In class on Thursday, April 14th we watched video
poking fun at the “selfie” phenomena that seems to have taken over social media
everywhere. Selfie’s are the now
expected photos of your friends that you see when they are out having a good
time that they take of themselves, often before they head wherever they are off
too. The video touches on the popularity
of selfies, but also communicates what is important to the cosplay community
and explores what happens when that is broken.
The video shows many selfies of people in cosplay, and the
singer uses the lyrics to parody the whole idea of posting a selfie of a
cosplay. Like many other social circles, there is quick judgment passed on
behalf the singer. The lyrics in the
video show the singer judging others based on quality of their costume, yet in
the end she is not any different as she spends the entire video trying to get
the perfect selfie for social media – including a photo shoot in park with
water to get the perfect photo.
I think what the video is really making fun of here is the
people who are judgmental and rude, along with those who are out in cosplay
doing it to show off on the internet rather than because they are really
interested in whatever it is they are dressed up as. Like the stereotypical “party” girls normally
associated with posting numerous selfies of a night out, she is making fun of
caring about how many likes the photo gets or if a certain guy sees it, rather
than just being yourself and having a good time.
Judgments on the cosplay around the convention include
quality of costume, authenticity of participant in costume, and genre
crossing. What’s interesting about
this is cosplay is supposed to be fans dressing up as their favorite
characters, so why all the judgment? I
think the lesson here is that all communities face the never-ending cycle of
bashing someone else. Whether it is the
quality of the costume, the costume itself, or the person in the costume, there
is always going to be some judgment passed in every social circle. The singer is having fun, and the photos used
in the video are of people having fun with their friends, which is the whole
point of conventions and cosplay.
The singer also touches on the problems that many girls
unfortunately face at conventions or while dressed up. Many females play video games, enjoy anime,
and participate in all walks of nerd culture.
The singer herself is making assumptions about the girls in cosplay with
lines like “I bet she didn’t even play the video game” and “how did she even
get in our group, her costume is so shoddy.”
In class last week we talked about how sometimes girls use fake names
during online games and this is a perfect example of why. There is also a scene in the video where
someone is trying to take a photo up someone’s costume skirt. This again shows another side of the
difficulties females face when trying to participate. The singer makes a point to say cosplay
doesn’t give anyone consent, just because the costumes are revealing doesn’t
give anyone the right to take a photo up someone skirt.
One thing the video slightly hints at, but doesn't really touch on is a growing resentment within the multitude of Nerd Communities. In the last decade "superhero movies" have exploded in popularity and all of a sudden its cool to be somewhat of a nerd. I hear people say things along the lines of "Yeah I'm a bit of a nerd, I like Batman." I don't think simply liking something that is related to a nerd community makes you a nerd. In some way you have to actually participate within the community. I have a friend and former coworker that for the sake of anonymity I will call Jim. Jim likes batman. He doesn't just run out to the movies to watch the latest film. He has an entire room in his house that's only purpose is to display his Batman Swag starting with the 1940 issue number 1 Batman all the way to the more recent Dark Night Movie series. He has replica Cowls, Belts, and Batarangs along with Various Toys, comics and other things. The point of this semi-rant is not to say you need all these things to be a member of the community, but that people like Jim have been a member of this community since the same people now calling themselves nerds were planting peoples faces in the dirt not to long ago for being apart of this community. This means that members of the community will certainly be more if not overly skeptical of people joining the community, going as far as to overly criticize an others lack of knowledge forgetting that they themselves did not always have the knowledge they currently have and they themselves are most likely guilty of having the same fickle connection to another fandom. The social, political, and religious structures that exist have always cracked down on what they consider deviant and does not exist within the orthodoxy. (Bourdieu 1977). Those that challenge these views the heterodoxy are often defamed and treated cruelly by the orthodoxy, because they are challenging the current power structure. Some examples of this in geek culture include the "Comics Code Authority", local comic book burning parties, fall and unproven criticisms on video games whenever a kid shows the slightest violent tendency, and various other events just to name a few. These were all committed to reinforce the power structures of the time. When a person is constantly attacked for what they like or believe it is no wonder some people become overly defensive.
ReplyDeleteBourdieu, Pierre. “Outline of a Theory of Practice”. University of Cambridge. New York, New York. 1977. Print.
The phenomenon of taking a selfie has taken hold of society and violently shaken it to its very core. As I’m sure most people have experienced, people take selfies wherever they go. Whether while it’s at dinner, the bathroom, or even in church. That’s why it’s not surprise that cosplayers love to take selfies as well. The parody video we watched, made fun of the fact that some cosplayers take selfies for the pure self-indulging attention seeking. Furthermore, the parody singer goes onto make fun of female cosplayers for not truly participating in the geek culture by just wearing skimpy cosplay outfits for attention. However, this turns out to be a larger gender issue of oversexualizing women. Let’s be honest, many of the popular anime, video game, and comic book characters that are women are overly-sexualized already. So for these women to have a “successful” or “accurate” cosplay, they have to wear skimpy outfits. I completely agree with your point that just because someone’s costume is revealing, doesn’t mean it gives others consent to do whatever they want to these women. Additionally, you brought up the example we talked about in class, regarding the female online gamers that felt like they had to hide their gender just to be treated equal. All three of these issues are interconnected and stem from the same issue of gender inequality. Just because a woman wants to cosplay as a popular character, doesn’t mean she’s a poser in the geek community and doesn’t necessarily mean she’s wearing the outfit purely for attention. To be fair, there have been documented case where companies such as video game developers and movie studios that present at conventions such as E3 or Comic-Con hire gorgeous women to wear skimpy cosplay outfits just to grab the attention of the male audience. For example, Microsoft recently hired women in tiny Catholic schoolgirl outfits to dance for a game developers’ conference party. In a perfect world, any gender could cosplay without judgement. Situations like these, further perpetuate this social stigmas. However, since the geek community bases itself on a collection of social, physical, and cultural credentials people, regardless of gender, people will continued to be judged as “posers” if they don’t have enough perceived cred.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://jezebel.com/microsoft-hired-women-in-tiny-catholic-schoolgirl-outfi-1765738873
It's unfortunate how people are quick to judge on how you cosplay for events to support and show love to your favorite characters. I feel like females in general when it comes to cosplaying are judged straightforwardly. I've personally never been on anime con or other events, but judging from Halloween events and shops I have few things to say. I think females receive different reaction to their costumes because male characters aren't as sexualized as much as females. Obviously, there are male characters that are half naked in a game or anime, but compared to females it is quite a big difference. Even during the Halloween season, it is very difficult to find a, already made costume, for a female that doesn't have a crop top and a mini skirt. However, we cannot forget that sometimes characters are actually sexualized. I used to play League of legends and I remember some female characters were more on an attractive side or badass or childish as well. I think this parody video was too much on judging people on their costumes and it should matter whether or not that person plays that game or watches that anime. Cosplaying is a way of showing love to the characters and sometimes we forget that.
ReplyDeleteGood point - this sexualization is not unique to cosplay - as you show with the Halloween costume example.
DeleteI see how you can think that they are poking fun at everyone that is judgmental and rude, though I think it goes a bit deeper than that. I saw it as a commentary on the fact that many in nerd cultures (as is in many subcultures) those in it may find themselves to be different or better than the mainstream. This is so even though, just like the club scene, they have people doing it just for attention and not, as you said, just to enjoy it. When I saw the video, I was immediately reminded of the "gym rats" that supposedly post more on social media about their workout than the time they put into the actual physical activity. I believe that the phenomenon of people doing an activity for the attention of it began far before this selfie culture but due to social media is more immediate and accessible.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of what you said and actually didn't notice a lot of the small details you pointed out in the video! Taking selfies sadly does take over the lives of so many people and I'm sure we're all guilty of it too. I know very little about cosplay but it for sure seems like a growing and popular trend among a lot of people, girls and guys alike. I felt like at Anime convention I saw so many girls who were walking around taking pictures of themselves whenever and wherever they could. When I watched this video it reminded me a lot of what I saw at the convention, like these girls got all dressed up in these outfits not so much because they've played the game or are passionate about a specific anime but for the attention they could get. As an outsider and someone who didn't know much about anime at the convention I felt like if I would of dressed up I would of looked like some of the girls I saw, and the kind of girls who I think part of this video ia poking fun of, the ones who have absolutely no idea what they're doing.
DeleteWhen I went to the anime convention, I was honestly so scared of being called out. I feel like the video although calls out judgmental people also shows the stereotypes people may have about conventions. For example, my friend and I had this image of everyone being elitist and really geeky and us not fitting in. That was not all the case. People complimented my cape and were very friendly when I had questions. I feel like everyone even the cosplayers themselves should attend with an open mind and just have fun.
ReplyDeleteSara Nur