Cosplay Changes Lives: Subverting Culture

Frenchy Lunning, PhD Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, takes a look at the culture of cosplayers. Clinical Psychologist Dr. Robin Rosenberg believes that people enjoy cosplaying because it allows them to break through societal norms that may otherwise limit what one is expected to do in a patriarchal society. Also, cosplay helps us to show that we are part of a group and to identify with “our people.”  Cosplayer Jill Pantozzi also shares her thoughts on why she enjoys cosplay and how the creation of the costume is such an important part of the exercise.

We’ve met a lot of cosplayers over the years and much of this seems to ring true. Many people enjoy taking on the persona of a character that they otherwise couldn’t express in their daily lives and there is certainly a feeling of community fandom when cosplayers come together to show off their ideas and handiwork.