21st Century Brontë #4 by Brontë Bettencourt

Cosplay 101

One of the topics that John King suggested I write about is cosplay. Like one of those suggestions that you receive multiple times that is meant to be subtle, but the repetition suggests otherwise?

But I’m not complaining. My lifestyle consists of unhealthy doses of Anime, comic book, and video game culture. I forget about the conclusions that an outsider looking in would draw.

The word “cosplay” derives from the words “costume” and “role-play,” meaning that there is more to the term than throwing on some makeup and a loose-fitting packaged outfit from Party City. You have to act the part, and as long as you are dressed as that specific character you have to portray the character as canon to the source material. A character can be pulled from an anime, videogame, TV, really anything that can be recognized when the outfit is donned and the cosplayer traverses the con grounds in accompanying swagger.

Disney Photoshoot, Metrocon 2015.

Over the years I’ve seen a huge ensemble of women dress as the varying cast members from Orange is the New Black, hair and makeup done, wearing the distinct ruddy orange uniforms. I’ve also seen an entire group of dudes cosplay a gender swapped version of the Sailor Scouts from Sailor Moon, adorning colored skinny pants and matching bowties.

Trust me when I say that for conventions, people go all out. Last Anime Festival Orlando, I saw a potted baby Groot from the movie Guardians of the Galaxy, covered head to foot in bark-esque make up. Baby Groot, arms swishing, scurried around in a ceramic-looking pot with wheels attached underneath, up and down the Artist Alley for a few hours. I was so enthralled that I asked for several pictures, to which Baby Groot nodded prior, and bowed after. This cosplayer never once used words, remaining true to the character.

There is a lot of time, careful planning, and trial and error that goes into debuting a cosplay. Some do buy premade school uniforms and battle outfits, some take the time to measure and sew every detail, and some remain in the middle, salvaging items from Goodwill to alter while constructing the parts one can’t buy or find.

My friend Grant forges masks out of leather, while Sammie alters parts from Ebay. I sometimes commission others to create the outfits for me since I can’t thread a needle without sticking my finger.

All of money, effort, time, and a freak out the night before a debut for… what exactly?

There are cosplay contests with prizes consisting of free photoshoots, money, and other tangible prizes.

But there are a percentage of con goers that don’t sign up for these contests. Sammie, Grant, and I don’t even watch the contests. We spend our time walking around the con, checking the wares and panels, and having pictures taken of us by others who recognize the creativity and execution of our portrayal.

My friend Sammie and I cosplaying Daria Morgendorffer and Jane Lane, respectively.

We are portraying characters from a show that we feel a personal connection to that others not only recognize, but can connect with us as well. In a mundane setting, unless someone is wearing an Avengers Logo or sporting some sort of keychain, I have no idea what that someone’s interests are.

I don’t want to just be like “Hey, you’re cool-looking, let’s have a conversation,” because we’re not in elementary school anymore. There is anxiety, the fear of rejection that hasn’t touched us until we get older. Being judged, being bullied, prejudices and social stigmas, all of this hasn’t psychologically chipped away at the mind yet, but definitely leaves a mark with age.

Evident from above, I am terrible at small talk.

But the moment I coat myself in grey paint, wear my hair long, pop in some fangs and wield a crimson axe bass at a con, people squeal, “You’re Marceline the Vampire Queen! I love Adventure Time!” And from there we can talk of the characters, their relationships, and all that has transpired from the now seven seasons of the show.

And the immersion of oneself into a fictional universe, creating a character and interpreting that character through clothes and mannerisms for others to understand, isn’t that one of the fundamental parts of writing? Not only are we telling a story through our interpretation of the character, but on a more personal level, portraying our feelings on the show through our care of the craft and attention to detail.

Being someone else, immersing ourselves in another personality, but through the medium of cosplay instead of written word: it’s yet another form of expression used to convey a story.

And well, it’s also really cool to have my picture taken by people who admire my finished product.

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Brontë Bettencourt (Episode 34) graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelors in English Creative Writing. When she’s not writing or working, she is a full time Dungeon Master and Youtube connoisseur.

21st Century Brontë #3 by Brontë Bettencourt

The Money Problem

I work a standard, grown-up 9-5 job, with an hour off for lunch. Management trusts me and my fellow workers to get our time-sensitive work done efficiently and accurately. There aren’t cameras monitoring us, nor a mechanized system with which we clock in and out every day.

I work for an unemployment office. There’s room to grow and improve, and if I want to, I could eventually become a hearing representative–to represent our clients at the assigned hearings. Or I could be an account executive.

My current responsibilities, you ask? I schedule hearings, send out mail, and coordinate information between the representative and the client. It’s pretty chill.

If one wanted to, one could make a satisfying career out of this totally relevant and reasonable job.

But then why does Daria Morgendorffer’s words resonate with me still?

From 1997-2001 on Mtv, the high schooler Daria responded to others and her environment with biting, deadpan sarcasm, critiquing the disappointing social constructs that ruled her world.

I didn’t really think about this quotation myself until after college.

Was there a point to attend college, accumulate over $30,000 in student debt, only to secure a job that doesn’t much utilize any of the skills I’ve learned? All the extracurricular activity, including running the English Honor Society and the Anime and Japanese Culture Club, and all my study and writing and examinations have resulted in a standard, 40-hour work week.

I had been told that classes, internships, and extracurricular are all stepping stones to careers in our field.

In a good story, the struggle leads to a meaningful climax, a resolution based on the particular, individual character of the hero. If I stay in this job and advance the ladder of achievement here, will I have made it by the standards of my family and friends? By my own standards?

If you’ve ever played The Sims, the game where you create characters and their surrounding environment, you’d be familiar with their goals. Aside from making sure that their basic human needs meters are filled, there are then wants and fears that each Sim has. These can consist of small hopes such as calling another Sim or buying a new television, and you earn different amounts of points depending on the emotional weight of that need being met. But each Sim has an overall major goal of their life. Do they want to raise 5 children? Be at the top of their career track? Sleep with 10 other Sims? If you can complete their major life goal, the meter that fills with Sims Points will turn stark white and freeze for the remainder of their life.

They are permanently happy. You have done it! They can pass on from their animated Sim life totally content.

Or not.

Maybe happiness is in the wanting, in the striving, in the questioning.

Writers are notorious for being unemployed, or struggling to find work to pay their bills. There is something deeply ironic that my job is about the determinations made about who will or will not receive unemployment benefits. By all rights, I should be a client more than an employee here.

For many writers, teaching pays the bills. Or almost pays the bills, the academic workplace relying more and more on poorly paid adjunct and lecturer positions. For me to go broke being a teacher, I would need to take out more loans to get an MFA, and then a PhD, in order to hope for teaching work.

Maybe this unemployment job is the perfect job for a writer. Maybe I can learn a lot here, and pay my bills, and find that elusive balance between writing and the rest of the necessities of life. Or maybe find happiness in the wanting, in the striving, in the questioning.

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Brontë Bettencourt (Episode 34) graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelors in English Creative Writing. When she’s not writing or working, she is a full time Dungeon Master and Youtube connoisseur.