The pandemic has revealed certain hobbies and professions I was not aware of. Cosplay is one of them. This Costume Play is about wearing costumes, make-up, hair-do to represent a certain character - from comic books, a cartoon, a television series or video games. (Homer Simpson, Mickey Mouse, Charlie Brown, Flintstones, Scooby-do, Pink Panther, Winnie the Pooh, superman, Spiderman, batman, Yogi Bear, Donald Duck are some names I can recognize with my limited knowledge). This phenomenon is big in Japan where it is called ‘Cosupure’. Japan has a cosplay culture, fans, competitions and championships.
The World Cosplay championship that began in 2005 is
different from Halloween or fancy dressing. Cosplayers are trying to replicate
a particular character. They are expected to mimic not only costume and make-up
but also represent body language and mannerisms. Dressing up as Spiderman may
not look attractive if the cosplayer’s body is not nimble, and he or she can’t
move like a spider.
Costumes are available online, but in many cases they
are custom-tailored. Costumes, props, wigs, hair dye, body paint, prop weapons
and jewelry are often designed by the cosplayers themselves. Japan has two fan
conventions every year, in summer and winter, where professional cosplayer
models appear, at times giving short performances.
The best known event, the world cosplay summit,
selects the best players from among forty countries. This event happens in
Nagoya, Japan. The points are based on accuracy (how close the player looks to
the character), craftsmanship (how well is the costume made), presentation (is
the cosplayer” in character”) and audience impact.
Once the pandemic began, all these events were
cancelled.
*****
Yaya Han is a Chinese American, a professional
cosplayer for the past twenty years. She paid her bills and staff salaries with
her event appearances. At the events, she would also sell signed merchandise,
cosplay patterns, fabric and trims, and had three full-time employees to assist
her. Suddenly, her income stream dried. On one hand, she was worried about her
relatives in China, on the other the rising racist sentiment in the USA.
Instead of firing her employees, she began sewing masks. In the early days of
the pandemic, it was difficult to get the cotton fabric and elastic ties. Yaya
and her team had ample materials and expertise to sew masks for the entire
neighbourhood.
Yaya has also been appearing online. She has done a
few modeling assignments.
*****
Some cosplayers found ways to meet in person. They
found photographers who could play tricks with modern cameras. Chuang, a
Chinese American photographer, arranged multiple socially-distanced photo
shoots. By shooting with a long lens, he could photograph characters keeping
six feet distance but the photos showed them next to each other.
*****
Marie Chante Ramos has cosplay as a passionate hobby.
But she works full time as an ICU nurse. In her New Jersey hospital, she began
doing night shifts. It was stressful to see people they were treating die every
day. Ironically, Marie was wearing a PPE costume which was never before part of
any cosplay.
To relieve the stress, Marie found fellow cosplayers
in the health industry. They formed a chat group. She told the chat, “Wouldn’t
it be cool if we did a video in our PPE garb?” Patients and the public saw them
as faceless health robots. Along with twenty-two other cosplaying nurses, Marie
created a video called “Heroes behind the PPE”. It already has half a million
views.
“I liked being able to shine some light on these
health care professionals who also have a creative side.” Said Marie. “The
hospital is not the only thing going on in our lives.”
Ravi
