In this technology driven age cosplay also allows a certain form of escapism and interaction with the physical world through conversion of hobbies from a screen-centric medium to a concrete physical world. This signifies that we are living in the postmodern space of virtuality which defines hobbies and connections and we ourselves are unsure of our own structured identity defined by societal norms.
This is a postmodern concept in all senses by creating a hyper-reality where there is a disruption of the dominance of high culture by popular culture formulating a hybrid culture.
Thus the concept of identity is in a constant influx where public and private realms merge creating a sense of fragmentation and decentered self giving rise to multiple conflicting identities. Thus cosplayers slip in and out of identities by switching between costumes and perform their persona by enacting the “play”. (Dorfman, 2007) According to Judith Butler, the practice of enacting various identities, genders and switching between them and trying new ones or performing multiple identities, like in Cosplay, allows individuals to redefine, discover, stretch and enhenhance their own sense of identity. In this process happens a blurring of reality, entry into the world of fiction, a creation of new identity through this narrative resulting in the birth of an entirely new persona which is supreme in itself.
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Cosplay is a fine blend of both its origin terms: “costume” and “play” since a cosplayer portrays characteristics of both these words – dressing up as a fictional character and also enact the character’s life and situations with full realization that they are trying to capture the life of someone, temporarily, who does not exist in reality. Cosplay (“costume play”) is a fan culture that has an active camaraderie where fans create their costumes which are inspired by fictional characters from comics, games, animation and music. These various sub genres of Japan’s popular culture and the various terminologies associated with them and their audiences frame Western fandom. Its engagingly rich heredity and culture is much diverse and proliferates around comics (manga), games, animation (anime) and music. The popular culture of Japan draws and consolidates fans from various geographical domains and multiple backgrounds. Keywords: Anime fandom, doujinshi, cosplay, conventions, ethnography This ethnographic overview is thus concerned with the heterogeneous make-up and social protocols of anime fandom. If manga is an international language and style, where is its international fan identity located? In this article, I explore this uncharted territory through ethnographic views of diverse Western and Japanese fan sites where these creative practices emerge. The form and content of fan works, and the organizational structure behind them, varies intensely per country. I specifically focus on the creation of fan manga (‘doujinshi’) and dress-up (‘cosplay’) as two migratory fan practices. In this article, I scrutinize the global dynamic of manga. The sub genres of Japanese pop-culture and the lingua franca of their audiences shape Western fandom. Japanese storytelling showcases elaborate story worlds whose characters are branded on many products. Its rich participatory culture is beyond any other and flourishes around comics (manga), animation (anime), games and music.
Japanese popular culture unifies fans from different countries and backgrounds.
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