I take it as a red flag for any hobby or recreational pursuit when any set of people identifies appropriate enjoyment of the hobby too closely with me making money.
If cosplaying is making it less about “the industry” or “commerce”, then it’s a huge help. These things aren’t supposed to be about “industry” or “commerce”; they’re supposed to be about having fun.
Depends on the convention – some of them ARE meant to be industry events. There are companies that rely on convention sales to drive their businesses. And some cons are meant to be more social events about meeting other fans. I could see increasing cosplayers rubbing some attendees at such cons the wrong way.
That there is a general negative attitude towards cosplay.
I don’t go to conventions and I don’t follow the industry news. So I don’t know what the general view is. It’s possible there’s a widespread growing opposition against cosplayers. Or it’s possible there isn’t and Kurtz is fighting a strawman.
And if the latter is true, it would effectively answer the OP’s question. If the attitude doesn’t exist then there’s no need to find a reason for its existence.
I’ll acknowledge that since I posted my first post, others have provided cites to indicate there apparently are some people who have been speaking out against cosplayers.
Some people may be ignoring the comic creators, but doesn’t the foot traffic increase from the popularity of cosplayers lift the industry overall? If someone takes the time and money to make a costume, aren’t they more likely to pick up a book than someone who doesn’t have an interest at all?
Speaking only for myself, when I was an active comic collector, from age 11 or so up until I got out of college, I never attended any conventions. I never even had the desire to do so. The back issues of comic books that I wanted I could buy from mail order dealers. (My go-to guy was a fellow named Richard Alf. Anybody remember him or know him?) I had no great desire to meet any other collectors or any of the creators. It was the stories and the characters that interested me. The presence of cosplayers might have actually convinced me to attend a convention, as I’ve always enjoyed looking at cute girls in scanty costumes.
These days, back issues and merchandise can be bought on-line. Creators often have live chat events. Getting yer pitcher taken with cosplayers and TV/Movie actors in attendance seems to be a major draw. My daughter and her friends were excited about meeting an actor who played Dr. Who. They didn’t give a rip about discussing Dr. Who trivia with other sweaty nerds.
I suspect that while cosplay has always been around, the “explosion” in the past few years of newspaper articles, TV shows and the rise of the “professional cosplayers” has put a bad taste in more old timey con-goers about this kind of thing.
I mean, I can sort of see how some guy who goes to a gaming, sci-fi or comic convention to talk about, you know, gaming, sci-fi or comics might be a little miffed if the whole focus of the crowd and any media coverage is centered on a few professional models dressed up with their fake boobs on display as Wonder Woman, Molotov Cocktease (Venture Bros.) or Lara Croft get all the attention.
I figure the feeling is that they give the wrong impression about the events- rather than a relatively focused discussion and celebration of sci-fi, comics or gaming, it now looks like a bunch of wretched horny nerds slobbering over girls made up in dorky costumes, which while probably true, isn’t the real point of the convention.
If the cosplayers weren’t there, my guess is the media would pay no attention at all.
I went to comic book conventions back in the early 1970s. I don’t recall any cosplaying. (The word hadn’t been invented yet, but people at conventions sometimes dressed in costume – heck, Forrey Ackerman dressed in costume for the first World SF Con back in 1939 – but it wasn’t an extremely common thing.)
I don’t have anything against it, but I can see if some people get upset that it’s derailing the point or focus of the conventions. Compare the Boston-area SF conventions. Boskone and Readercon don’t have any (or hardly any) people dressing up. Arisia has an entire Costume Competition, and has lots of conventiongoers dressed as characters.
Ancedote here, but the one time I went to an anime convention, I was constantly frustrated that, despite signs/notes/requests, people kept blocking traffic at critical intersections, escalators, etc to get pictures of people in costume.
I wouldn’t say it’s the only reason I haven’t gone back, but the fact that I felt like I spent half my day waiting for people to snap a photo has certainly contributed strongly for my general dislike of the day.
This is why nerds can’t have nice things. As long as they stay out of traffic, why not let the cosplayers cosplay? Who is it hurting? What “bad taste” could people possibly get over other people having fun.
Well, hall costumes have been around since Day 1. But some CosPlayers get rather carried away. Costumes are sometimes too large or showy to move around in, or they cause crowds.
CalMeacham:
There’s a specific competition for who can best model as Arisia from Green Lantern?
Complicated explanation:
1.) The Boston-area science fiction convention would have been called BosCon, the way other area conventions get abbreviated, but SF convention goers are extreme nerds and fanboys, and it was noticed that this was extremely similar to Boskone, the name of the Evil Empire in E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensmen series. So the original Boston-area convention is called Boskone
2.) Many years ago, a dissatisfied tribe of conventioneers who wanted to include SF material outside the strictly literary regime split off to start their own convention, which they named after the opponents of said Evil Empire in the Lensmen books. The Good Guys (including Kimball Kinneson) were the empire of Arisia. They called the convention Arisia even though there’s no “-com” anywhere in the name*.
3.) When DC comics resurrected Green Lantern, they decided that he would be part of a society of do-gooders using scientific/mystical devices, only instead of the Lens, they used the Power Ring. They lifted liberally from 1930s and 1940s era magazine SF societies, chief among them Smith’s Lensmen series. SF writer Gardner Fox did a lot of work on this. Later on, Larry Niven constructed some of their background
4.) In recognition of the debt, they created a female alien Green Lantern named Arisia. She has nothing to do with Smith’s empire, or with the Boston convention, aside from the name. To tell the truth, I’ve never seen any recognition of this in official literature. And I’ve never seen anyone dress up as the character Arisia. I thin the Arisia board hopes that, if they ignore this, it’ll go away.
*This is the convention that clan CalMeacham attends every year. And, lately, helps run. Yours truly is a Program Participant, Pepper Mill runs Fast Track, and MilliCal runs the Teen Lounge.
I don’t really attend cons these days, but I did during the time when cosplaying was becoming increasingly popular and well-known. It was never a big deal to me, but, towards the end, I was definitely getting, “So, you’re one of those people that dresses up in costumes?” or being asked questions about cosplayers more than about the actual focus of the cons. It never really bothered me, but plenty of nerds…well, don’t take change as easily.
This gets a little more pointed, but there is something notable about the increased number of extremely attractive people in extremely polished costumes. For people who see cons as the safe space to be doughy, pimply, and nerdy…it’s not crazy to me that there’s some push back there, too. Sexism is a part of it, but I don’t think it’s entirely as simple as “girls have cooties.”
I think cosplayers are a good addition to the “scene” overall and, obviously, people should feel safe to be themselves. But I can definitely understand how some people could feel a negative effect.
As I’ve said, I don’t really follow the business side of comic books. But I am aware that the business as a whole has been in decline for a number of years.
I’d speculate that in a declining business, there are a lot of people feeling economic pressure and looking around for an easy target to blame for their problems. Cosplayers could be an obvious choice for them to pick. They’re highly visible and they’re generally newcomers in comparison to the old-timers who were making comic books twenty or thirty years ago. So I can imagine some comic book creator thinking “The sales of my comic book have fallen by 90% over the last fifteen years. And during the same fifteen year period, those cosplayers have increased tenfold. The connection is obvious - they’re stealing away my readers.”
I don’t think they even need to assume cosplayers are “stealing” readers (how would that even work?), they’re just reacting to cons becoming less focused and more general pop culture events. This isn’t just limited to comic cons; anime, sci-fi, and gaming cons all have increasing pop culture elements.
I think the increased visibility and focus on cosplay is an effect, not a cause, but I certainly believe some folks would assume the obvious.
It certainly doesn’t leave a GOOD impression of comic nerds when more mainstream news sources (or people like Conan O’Brien) send someone out to the con and gets a bunch footage of “weirdos” (how they view them) playing dress up (and lets be honest, that’s what “cosplay” is) to make fun of. Maybe they feel that’s how it’s hurting them, by the way outsiders look at things.
From my point of view, of not being a Con-goer but many of my friends being deeply involved in the local convention scene, running their own or at least directly participating, that Cons aren’t about making money, they’re about having fun with like-minded fans. If the creators are only participating because they sell merch, and now that’s waning, then I have little sympathy.
The ones who are complaining the most seem to be those who have passed their prime and are simply on their way out, they may not even be working anymore, so, sadly, them’s the breaks.
Participate, stay relevant, enjoy the nerd respect boom, and you will reap the benefits.
As someone still bummed out about the near-complete displacement of books from sci-fi conventions in lieu of “media” like movies and televised science fiction all I have to add is:
HA-HA!
Sorry, but (neener-neener) not really filled with much compassion here for the anti-cosplayers. 