xoxo, Aca-fan Girl

[fortfrolic]

Ah, the viewing party. I used to co-host weekly "Lost" viewing parties, but eventually we gave them up as the show started going downhill and haven't yet managed to organize them since its revival. The point is, I'm attending a "Gossip Girl" season finale party this evening, complete with dress code, and it's making me want to expand my

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[fortfrolic]

Exactly- public/private space is another key axis I neglected to mention, so I'm glad you brought it up. Sure, us gals all got dressed up to watch GG tonight, but I can safely say that I haven't ever dressed up like Leia to watch "Empire" in my living room with other SW fans. Could what we did with GG tonight be considered "cosplay" by even the loosest definition? Probably not, in retrospect. This is due in part to the text in question- even if I ran out tomorrow, dyed my hair brown, copied Blair's outfit down to the Christian Louboutins, and so on, I don't think many would call it cosplay.

Recognizability is key, recognition by fellow fans is paramount. The spectacle of cosplay is embedded in any definition of it, certainly. I know we're not all comfortable with attaching value to spectrums of creativity, activity, etc., but this seems to be another spectrum that discussions of cosplay need to engage with. My private party tonight was the definition of a "safe" space, conventions are arguably safe spaces as well ("safe" is a poor placeholder, what I'm getting at is that these spaces understand/are tolerant of/encourage cosplay). Then we get into sitting on line for opening nights of films in costume (a liminal space- frequently covered by newsmedia as stigmatized spectacle), etc. Must mull this over further...

I also love your point about how this dovetails with the show's own indictment of "dressing up" (the "up" being literal as far as class is concerned...I'm thinking about Jenny Humphrey's arc this season...in addition to the masquerade you mentioned).