Discrimination?

August 23, 2008 by Aoshi_88

As you know, a week or two back, the Animax Youth Festival was held in 1Utama in Petaling Jaya. The following is something which we missed earlier but as it’s interesting, I’ve decided to put it here.

Day 1 here.

Day 2 entry here.

Day 3 entries here, here and here.

An article appeared in the Star which we missed just last Sunday. The link is here. Headline of the article is ‘Misunderstood Characters’.

MISUNDERSTOOD CHARACTERS

Young cosplayers insist that playing dress-up is good clean fun that encourages creativity.

 Anime Fest

FOR 21-year-old anime fan Jennifer Thum, who is also known by her alias Mintos, last weekend’s Animax Youth Festival (AYF) at 1 Utama shopping complex in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, was far more than just fun and games – it was a much-needed avenue for her to live out her passion. Jennifer is a huge fan of cosplay, the fan culture where people dress up and act out characters from Japanese animation or comics (anime/manga), and she had turned up for the AYF’s cosplay competition as Maka Alban from Soul Eater.

The cosplay competition was the highlight of the three-day festival organised by the TV channel, an event that offered young people a platform to showcase their talent and creativity, and have fun at the same time. Though Jennifer won the grand prize of RM1,000 for her amazingly accurate portrayal of Maka, she was still left lamenting the derision she and her fellow cosplayers got from the general public.

“A lot of people still have discrimination against us,” sighed Jennifer. “Even my parents found it hard to accept it at first because they felt it was a waste of time and money. But if you’re not a fan of anime or manga, I think you won’t understand why we do what we do.” Fellow cosplayer D’, who insisted on being referred to only by his alias, has had an even tougher time living out his zest for cosplay.

“I’d been called crazy and a freak when doing cosplay in the past. In fact, I’ve gotten used to people cursing and hurling insults at me when I’m in costume,” said D’, who turned up in an impressive costume as Lussuria from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. “What people don’t realise is that it’s something we really love and enjoy doing. It’s just like those other people who go for Idol competitions, they do it because singing is a passion for them, and this is our passion.”

And it’s an enthusiasm that’s obviously growing in Malaysia. The festival venue was full of cosplayers, many not even there for the competition but just to parade their home-made costumes and meet others just like themselves. As Jennifer said: “When we attend events like these, it’s usually to meet like-minded people. Because not many people understand us, these events are the only place where we really get to share our passion with everyone else.”

Her friend Jared Cheah, who was playing the character Stein from the anime of the same title, could not see why parents were reluctant to endorse such a “harmless and healthy activity”. “We’re basically doing handicraft when we make these costumes, right? I thought all parents like that!” Jared said cheekily. “We have a very healthy culture here – we don’t smoke, drink, do drugs or anything like that. So what’s bad about it?”

Indeed, the effort put into designing the costumes was so impressive that the cosplay competition easily drew the largest crowds at the festival, which had a lot more going on such as modelling, gaming and young entrepreneur contests. Jennifer’s award-winning costume, for example, took her a month and around RM300 to complete, as cosplayers usually make sure that every minute detail of the character is reproduced.

“I had to do research, source for the right materials, find out the best way to manufacture it…. When we go to the tailor, we know exactly what needs to be done. “It’s a long and challenging process, but it’s also one that I enjoy a lot. It’s like an art, in the sense that once you see the final result of your work, you get a great sense of satisfaction. 

Harassment Discrimination isn’t new. Back when anime/manga community was small in early 2000, it was extremely rare to find cosplayers going to events outside of conventions(which weren’t all that frequent till Comic Fiesta back in 2002). It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. But everyone is keen to jump on the cosplay bandwagon now, seeing as how it attracts people and more and more are keen to use it as a marketing tool(which is both good and bad, but that’s for another time). Recent events that included cosplay as a competition included the Hotlink HGAF event(Sg Wang) and the Sony PSP event(The Curve) to say the least.However, there is still a stigma attached to cosplay. The public in general is still wary of cosplayers who wear their costumes. As some characters from animes are very religiously provocative(Trinity Blood or Hellsing, where there is a strong theme in the occult and religion) or skimpily dressed(not going to mention), it would make for an uncomfortable sight. I’ve had the pleasure of being among a group of friends whereby we had dinner after the end of Comic Fiesta 2006 and were in Sunway Pyramid for a celebratory dinner. As my friend had blue dyed hair and was wearing clothes you wouldn’t normally see in Malaysia, it did attract some attention to say the least. However, he was not the only cosplayer in the group. Which naturally, attracted even more attention.

Have you ever been a victim of cosplay abuse? Ever been heckled at in public places like shopping malls and hotels? Drop us an email and let us know of your experiences. Share what happened and how you avoided the discrimination. Your valuable experience could save the next new cosplayer who just turned to the cosplay scene here in Malaysia.

You can send emails to aoshi_88[at]hotmail.com. All emails will be treated as P&C between the sender and receiver. No names will be published and names shall be changed in the next Shrine entry should they be published.

In keeping to the article, I have not replaced the word discrimination with harassment. While using discrimination makes it look blown out of proportion and harassment would be a much suitable word for what cosplayers face, i have kept to the article’s usage of terms.

Posted in Editorial