This is just a stream of conscious thoughts I’ve been having the last couple of weeks.
With this year being my 20th dragoncon I’ve been thinking a lot about how convention culture has changed – namely how cosplay culture has changed. I mean a lot of the change is obvious, it’s so much bigger, more socially accepted, easier to get materials, etc.
But my main thought has been about how the culture surrounding cosplay and photos has changed. I’d dare say that cosplaying has become more narcissistic – though I’d definitely argue there’s always been an element of narcissism in cosplay, but I think it’s become more prevalent as the hobby has gotten larger and attracted more eyes to it. And with that change has come a change to the way convention photos are handled.
I feel like in the “old days” there was an expectation – if you brought a camera to a convention, which most people did – you took photos, and then you made those photos publicly available somewhere so the cosplayers could find and save the photo you took of them. If you didn’t have your own site, you could dump them on geocities, photobucket, or later on photos sites like flickr.
I spent my first couple of years at convention dragging around a FILM camera which I’d then have to pay to have the photos developed, and then take the time to scan them all in and upload them. But I loved doing it because it was a give-and-take – here’s photos I took of about 60 different cosplayers and hopefully I can find a handful of photos other people took of me. Things got easier when digital cameras became more ubiquitous and easier to carry, but I still remember wearing something stupid and clunky like Hild, while also carrying a large padded LOTR lunchbox that had my phone, wallet and my Sony Mavica in it. And still taking photos of other cosplayers while I avoided stepping on my own train 50 times. Of course I was also taking photos of myself (or rather, having Ash take photos of me on my camera), but I’d say out of all the photos I’d take at a given convention, maybe 10-15% were of me.
So you’d think that this give-and-take mindset would only expand as digital cameras became more accessible, as social media became more prevalent, as now suddenly everyone has a decent camera on their phones and they can upload the photos directly somewhere without ever having to download anything first?
Instead I feel like its gone the opposite direction. People still take photos at conventions, of course, and there are dedicated folks who still make sure to upload photos, carefully tagged and archived so they can be easily found by others. But I feel like for most people these photos they take on their phone are just there to show their friends “hey look at this costume I saw” and they never upload the photos anywhere. Or if they do, they dump them in a facebook album where no one but their friends will ever see them because of facebook’s shit search engine/privacy controls.
I feel like this is especially apparent when you go to smaller conventions, where there’s a smaller pool of people/cosplayers. In recent years, at smaller cons, I might get stopped 1 or 2 times for a photo, if that. Sometimes not at all, and in the “old days” it would’ve been 10-15 photos perhaps? I guess you could chalk it to me now being an old woman in costume but I think it goes deeper than that, I do think the culture has shifted.
And I mean, I admit, I don’t take a real camera with me to cons anymore. My husband still does sometimes. But it’s a hassle. I did take my point and shoot to dragoncon but the only time I used it was for our Leto/Jessica photos Saturday morning. Otherwise I didn’t want to drag another item around with me. Iphone photos are easier. Even if they’re not great (looking at you, lens distortion that makes peoples’ heads look like a picasso painting)
But I think the biggest catalyst in the shift has been the popularity of cosplay. I think as the hobby got bigger and suddenly more mainstream with major news outlets/websites covering the biggest conventions, certain costumes and cosplayers going viral for things, people saw this and thought, I want to do that too. I want a viral photo, a viral costume, I want to be a cosplay guest, a professional cosplayer, I want people to take photos of me and give me attention! So this new blood came into the hobby only in the mindset of wanting to be cosplay famous. These folks don’t take photos. They are there for people to take photos of them. And I think THAT mindset that starting leaking into the community 10-15 years ago has now become common place.
I don’t necessarily think there’s anything wrong with that mindset, either. If you get into the hobby because you like attention, that’s a valid reason – like I said at the start, I think cosplay comes from a narcissistic place for many people. Even if you’re not someone obsessed with how you look, I admit that I like looking at photos of myself in costume. It makes me feel cool. It makes me feel good to be praised — if we didn’t want a little bit of an ego boost, why would we post all this on the internet for everyone to see? (I love it when someone throws out the term “attention seeking” as a negative thing. Yeah, and…?)
But I do think it hurts the community when it leads people to NOT be part of the community. When you only friend people to gain an audience, not to actually be friends with them. When you don’t share anything about your costume construction because you don’t want someone to copy you. When you get catty because someone else did the same costume as you. When you start drama because someone else’s photo went viral. When you lie about making your own costumes. I could go on.
But it all leads me back to the loss of that give-and-take convention mindset. In the old days, we were all just a bunch of nerds hanging out together, having just crawled out of parents’ basement… we were all on the same team, on the same boat. We all wanted photos of our costumes. So we took the photos are shared them. Now we don’t. We rely on random con-goers with their iphones hopefully sharing the link to their facebook album on the event’s facebook page, or the handful of stalwart photographers who still walk around cons with their “real” cameras (just don’t lose those business cards you stuck in your boot).
Or you pay a pro. Or, you do what I did and marry a photographer LOL
At the end of day I think there’s a lot of elements playing into this shift and I am probably one of those elements. I’ve changed too. I do miss the old days though…
My second ramble-y thought I’d been having is about buying vs making costumes.
The past couple of years the amount of people (especially on tiktok) who just straight up ask me “where did you buy this” has increased EXPONENTIALLY. I even get this question on videos where I’m literally talking about HOW I MADE THE COSTUME.
And I think it’s because buying a nice looking costume has become so much easier. You can get on amazon right now and buy a good looking Sailor Moon costume for literally $45, free delivery by friday.
I have absolutely nothing against folks who buy costumes. I’ve done it myself, see my Rogue movie suit. It’s great that this hobby is so much more accessible to people who don’t have time/desire to learn a new skill, or can’t because of a disability, or there’s a million reasons why someone to choose to buy over making a costume. I actually think about doing it a LOT these days LOL One of these days I’m going to treat myself to a really nice Captain Marvel MCU-style suit.
But the prevalence of easily-purchasable costumes really alters the meaning behind that phrase “where did you get your costume?”
20 years ago if somebody asked you that, if you didn’t make it yourself, you probably got it from a commissioner and you paid $$ for it. Or maybe you got it from a costume rental house or a theater’s yard sale. Back then, the question had undertones of “your costume is really nice, surely it must be professionally done, who made it?”
Now it has the undertone of “Did you pay $50 for that on amazon?”
It especially seems to be teens/younger cosplayers who think everybody buys their costumes. Which I understand because for their entire time in the cosplay community, buying costumes is easy, affordable and it’s what a lot of people do now.
A while back I got a comment on tiktok, “I love how you hand make all your costumes, it just shows you don’t need money to be happy!”
I love the sentiment but this is again a fundamental misunderstanding of the hobby that has been brought about by easily-purchasable costumes. These days, making a costume is FAR, FAR more expensive than buying a costume.
I could spend $45 on amazon for a Sailor Jupiter costume, or I could spend… well let’s see, I reckon I spent about $250 in materials/boots on my Sailor Jupiter costume I made in 2020. (I wish I had the fabric/shoe purchase receipts but I cleaned out old mail not too long ago – but I spent at least $40 on the white milliskin for the leotard alone.)
Plus do I count in the fact I already had a hairpiece? Already had a sewing machine and thread? Didn’t need to buy velcro/snaps because I already had them? What about the 3d printer and 3d filament? The silhouette for cutting the HTV stripes? Electricity used? Time?
If I made it for someone else and also had to account in my time I’d probably be charging $500 for that costume. How can you compete with a $45 amazon costume that looks perfectly nice?
I make my costumes not because it’s more affordable… it’s because I like to and because I’m picky. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I like making costumes more than I like wearing them sometimes.
So anyway support your local small business costume and prop makers over amazon if you’re able. You’ll get a quality project and help out fellow fans.
So that was mid-week old lady rant. Maybe I need a new tag for these. I do have a great blog header for old lady rants posts.