A Student’s Research Paper

VWCC student Amy Poff wrote this research essay about a subculture that she belongs to, the
cosplay culture. It has a narrow focus and is all about how cosplayers have a social hierarchy
that is based on the members’ commitment and skill at creating high-quality costumes. Amy has
blended scholarly sources, popular sources from Google searches, interviews she conducted
herself with fellow cosplayers, and her own observations from attending cosplay events.

Amy Poff
Joel Bignell
ENG 112
9 December 2019

Cosplay Subculture: Make-Believe’s Hierarchy

In this world of human limitations and tedious everyday routines there are the people that decide
to immerse themselves in a realm of make-believe to give themselves a break from it all. They
do this by cosplaying as their favorite character from a movie, book, tv show or from their own
imagination. They may choose to do this alone, but many meet up with other cosplayers to share
the experience. I was able to not only witness these events, but I also participated with my very
own cosplay. Being a beginner, I saw both the friendliness of the group but also the hierarchy
that seems to plague the community of this subculture. No area of this close, family- like
community seems to be free of this hierarchy affliction.

The hierarchy looks closely at the costume a person may wear. One way a person is judged is by
how realistic the costume looks. Anyone can put on a cheap costume made of plastic and say
they are cosplaying. However, this puts them way down on the totem pole when it comes to this
category. Many of the high-ranking cosplayers, “make mostly everything in their cosplays”
(Phillips), to insure it looks as authentic as possible. This ranking applies to all the hierarchies
but is also one by itself because many people make changes to characters such as gender
bending, which is simply “mimicking a character of the opposite gender”, or they use a
character of their own design. meaning it can’t be ranked by things like authenticity to its
original source (Gn 588).

Another hierarchy would be how close a person looks to the character they are trying to play. As
I said before, people may dress as different versions of a character like gender bending, but the
cosplayers who choose to look exactly like the character are judged on it. When in a convention
any unintentional discrepancy in a character design is pointed out by competitive cosplayers.
This is to humiliate others. The more experienced cosplayers “like to especially pick on the
newer and younger cosplayers who aren’t sure what they are doing yet ” (Bear). This discourages
many people who may be looking at cosplaying because of the fear of being not only judged but
ridiculed for being inexperienced.

These people don’t just wear costumes, they immerse themselves in their character. They take on
the “mannerisms and body language of the character they’re portraying” (Shih-Pang). This is
another hierarchy. It correlates with the role-playing aspect of cosplay. If a person looks exactly
like a character they may be high on the previously mentioned hierarchy but if they can not act
like said character they are low in this hierarchy. Cosplayers will often interact with other
cosplayers as the character they’re dressed as. A lot of the time the two or more cosplayers will
be dressed as characters from the same show, movie, or book, but this isn’t always the case.
Some even take this a step further and will act as their character almost the entire time they have
the costume on. This is called method cosplay (Method Cosplay).

There are even hierarchies on where cosplayers meet up. Many cosplayers gather at conventions,
also called cons, to meet with other cosplayers, participate in skits, enter contests, and shop for
more cosplay items. There are certain cons that are seen as more impressive than others. For
instance, while the Big Lick Comic Con is popular, it is nothing compared to the San Diego
comic con. That is the largest and most well-known con in the subculture. A cosplayer may even
become known at certain comic cons for their cosplay. Darien has attended comic-cons, won
contests, and worked booths at cons. When I talked with him he said, “There’s always the glimmer in people’s eyes that come up to you and ask for pictures if you’re dressed as their favorite character. And the more you get into cosplay the better and more well known you become. A lot of well-known cosplayers can be called by conventions to be panel guests or even judge in contests” (Bear).

If a cosplayer can’t attend conventions, they may be part of the social media hierarchy. Many
cosplayers have social media accounts where they show off their cosplay (Burtis). This hierarchy
is based on how popular a cosplayer is online and how many likes they get on their pictures or
videos. The higher the number, the more popularity, the higher they are in the hierarchy (Burtis).
While I was doing research for this paper I was able to experience most of these hierarchies
myself. When I was at a convention I was in a home-made mad scientist cosplay. That’s where I
witnessed firsthand the more experienced cosplayers making comments and pointing out things
wrong with my outfit. While still at the convention there were people talking about the number
of likes their latest cosplays had gotten. When a girl said she only had a few likes, there was a
short pause then slight giggling from the people previously talking.

The cosplay community may seem like a silly game of make-believe to some. However, if a
person looks a little closer they will see a group of people fighting to be the best. Like a group of
dogs that people thought were well trained, they are fighting for the title of alpha right under our
noses.

Works Cited

Bear, Darien. Personal interview. 17 November 2019.

Burtis, Lindsey. Personal interview. 17 November 2019.

Gn, Joel. “Queer Simulation: The Practice, Performance, And Pleasure of Cosplay.” Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, vol. 25, no. 4, Aug. 2011, pp. 583-593. EBSCOhost, doi:1080/10304312.2011.582937.

“Method Cosplay.” Urban Dictionary, https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?
term=Method Cosplay.

Phillips, Kaylie. Personal interview. 17 November 2019.

Shih-Pang Tsai, and Ming-Hsiu Mia Chen. “From Fiction to Reality.” Eye Magazine, no. 8, AutumnWinter 2015, pp. 38–41. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=a9h&AN=118131824&site=ehost-live&scope=site