By Kai-Hsuan Hsu

Semiotics of an Aesthetic Event:

Taiwan Cosplay Club Costume in Second Life

Introduction

My research focused on Taiwanese groups in Second Life notably the Taiwan Cosplay Club (TCC).

Taiwan Cosplay Club (TCC) held congregation around five o’clock in the Saturday morning (Pacific Standard Time) in SL (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mena Serena /153 /229/93)

Purpose

What are the motivation and background of players in reality versus their interpretation of their virtual self images

What characters are they imitating? Why did they choose it (meaning)? What is artful about their costume?

Concept

Manga-form of visual and narrative art contains a series of printed pictures and usually not with a lot of text.

Anime -the short form for animation and any animation are made in Japan has been recognized as Anime. A lot of anime movies or series of episodes are adapted from mangas

Fan culture -the active and feature in postmodern society, people are fans of pop culture and develop and produce a special cultural phenomenon of fan community (Chen, 2007)

Concept

Cosplay –combination of costume and play (or role-play). Fans wear detailed makeup and elaborate costumes that copy from their favorite anime, manga, and related video game characters, and imitate the poses and actions of these characters

Concept

Four elements of cosplay- (1) anime and manga cosplayers, (2) social settings, (3) character and role-playing, and (4) dress

Methodology

Three stages of research Date collection -participate in the congregation to

collect data by observing, note taking, photographing, and questioning the hosts of TCC in SL

Content analysis –Code my interviews into three categories: 1.participants’ reason for participating in cosplay in SL, 2. participants’ reference to manga/anime, 3.participants’ artful opinions about cosplay costumes in SL

Comparison analysis -Jin-shiow Chen research, a study of fan culture: Adolescent experiences with anime/manga doujinshi and cosplay in Taiwan (2007)

Context and Participants

Taiwan Cosplay Club (TCC) held congregation around five o’clock in the Saturday morning (Pacific Standard Time) in SL

Earlier congregation – Theme party

The place of TCC

The place of TCC-

Observation of Congregation

Content Analysis

code my interviews into three categories: 1) reason for participating in cosplay in SL 2) reference to manga/anime, 3) artful opinions about cosplay costumes in

SL.

Major Interview Questions:

What is your background in reality? Gender? Age? Occupation?

How long have you been using SL? Do you costume cosplay in reality? What characters are you imitating in SL? Why did you choose it (meaning)? How do you interpret your virtual images? Did you make your cosplay costume in SL

by yourself? What is artful about your costume?

Comparative Analysis of Two Interviews:

Tyranus Faith Amuro Earthboy

Background in reality College student, didn’t provide the gender Male, 40 years old, Businessman,

How long have been using SL

More than one year Around one year

Costume cosplay in reality No No

characters imitated Mercury Lamp(すいぎんとう ) in Rosen Maiden, (Manga, Doll Types) (Wilson, 2000)

model RX-78-2 Gundam (Cyborgs) (Wilson, 2000)

Why choose it Preference of appearance of characters Big fan of Gundam

Interpretation of virtual images in SL

Same personality as in reality Black Seraphim

make cosplay costume in SL by themself

Bought from other player in SL but learning and trying to create by her/himself

Bought from other players in SL

What is artful about the costume

Want the costume more delicate, need to be improve.

Real size as in Gundam anime, 40 meters.

The Gundam costume consists of geometric shapes, straight lines, and the main color is white with blue and red.

Tyranus Faith- Mercury Lamp, Character of Rosen Maiden

Costume in SL

Gothic Lolita style:•Cute young girl face•Dress with layers of lace and Cross. •Colors are dark•Elegant expression with mystery and death

Picture of Mercury Lamp

Tyranus Faith- Mercury Lamp, Character of Rosen Maiden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeoP8GV_uX4&feature=related

Video

Amuro Earthboy- Gundam model RX-78-2

Costume in SLPicture of Gundam RX-78-2

Amuro Earthboy- Gundam model RX-78-2

Mobil suit Gundam, a series of weapons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s39oTJqgkc

Video

Conclusions

1.What are the motivation and background of players in reality versus their interpretation of their virtual self images?

Both of my interviews show- Not cosplay in reality wearing of the manga/anime character costume in

SL was just the appearance of the virtual avatar. They didn’t act as the characters in SL .

They didn’t like to share their interpretation of themselves both in SL and reality. In the virtual world, people seemed not like to share the information of reality

Conclusions

2. What characters are they imitating?

Tyranus Faith -Mercury Lamp (すいぎんとう ), Character of Rosen Maiden.

Amuro Earthboy- Mobile Suit Gundam, model RX-78-2.

Conclusions

3. Why did they choose it (meaning)?

Tyranus Faith - the preference of Gothic Lolita style

Amuro Earthboy- His precious childhood

memory (Gundam was his idol since he was a kid. Model RX-78-2 was the first generation Gundam and also the first Gundam he saw )

Conclusions

4. What is artful about their costume? They both bought their costumes from

other players in SL. Even though the costume was bought form others, Tyranus Faith criticized that the costume was not delicate enough and need to be improved. Tyranus Faith was now learning to create the costume in SL by her/himself. The process of creating the costume dealt with colors, shapes, patterns/textures and so on.

Comparison with Jin-shiow Chen’s research

Jin-shiow Chen research, a study of fan culture: Adolescent experiences with anime/manga doujinshi and cosplay in Taiwan (2007)

Similarities: 1.most fan artist began to read manga at a very

young age 2. when the fans took the cosplay serious and

focused on making the costumes of manga/anime, they developed and improved their skills related to be a good doaplayer.

3. Some cosplayers were not into the story and they paid more attention to the visual images of the characters, same as Tyranus Faith.

Comparison with Jin-shiow Chen’s research

Difference In order to achieve success in a cosplay in

reality, it was important to choose a character that being similar to the cosplayers own physiques (Chen, 2007). But in SL, there was not necessary to concern about this issue because players could always adjust the virtual avatar to fit the characters.

Implications

More qualified interviews would help to find out clear patterns of contents.

“what are the motivation and background of players in reality versus their interpretation of their virtual self images?” should be adjusted to more effective.

Educators could use it as a media but the technology problem should be first concerned and improved. The technology requirement became the obstacle and limitation to learners.

Reference: Chen, J. S. (2007), A study of fan culture: Adolescent experiences with

anime/manga doujinshi and cosplay in Taiwan. Visual Arts Research. Vol. 33, No.1 (pp14-24). Champaign IL: the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Chen, J. S. (2003a). The comic/anime fan culture in Taiwan: with a focus on adolescents’ experiences. Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, 23,89-103.

Manifold, M. C. (2005), Life as teacher and teacher as life: art expressions of information-age youth. Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education. Vol.23 Summer 2005 (pp1-15).

Smith-Shank, D. (2004). Introduction. Semiotics and Visual Culture: Sights, Signs, and Significance. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Stokrocki, M (2004). A postmodern semiotic view of the carnivalesque in a masquerade parade. Semitics and Visual Culture: Sights, Signs, and Significance (pp56-62). Reston VA: National Art Education Association.

Winge, T. (2006), Costuming the imagination: origins of anime and manga cosplay. Mechademia 1: Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga (pp65-77). Minneapolis MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Wong, W. S. (2006), Globalizing manga: from Japan to Hong Kong and beyond. Mechademia 1: Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga (pp23-45). Minneapolis MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Wilson, B. (2000), Empire of signs revisited: Children's manga and the changing face of Japan. The cultural context: comparative studies of art education and children's drawings (pp160-178). Stockholm Institute of Education Press