For those who fancy themselves as superheroes or comic book characters, cosplay is the answer. Short for costume play, Cosplay was originally a Japanese subculture that began in the 1970s which featured people dressing as characters from anime, manga, tokasatsu and video games. As it’s grown and spread to other countries, it’s added some local flavor, with characters from Taiwanese puppet theater, Star Wars, American Civil War just a few of the accepted additions to the subculture.
The term cosplay was coined by Nov Takahashi in 1984 while attending Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Convention. Unlike simply dressing up in a Superman costume as a kid might do, cosplayers seek to become the character. As a result, elaborate costumes are made, with careful attention to detail to ensure that everything is perfect, right down to the color of the stitching.
In Taiwan, former president Lee Teng-hui (æŽç™»è¼) once cosplayed as Heihachi Edajima, a character from the manga series Sakigake!! Otokojuku. While it may appeal to presidents, most people think it’s kind of silly and in Japan today it has negative sexual connotations associated with it.
Last weekend, Petit Fancy 8 was held at National Taiwan University’s Sports Center. Along with David, Darren and Todd, I spent a couple of hours there, shooting the cosplayers in some beautiful, sunny weather. When we arrived there weren’t so many people, but it quickly got crowded with characters, photographers and curious onlookers.
I’m not even going to try and identify who the characters are supposed to be. With the exception of Batman, Flintstones and the Simpsons, I’m pretty much clueless about cartoon characters. The next big cosplay event will be at the same place on July 26-27.
For a full photo gallery from Petit Fancy 8, take a look here.
[piclens-lite-link]
Send Me An Email
GoogleWave at Me
Meet On Facebook
Follow On Twitter
Connect On Flickr
Subscribe To Feed
Craig Ferguson Images | Cultural Photography. One of the key aspects of life that we humans identify with is culture. We label people, places and events according to our ideas of what they are, ranging from the broader scale defined by tradition and place down to the small scale subcultures and tribes. Craig Ferguson Images is consistantly creating new visions in the field of cultural photography. From traditional festives and customs to modern, urban subcultures, Craig Ferguson Images is in touch with the changing world. From our base in Taipei, Taiwan we are perfectly positioned at the crossroads of the ancient and the modern.
Design by Graph Paper Press
Subscribe to entries
Subscribe to comments
All content © 2010 by Cultural photography from Asia | Craig Ferguson Images
