Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “The Way of Cosplay,” on the evolution, norms and debates of a worldwide subculture, with Luxx Mishou, cultural historian, former instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy and area community colleges, and author of Cosplayers: Gender and Identity.
[Doors open at 3. The talk starts at 4:30. The room is open seating.]
Cosplay, which involves wearing costumes to mimic fictional figures, has grown to be a very real cultural phenomenon, with millions of enthusiasts worldwide estimated to spend at least $5 billion on it each year.
Outsiders, puzzled by the sight of grown adults dressed as Wolverine, Princess Leia, or various Japanese anime characters despite Halloween being months away, might find themselves asking: Who are cosplayers? What are they doing? Why?
Even those deeply immersed in cosplay have questions: What is the future of this? Where’s the divide between my costume and my identity? Is this a political act? Should it be one?
Coming to Baltimore’s Guilford Hall to provide answers is Dr. Luxx Mishou, a scholar of—and participant in—cosplay whose book Cosplayers explores the role of nostalgia, gender, and sexualized fantasy in that scene.
For the uninitiated she’ll offer a crash course on what cosplay is about, and she’ll describe its history from the first science fiction convention to the cosplay-related industries of today. She’ll discuss how it’s an international artform with roots in masquerade, fashion, carnival, theatre, and fandom in which participants use costuming or costume performance inspired by existing fictional characters regarded as international property. Its name a portmanteau of “costume” and “play,” cosplay generally is a social activity, a hobby, and a means of individual expression. It also can be an active identity and a profession.
Dr. Mishou will examine the complicated relationships between the lives of cosplayers and the cosplays they create, challenging other cosplay scholars who equate cosplay with fandom or dress with gender. She’ll share some of the often-unspoken secrets of cosplayers, including real accounts of euphoria and harassment. You’ll learn how cosplay convention rules help determine what cosplays will be found in event halls.
Finally, she’ll show how and why cosplay has become an important vehicle for personal and political expression outside the convention hall. She’ll offer a critical eye to the Batman’s appearance at a Black Lives Matter protest, Wonder Woman at an anti-abortion rally, and frog costumes at anti-ICE demonstrations.
You’ll emerge from the talk with a sense that cosplay represents a lot more than spandex bodysuits and chainmail bikinis. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)
Image: The cosplayer Yukari depicts Aria H. Kanzaki from the Japanese light novel series Aria the Scarlet Ammo. (Photo by DPS Photography Studio / Creative Commons.)
