COSPLAY: A HISTORY: The Builders, Fans, and Makers Who Bring Your Favorite Stories to Life
ANDREW LIPTAK
Saga Press
$24.99 trade paper,
available now
Rating: 5* of five
The Publisher Says: A history of the colorful and complex kingdom of cosplay and fandom fashion by Andrew Liptak, journalist, historian, and member of the legendary fan-based Star Wars organization the 501st Legion.
In recent years, cosplay—the practice of dressing up in costume as a character—has exploded, becoming a mainstream cultural phenomenon. But what are the circumstances that made its rise possible?
Andrew Liptak—a member of the legendary 501st Legion, an international fan-based organization dedicated to the dark side of
Star Wars—delves into the origins and culture of cosplay to answer this question.
Cosplay: A History looks at the practice’s ever-growing fandom and conventions, its roots in 15th-century costuming, the relationship between franchises and the cosplayers they inspire, and the technology that brings even the most intricate details in these costumes to life.
Cosplay veterans and newcomers alike will find much to relish in this rich and comprehensive history.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE AUTHOR. THANK YOU.
My Review:
Cosplay, literally a portmanteau of "costume" and "play", is very much part of the science fiction, horror, and fantasy subcultures. Any time you see TV reporters at events like ComicCons in San Diego or New York, they're there to see how many salaciously boob-exposing Sailor Moons or Elvira Mistress of the Dark cosplayers they cen get B-roll from. That is, then, what the normies look at and think of as "cosplay."
Whereas the *actual* field of cosplay is immense. It is multi-gendered. It is inclusive, it is vastly and richly endowed with niches and rivalries and personalities that can't find easy outlets in a world of mundanes. (This is where I'd usually put in "muggles" but Rowling's determined to die on a hill I don't want to climb.)
I blame Jules Verne. He held that dinner party (which Author Liptak tells us about) where guests came as his novel's characters! In the stodgy nineteenth century! Only it was not really so stodgy, just not public in its peculiarity the way we ever-increasingly are giving ourselves permission to be. In fact, cosplay has quite a history and Author Liptak quite a nose for what to look for, where to find it, and how to explain it.
A lifetime spent in the 501st Legion, the greatest and most active cosplaying organization in the
Star Wars universe, has given him not only the joys of solidarity and fellowship with his fellow ubergeeks, but a keen grasp of what makes cosplay a Thing. It's an appeal that begins with an IP or "intellectual property"...that's a story, to the rest of us...that fires imaginations all over the spectrum of its genre's fandom. (If I need to explain "fandom" to you, you're reading the wrong review. Flip back a page and go from there.)
The 501st is a charitable organization; it's a profit-spinning offshoot of
Star Wars's films and books that isn't completely controlled by the Mauschwitz people; it's a found family for its heading-for-20,000 members. Many people, especially those with the kind of passion and focus that makes cosplay appealing, aren't very comfortable in their families of origin. Many times they've left them whether voluntarily or not. Cosplay organizations are alternative affectional groups centered on a shared vision. Often they're of practical support as well, when crises strike. It's been my own experience that these groups (the Browncoats in my case) will do so much to assist their fellows that it is quite overwhelming and heartening.
After all, when a bunch of folks in the salad days spend the time, the energy, the money, and the social capital to make outfits like these, they're already among Nature's aristocrats. The desire to Do It Right, the get the details exactly as they should be drives many cosplayers to research films and TV shows and comic books and manga and games and...well, everything...for the smallest, least-visible detail that a particular character's presentation requires to be *just*so*. Equally there are interpreters whose idea of character's presentation of self could use some, well,
tweaking to be just exactly perfect. The two camps have equal access to the starting imagery, and they share the modern world's astonishing array of personalizable, customizable anything. Technology has afforded the cosplayers 3D printing options that were once the province of the studios who created the films they obsess over. Makeup for special effects? Several generations of
Fangoria magazine and its ilk readers have made careers of their obsession and remain in the cosplay community.
Naturally, this being Murruhkuh, we need to acknowledge the cosplay community has a lot of racist and sexist people in it; in fact, there is considerable gatekeeping on multiple fronts. Societal, institutional racism is part and parcel of fandom just like it is of every other aspect of our culture. More prevalent still is sexism's idiocy, and that's a fandom issue going back to the Futurians in the 1930s. Author Liptak doesn't dwell on these unpleasant realities but he doesn't ignore their existence and takes the quietly expressed stance I trust anyone reading my words would: "You
do realize how stupid this behavior is, right?"
Unless a character requires one, no one in the cosplay world should be required to wear a mask.
"What to get your geek giftee" is a problem now solved. Twentyish bucks, ordered
right now, and you're home free. It will, I can damn near guarantee, hit their fandom. It is likely to amuse, guaranteed to entertain, and just possibly inspire some of those you give it to on a new hobby, habit, obsession even. And that, my friends, is because the author did his job: He brought faces, stories, and his own heart to all his readers. Come and enjoy.
