Photo: A 28-year-old cosplaying a 19-year-old while talking about cosplay and media representation.
Some years back, I felt like cosplay was a bit of an embarrassing hobby. That it was something I wasnāt actually supposed to be doing, because I was too old, because I wasnāt going anywhere with it, because there were so many other productive things I should spend my time doing. I basically felt like cosplay was embarrassing in the same way that having the same old ratty teddy bear in your bed for the last 25 years because you canāt sleep without it would be. Sort of endearing, but still a bit embarrassing. And definitely not appropriate for a Grown Up.
Now, I donāt know what has changed, exactly, but Iāve realised cosplay isnāt actually all that embarrassing. No more than, say, being 28 and still playing the guitar, or playing football, or painting as a hobby would be.
In a way I sometimes feel like there isnāt supposed to be room for creativity in your life after you turn 20. That once youāre out of your teens, youāre supposed to settle down and become the most stereotypical text-book version of an adult you can possibly think of - velour track suit, mortgage, steady job and a family of your own included.
That if you are over the age of twenty and still spend your time doing something creative, the people in your life will start to ask you questions. Like āwhere are you going with this?ā Or ācouldnāt you turn this into a job?ā
Itās almost like creativity should always be monetised. Like itās a fun thing to do when youāre younger, but a waste of time later in life, unless you find a way to financially benefit from it. Like youāre only allowed to be and do one thing as an adult, and that thing is usually your career.
All of the above is rubbish, of course. Creativity has a place in everyoneās lives, on all stages of life. The thing about creativity is that itās so much more than just making things and potentially sometimes thinking outside the box a little. Itās a part of who you are.
Despite what a whole bunch of dodgy self-help books may say, I donāt think creativity, in its essence, can actually be learned. You can learn to DO creative things, can learn TO create, but the passion for it, the drive, the actual need to make something new? That has to be somewhere in you to begin with. And burying that passion somewhere within you, just because youāre supposed to be an āadultā, is one of the most tragic things anyone could possibly do.
So yes, Iām nearing thirty, and people might look at me funny when I tell them I cosplay. Co-workers may think Iām nuts when I post the occasional cosplay picture on my personal profile. But so what.
This hobby makes me happy. Making things makes me happy. Being a fan of things makes me happy.
And Iām pretty sure being happy is what most people are trying to do all the time anyway.
- Elina
(Previously published on Facebook 23 June 2015)
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