BREAKING THE STEREOTYPE
The cosplay community consists of people that are dedicated, creative, and unique. However, many outsiders to the community feel that cosplay members are nothing more than antisocial nerds and geeks, which is simply just a stereotype. Scott Duchesne address that “members of fandom are rendered as dysfunctional citizens by their various unattainable fantasies and that their labour within that community is for all intents and purposes pointless in terms of real contributions to their society, and to put right the notion that fandom is essentially homogeneous” (19). In other words, fandom in general is seen as all the same in the sense that it is just a bunch of people in costumes running around at some type of convention. Cosplay or costume play is the act of dressing up and taking on the role of a character from some fictional visual media such as characters from anime or science fiction. People who participate in the cosplay community display their character at different types of conventions that are held throughout the year. One stereotype of these types of conventions is that they are simply “teeming with costumed geeks” (Duchesne 19). The stereotype that anyone who participates in any fandom is essentially antisocial, especially the cosplay community, is completely false. In fact, “many members of fandom are married, have children, careers and mortgages and follow similar consumption patterns as mundanes” (Duchesne 19) proving that Cosplay members are just like everyone else.
It all comes to the conclusion that Cosplayers are not weird instead they are just different from the rest of society. In Derek Sivers TED Talk “Weird, or just different?” he explains that the assumptions someone may have may be completely opposite on the other side of the world. For example, in China doctors get paid every month that patients are healthy, not whenever a patient is sick. Doctors in China get paid based off if they are performing their job correctly and lose money if they are failing. Therefore the assumption that some may have about all doctors getting paid whenever a patient is sick is the complete opposite in China. The way in which doctors in China get paid might be seen as weird to people living in America and the same goes for citizens of China and how they might think America is weird for paying doctors whenever they are sick. Most people might assume that people who chose to spend an extensive amount of time, money, and effort just to dress up and take on the role of a character is weird. On the other hand, people who do spend an extensive amount of time, money, and effort just to take on the role of a character might have a whole different set of assumptions for people who are not a part of their community. In conclusion, it all comes down to the fact that the assumptions people have about others are always opposite on the end. Therefore what is weird to one person is normal to another and weird is simply just different.