To History or Not To History
As happens so often, I had an interesting conversation with capsulecorp_tm during a short road trip up this weekend. We got to talking about contests, as we so often do, and the rumor that the ICG may be moving forward the date limit for entries in the Historical Masquerade at Costume Con. Currently, the cut-off date is 1969, but there is apparently a growing desire to start treating costumes from the ‘70s and the ‘80s in an historical fashion.
Leaving aside for the moment how old that makes me feel, I have one big reservation.
It centers on the line between the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Masquerade and the Historical Masquerade. Granted, this pretty much only comes up at Costume Con, so it’s really only a concern once a year. But the fact remains; we let the ‘70s and ‘80s in there and we have to allow Stormtroopers in the Historical Masquerade. And that sort of ridiculousness is something that should definitely be avoided. Leaving aside all other concerns, this is the big one. And really, we have the issue now, it’s just not as obvious. The current cut-off date allows for Star Trek uniforms, after all. Just because no one does it doesn’t mean that we won’t get someone who will try.
The solution seems obvious; it’s the documentation, silly.
The distinction between the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Masquerade and the Historical Masquerade is the amount of research you need to do. You need to document your sources, plain and simple. But there is something of a loophole to that and that is the “Historically Inspired” category. In that category, as long as you have reference for a starting place, anything goes, pretty much. Thus, suddenly we have the possibility of a Wookie Elvis in the Historical Masquerade because, hey, they’re both from before the cut-off date.
The question becomes, then, how do you keep those sorts of shenanigans from happening? It seems to me that there are four possibilities.
1. Do away with the Historically Inspired category. This is an awfully draconian measure that I’m really not in favor of. It would solve the dilemma, yes. But it would do so by punishing everyone who does play by the intention of the rules.
2. Disallow media recreations in the Historical Masquerade. I’m not in favor of this, either. First of all, this too is a draconian measure. Second, there are plenty of legitimate historical methods with which you can treat these costumes. Besides, what would you do about movies like His Girl Friday or Casablanca, movies with a definite historical time period, to the eyes of us contemporaries.
3. Do nothing and assume that people will always be as level-headed and reasonable as they have been up to now. This one makes me nervous because it turns the judgment of where such a costume belongs into a very subjective thing. And with the ICG and Costume Con more rigorously courting the Anime cosplaying crowd, I don’t think that we can always count on people being reasonable. Part of the reason I don’t like competing at Anime cons much any more is because the crowds are patently unreasonable. If nothing is done and the cut-off date is, in fact, moved up, we will either end up with someone abusing the system or someone who feels arbitrarily excluded. Either way, bad feelings spring up for perfectly avoidable reasons. And if people are skeptical that it will happen, I will point out that it came very close to happening already in 2010 when an entry was told that their documentation was not good enough and had to be given extra time to go find more or be disqualified.
4. Automatically place media recreation costumes in the Historical Recreation category. This seems to be the best solution all around. It doesn’t punish people who want to do something historically inspired, yet forces a more rigorous treatment of the research than the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Masquerade requires. Besides that, if you’re doing a media recreation, you’re attempting to recreate a particular outfit which is the definition of the Historical Recreation category anyway. This solution is pretty much just the natural extension of an existing rules structure.
Even if the cut-off date isn't moved up, I think this should be looked at, regardless. The Historical Masquerade is a whole different kind of animal than most convention-going costumers are used to participating in. Consequently, it is a much smaller competition without as many entries. There are those who might look upon it as an opportunity to gain master status without having to compete as rigorously. The possibility for shenanigans under these circumstances is pretty high.
Sadly, there are those out there who attempt to game the system and trash competitions for their own benefit. So far, Costume Con and the ICG have a good track record of not having to deal with that kind of BS. But, they should be prepared for it. Having a plan in place for a scenario such as this would be a good idea, in the opinion of this humble and admittedly relatively new member.
Leaving aside for the moment how old that makes me feel, I have one big reservation.
It centers on the line between the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Masquerade and the Historical Masquerade. Granted, this pretty much only comes up at Costume Con, so it’s really only a concern once a year. But the fact remains; we let the ‘70s and ‘80s in there and we have to allow Stormtroopers in the Historical Masquerade. And that sort of ridiculousness is something that should definitely be avoided. Leaving aside all other concerns, this is the big one. And really, we have the issue now, it’s just not as obvious. The current cut-off date allows for Star Trek uniforms, after all. Just because no one does it doesn’t mean that we won’t get someone who will try.
The solution seems obvious; it’s the documentation, silly.
The distinction between the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Masquerade and the Historical Masquerade is the amount of research you need to do. You need to document your sources, plain and simple. But there is something of a loophole to that and that is the “Historically Inspired” category. In that category, as long as you have reference for a starting place, anything goes, pretty much. Thus, suddenly we have the possibility of a Wookie Elvis in the Historical Masquerade because, hey, they’re both from before the cut-off date.
The question becomes, then, how do you keep those sorts of shenanigans from happening? It seems to me that there are four possibilities.
1. Do away with the Historically Inspired category. This is an awfully draconian measure that I’m really not in favor of. It would solve the dilemma, yes. But it would do so by punishing everyone who does play by the intention of the rules.
2. Disallow media recreations in the Historical Masquerade. I’m not in favor of this, either. First of all, this too is a draconian measure. Second, there are plenty of legitimate historical methods with which you can treat these costumes. Besides, what would you do about movies like His Girl Friday or Casablanca, movies with a definite historical time period, to the eyes of us contemporaries.
3. Do nothing and assume that people will always be as level-headed and reasonable as they have been up to now. This one makes me nervous because it turns the judgment of where such a costume belongs into a very subjective thing. And with the ICG and Costume Con more rigorously courting the Anime cosplaying crowd, I don’t think that we can always count on people being reasonable. Part of the reason I don’t like competing at Anime cons much any more is because the crowds are patently unreasonable. If nothing is done and the cut-off date is, in fact, moved up, we will either end up with someone abusing the system or someone who feels arbitrarily excluded. Either way, bad feelings spring up for perfectly avoidable reasons. And if people are skeptical that it will happen, I will point out that it came very close to happening already in 2010 when an entry was told that their documentation was not good enough and had to be given extra time to go find more or be disqualified.
4. Automatically place media recreation costumes in the Historical Recreation category. This seems to be the best solution all around. It doesn’t punish people who want to do something historically inspired, yet forces a more rigorous treatment of the research than the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Masquerade requires. Besides that, if you’re doing a media recreation, you’re attempting to recreate a particular outfit which is the definition of the Historical Recreation category anyway. This solution is pretty much just the natural extension of an existing rules structure.
Even if the cut-off date isn't moved up, I think this should be looked at, regardless. The Historical Masquerade is a whole different kind of animal than most convention-going costumers are used to participating in. Consequently, it is a much smaller competition without as many entries. There are those who might look upon it as an opportunity to gain master status without having to compete as rigorously. The possibility for shenanigans under these circumstances is pretty high.
Sadly, there are those out there who attempt to game the system and trash competitions for their own benefit. So far, Costume Con and the ICG have a good track record of not having to deal with that kind of BS. But, they should be prepared for it. Having a plan in place for a scenario such as this would be a good idea, in the opinion of this humble and admittedly relatively new member.