How is modern cosplay different from the old masquerade?

Why is cosplay so popular?

At the beginning of the movement, cosplayers competed not so much in acting as in the ability to create a beautiful and authentic costume from improvised materials (we have a suitable proverb, from which you can make a candy). Today, by the way, this approach does not lose relevance, but not for everyone. There is a layer of "professional" cosplayers, with whom entire teams work: seamstresses, costumers, makeup artists and photographers. Of course, it all costs a lot, including props printed on a 3D printer as Cyberpunk 2077 Johnny Silverhand gun, and the result can serve as untwisted accounts in social networks and selling photos.

However, many true fans of the movement think that the economic background only harms the movement as a whole, because in the pursuit of the conjuncture, many begin to rely on the fact that just "swallow" the audience - the eroticism of clothing and scandalous images. For real cosplay fans, it's the image itself that counts. They put a piece of their soul into every costume and do it not for the money, but to reincarnate into their favorite character and merge with him, at least in the form of a game.

It is interesting that today the directions of "costume play" in the West and in the East are different, but it is not so much about the costumes themselves as it is about the internal relationships of the cosplayers. The Japanese movement, according to connoisseurs, is more demanding and tough. In the land of the rising sun, there have been cases where a person has been harassed for insulting a favorite character with an inappropriate figure or an ugly face.

In the United States, however, the basics of political correctness are so common that paying attention to a cosplayer's skin color or build is considered unacceptable. Everyone has the right to feel like a fairy, regardless of weight or age. American cosplayers love to compete in their art, but remain very friendly to each other.