Monday, October 25, 2010

fertile minds

i watched a cosplay competition in Landmark the other day. i went to the mall to buy some blank DVD-Rs (its time to back up some files and free up some hard disk space) and then i noticed someone in a cosplay...attire? cosplay costume sounds redundant. anyway, i decided to watch the competition out of curiosity. when the event started, i suddenly thought that i must have some secret desire to be an event organizer (something i sort of did when i was still working for an NGO and im not sure if i did well but i liked doing it). i wasnt satisfied with the preparations the event organizers have made. the coordination, the level of preparation and the flow of the event still have a lot of room for improvement. fortunately, they didnt encounter any of the usual contingencies like technical problems. thats something i learned to always prepare for. i think they should also adjust their program to cater to the mall audience. its not really a cosplay competition area so it would be really nice to adapt the program in such a way that the passing mallrats (like me) would be interested to watch (and not only enticed by the costume wearing participants). they did provide tidbits about cosplay but i still find it insufficient.  

they said cosplay is already in its 10th year in the Philippines (according to the hosts/MCs. although verifying it is only a google away, im not really in the mood to research on the history of cosplay). i wonder if it became popular here half a decade earlier, i might have been interested in it? well, i do find cosplay interesting but im not really interested in participating or costume making part. i find it interesting that the participants not only wear the costumes but also assume the characters they're portraying (and its also impressive to see their creativity and resourcefulness). its like some kind of performance art.

when i was a kid, i always pretend that im one of my favorite anime characters. but i didnt dress up. i just stayed in character. i think this is one possible source of my multiple personalities. i "absorb" characteristics and mannerisms i like from other people (they say a toddler thats good with immitating is a brilliant and intelligent person. i wonder up to what age that's applicable).

i assume cosplay originated from japan. i think the japanese really do like to dress up. SNSD held a concert there and they said one noteable difference from their korean fans is that the japanese fans who attended their concert also dressed up like them. im wondering if that would count as cosplay. i think it does. cosplay isnt limited to anime, manga, and video game characters. if im not mistaken, cosplay is any portrayal of any character by dressing up like that character and assuming its...well, character. in the cosplay competition i watched, someone portrayed Lebron James and that was acceptable. so the Beatles can be the subject of cosplay too. i guess there seems to be no limit in the character that can be portrayed. and i guess the primary distinction in cosplay from any other performance art or portrayal is that the person is a fan of the character being portrayed. i really dont know much about cosplay.

anyway, i think cosplay is something that can be a useful tool in promoting cultural identities. lately, it seems, my blog entries always end with stuff im wondering about but i really dont exert much effort to explore and substantiate. its like an idea suddenly pops as i write and after saying something i find interesting, i leave it there. im interested in doing some research about Asian consumerism but there's really no reason for doing so aside from im just curious. i just learned that there's such a thing as the Green Wall of China and would like to know if its really a useless project but again...

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