). With a hobby that important, you can't
really help but to reflect on what truly makes it stand out from
other hobbies like gaming, skydiving, racing etc.
"But what is cosplay?" one might ask. To begin with, the word itself is a abbreviation of the words "costume play". It is a hobby where you dress up as various characters, mostly from popular culture like video games, movies, comics etc. Some buy their costumes or use bought garments, while others make their costumes from scratch by themselves to represent the character they want. This is the basic way to describe this hobby, but there are tons of details or perspectives of it.
You could get tons of answers from different people at cosplay
conventions, but if you would ask me: one of the reasons cosplay
truly stands out is because it is art. Then again, there are many
ways to interpret the word "art". Some think of museums, Da
Vinci, that boring subject at school, a way to express emotions or
portray current society. It's a difficult thing to define what art
truly is.
However, about half a year ago I found a book that would have a big
impact on how I perceive art: The Relevance of Beautiful
(Die aktualitet des Schönen), written by Hans-Georg Gadamer
and published in 1977. In this book, Gadamer argues that there are
not one but three analogies to describe art, which sets it apart from
other activities or aesthetics. These 3 distinct analogies are: art
as play, art as symbol and art as
festival. In this
essay, I will present how Gadamer relates these analogies to art, and
motivate how and why these descriptions fit well with cosplay. With
the help of a modern philosopher, I will prove that cosplay indeed is
an art form like no other!
Disclaimer: for reference, I'm using a swedish copy of the book (Konst som spel, symbol och fest), so the pages where the actual quotes and passages taken from the book may differ in copies written in the english version.
Play
Disclaimer: for reference, I'm using a swedish copy of the book (Konst som spel, symbol och fest), so the pages where the actual quotes and passages taken from the book may differ in copies written in the english version.
Play
Gadamer begins discussing art as "play" by stating that
humans have based their culture around play. It's an elementary part
of our life (Gadamer, page 69, 1977), from playing with each other as
children to playing soccer/board games, it plays a bigger part than
we can imagine! But what does it really mean when you are playing a
game? The simple answer is: an activity that in a varied way
repeats itself. This can also apply to, for example, the way
the waves play, it comes and goes and without a set course. "Play"
is a self-motion, that serves no purpose. However, when humans play,
they gladly put some reason into it..like it's an act without a final
purpose, but the act itself becomes the purpose: you mean
something with the play (Gadamer, page 71, 1977). It becomes
a communicative action.
We can already see a connection now between art and play, but Gadamer goes even further. When talking about "Play", it is also important to mention the scope/room of the play: what can be understood and what can be communicated. Look at a simple game like golf: you can only act in one way to win and finish the game, you can find excitement in different ways but the end result tends to be the same. In Art, the scope of the play leaves room for many interpretations for different people to focus on: some view the Mona Lisa as a work of art that defines the renaissance, some look at the wonderful strokes, some look at the details like her hands or smile...the interpretations or communication is almost endless! Every interpretation is your way of playing the game: art is a free form of play.
We can already see a connection now between art and play, but Gadamer goes even further. When talking about "Play", it is also important to mention the scope/room of the play: what can be understood and what can be communicated. Look at a simple game like golf: you can only act in one way to win and finish the game, you can find excitement in different ways but the end result tends to be the same. In Art, the scope of the play leaves room for many interpretations for different people to focus on: some view the Mona Lisa as a work of art that defines the renaissance, some look at the wonderful strokes, some look at the details like her hands or smile...the interpretations or communication is almost endless! Every interpretation is your way of playing the game: art is a free form of play.
The same thing can be said about
cosplay. From the earlier description, it seems about right with the
sewing and constructing of patterns being an activity that repeats
itself in various ways. After that you could make the argument that
cosplay doesn't offer a big room for interpretations: the goal of
cosplay crafting is to look similar to a character. It has a definite
and universal goal, in other words.
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Cosplayer: Swedicandy cosplay
Photo: JL Cosplay.Studio |
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| Cosplayer: Nabbe cosplay |
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| Cosplayer: Izelyca Photo: Paxby cosplay |
There isn't ONE way of doing a character since the intrepretations, the crafting, the purpose of the crafting itself, varies in so many ways. People have time after time said that cosplay is for everyone and amusingly enough, they were more right than they even imagined. Everyone might not enjoy your cosplay, but the same applies to art...art isn't meant for everyone to enjoy in the same manner, there are so many ways to find enjoyment in it. Cosplay is a free form of play, which is one of the reasons that it is art.
However, by just using free form of play as definition for art...much more activities could be considered art: some play soccer by changing a few rules, some play a game where the goal is to lose and so forth. We still have two more analogies to present before we can make it absolutely clear that cosplay is art. Next up is "symbol"
Symbol
Gadamer
first presents an interesting insight on where the word "symbol"
comes from: it was a greek term for a token of remembrance (tessera
hospitatis)
that could be broken into two and given to a guest so his/her
descendant could come to the home and join the two pieces together,
to kindle an act of recognition (Gadamer, page 83, 1977). Symbol is
something you used for identifying an old acquaintance.
Art works in a smiliar way, says Gadamer in similar vein as its
beauty is the ever sought after fragment that completes and makes our
lives whole. A symbol that stands on its own but still becomes
complete and meaningful thanks to the eye of the beholder (Gadamer,
page 84, 1977).
Yet
the artwork itself speak to us as its own work, not just as any
conveyer of messages. Art
simply doesn't refer to ONE thing, it doesn't exist simply for ONE
representation.
Furthermore, art differs greatly from what humanity has achieved from
a productive stand point with crafts and technique: every product
from there is only meant to serve as tools, they are easily
reproduced and replaceable. For art, it's the other way around:
it is irreplaceable.
Ruining a artwork is even to this day and age an almost religious
misdeed, just becuase, compared to a simple product; it cannot be
replaced by another exact
copy. If it's lost then it is lost forever. Even to this day and age,
when we have technology to make copies, a photo or a CD is still just
a reproduction...not
a representation.
As
you probably noticed, the first half of this segment connects well
with cosplay: cosplay works very well as something you use for
identifying an acquaintance...namely people who are part of the same
fandom as you.
If you would ask anyone at a convention how they first met, it would
probably be becuase their friend wore a
symbol, a
cosplay,
that was connected either to their own costume or simply to something
of their interest!
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| Cosplay: Rebecca Storhaug and Breezy Glover (Photo: Gunnar Nilsson) |
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| Cosplay: Mizzpig Cosplay & Bringmethekelly Cosplay (Photo: Micheal Bengtsson) |
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| Cosplay: Richard Desiatnik (Photo by: Louise Vedin) |
Cosplay
is also a symbol that stands on its own but gains a unique
value thanks to the eye of the beholder.
We already mentioned how it can gain a value by simply being a part
of the fandom it represents, but it can also be appreciated for: the
historical connections you could make from observing the design, how
the cosplay reminds you of different emotions like
fear/madness/innocence, childhood memories. The skill of the
craftsmanship itself just brings appreciation in incredibly many ways
(the seams, the color work)....yes I could go on since there are
endless possible ways to appreciate cosplay!
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| Cosplays (left to right): Svärdsdotter Design & customes and Johanna Nybelius |
And
lastly: I can even present an argument that cosplay, just like
Gadamer's vision of art, can never be replaced. You might think "but
I can just make another cosplay, or someone at the conventions might
cosplay the same character (with the same outfit)". And yes it
is true, cosplay can definitely be reproduced and look similar to each
other, that you cannot deny. However, I would say that you are only
thinking about one side of cosplay, the finished product. There is
another side of cosplay that truly helps it become art. You see,
even if someone might do the same character or design...no one can do
the same seams, go trough the same planning, use the exact same
fabric everywhere, work with the same dedication and even inspiration
as you did. The result might look the same, but the craftsmanship is
still unique. It
is irreplacable.
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| From Left to right: Morran cosplay (Photo: Flupps), Red Lady shinigami cosplay (Photo: Norea Cederblad), Ninjutsuki Cosplay (Photo: Kristina Johansson) |
It doesn't matter how the finished product looks like, the process of the creation makes it unique and irreplacable
We
have now gone trough two of the analogies to describe art according
to Gadamer, and yet it is not over. We still have ONE last analogy
that will help define cosplay as art: "Festival".
Festival
Gadamer begins by making it clear that the meaning of festival is to
oppose every tendency to isolation, it is the ultimate
expression of community: the festival is made for everyone
(Gadamer, page 96, 1977).
Other than that, it is truly hard to define what a festival truly is.
You could bring in different results from science or philology and
yet don't achieve any proper answer. However, Gadamer decides to try
to define it from one observation: that festivals are part of
holidays we celebrate. What defines "to celebrate" is "to
not work", since work is what separates us human beings, and by
celebrating we finally join together again. With this, Gadamer makes
the statement; that to arrange festivals is an art form,
it has after all some defined customs, but still has freedom to allow
variations. This might sound like the earlier analogy "Play",
but it is here this analogy will go in its own direction.
The festival has its own time structure: when there is a festival, the time simply doesn't pass trough various forms off relieving moments, but passes as you take part of the whole festivity. Even if the festival has a detailed timetable, it is only so that the festivity can be performed. In other words: it got a time of its own. Time itself becomes a festivity, you simply forget the clock and your appointments. It s the same with art: for an example as soon as someone listens to music, they simply allow time to flow and pay less mind to it. When someone connects with a painting, either from personal experience or knowledge of its specific art form, time flies as you, in a way, enter the world of the artwork. We learn to linger with the art, but this lingering never becomes tedious. The more we engage with the art, the more it speaks to us and shows us perspective and layers that makes it richer. Gadamer finishes his analogy with these words: This might be our allotted finite equivalent to what we call eternity (Gadamer, page 105, 1977).
The festival has its own time structure: when there is a festival, the time simply doesn't pass trough various forms off relieving moments, but passes as you take part of the whole festivity. Even if the festival has a detailed timetable, it is only so that the festivity can be performed. In other words: it got a time of its own. Time itself becomes a festivity, you simply forget the clock and your appointments. It s the same with art: for an example as soon as someone listens to music, they simply allow time to flow and pay less mind to it. When someone connects with a painting, either from personal experience or knowledge of its specific art form, time flies as you, in a way, enter the world of the artwork. We learn to linger with the art, but this lingering never becomes tedious. The more we engage with the art, the more it speaks to us and shows us perspective and layers that makes it richer. Gadamer finishes his analogy with these words: This might be our allotted finite equivalent to what we call eternity (Gadamer, page 105, 1977).
We can start right off with comparing this analogy with cosplay by
stating the inclusiveness this art form brings us: cosplay
and the community it comes with opposes the tendency of
isolation. So many have told me that they were alone before they
entered the cosplay community, they found a way to break their
tendency of isolation, made from either fear, sorrow or mental
illness. And this artform is not restricted to anyone: no matter your
body type, skin color, height, gender etc...you are all welcome to
bring forth different interpretations, versions of your favorite
characters. Cosplay is made for everyone. There are
those who would say otherwise, but ironically it is the same people
who wouldn't identify cosplay as an artform. Which is fair since they
aren't artists to begin with.
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| Left to right: Sorghrim Cosplay, Johanna Nybelius, Pia Merlilin |
No matter how you look, you're still an artist!
And finally I think it's safe to say: that cosplay got a time of its own. Because whenever I start crafting costumes, whether working on a prop, cutting patterns or sewing, I can't help but to feel like time flows. I've found myself forgetting to check the clock, forgetting deadlines (even forgotten to eat sometimes). Time itself has become a festivity, thanks to cosplay. Even if you don't agree with me that the crafting-process would qualify as what makes cosplay art, then how about when we go to cosplay conventions? Whether you walk around in your own costume or simply walk around and enjoy the convention on its own: you simply can't help but to look around and see the endless forms of beautiful costumes all the cosplayers that have put tons of time, effort and passion into. I remember my first convention back in 2009 and how the hours passed as I walked around, taking pictures and applauding people for their amazing work on their costumes. It even gets better when you've made your own costumes, then the works of others become more familiar, and you find even more things to discuss or inspect. In other words: the more we engage with cosplay, the more it speaks to us and shows us perspective and layers that makes it richer, like art.
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| First and latest cosplay by: Darkesttears Design (Photo: The Kensry-kun) |
A cosplayer's time flies like none
other
Conclusion
It's amazing how much happiness a hobby can give you, but it's even more amazing when you can fall in love with it more than ever after seeing it from another perspective. When I first began cosplaying, I simply saw it as a way to spend quality time with friends or to simply try a new thing to see how it would affect my life. Little did I know how it would change me as a person and give me happiness, like few hobbies have ever done.
For me it has been breaking
isolation, being a symbol and a free form of play...what has it been
for you?
I can't wait to see how this art form will evolve and change the lives for more people in the future.
But what really is wonderful, is that by just reading a 40 year old book, I can't help but to fall even more in love with this hobby. Many would argue that if you try to rationalize or have a more in-depth discussion about cosplay, it would either be futile or it could even make you look down on this particular hobby that is supposed to make you happy. But after reading this book, finding connections between its message and cosplay, it hasn't made me look down on this hobby. It has rather made me realize it is so much more than just a simple activity to pass time: it is an art form that has managed to change the lives of so many people all over the world, in more ways than they ever could've imagined. It's amazing to find that cosplay, often associated with "nerds" or "no life", can even be loved or admired from an artistic, philosophical and even academic stand point. It is one of the things in the world that has proven to me that love can be even sweeter than it already is. Something already beautiful and wonderful can be more than that: you just need to open your eyes for the ever broadening horizon.
Reference list
Gadamer, Hans-Georg. (1977). Konst som spel, symbol och fest.
Ludvika: Dualis Förlag AB.
