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Abstract
Popularized by fans of Japanese popular culture, cosplay or costume play is a performance art in which the individual imitates a character from a film, comic book, or video game. Cosplayers often have an ambiguous appearance which may seem to challenge the essential differences of the gendered body, yet it should be noted that the physical imitation of a fictitious character or artificial body does not directly translate into an expression of the individual's gender identity. Rather, it is suggested that the cosplay performance denotes a consumption of the image which provokes the need for an alternative reading on deviance. This paper presents the limitations of interpreting animated bodies as materializations of sexual difference, by demonstrating how the cosplay act becomes an unstable, yet pleasurable simulation of the visual image.
Notes
1. Negative perceptions of fandom are symptomatic of the prominence of otaku culture amongst Japan's youth. Widely accepted and used by fans of Japanese popular culture, otaku is a slang term used to describe a person who is anti-social and enjoys spending time at home. In contemporary Japanese society, otaku represent a group of young people who lack the ability to form meaningful relationships with others because of their intense attachment to manga and anime (Kinsella Citation1998, 310–4).
2. World Cosplay Summit official website, http://www.tv-aichi.co.jp/wcs/e/what/index.html (Aichi Television Broadcasting Citation2008).
3. According to Robertson (Citation1992), the Japanese tradition of androgyny has its root in the process of henjo nanshi, which is defined as the transformation of the female into a male body. In orthodox Buddhist doctrine, the female body is regarded as a lower form of existence and as such may only attain enlightenment through a ‘total transformation into the opposite sex’. In other words, the change evoked through henjo nanshi involves both the genitalia of the physical body and the ‘embodied markers of gender’ (Robertson Citation1992, 423).
4. Known for its dance, dramatization, and make-up, kabuki was mainly performed by women until the Tokugawa shogunate banned them from the stage in 1629, whereupon female roles were undertaken by men. Today, kakuki remains an exclusively male art form (see Varley 2000, 186–7).
5. The Japanese term ryōsei kenbo (good wives, wise mothers) was introduced during the early twentieth century as part of the Meiji code for women. By embracing this image, girls from the urban and upper classes were taught to become ‘useful sexual resources’ by confining their married lives to the home (Takahashi Citation2008, 116).
