Connecting to Character: A look at the Star Wars Hera Syndulla Jacket by Her Universe

Written by Daniel – In this post, I am going to be examining a jacket released by the “fangirl fashion” site Her Universe, founded by actress Ashley Eckstein. The jacket in question is inspired by Hera Syndulla and the jacket she wears as seen in the Disney+ series Ahsoka (Filoni, 2023-). This post is going to be examining Hera’s jacket and how it was adapted from onscreen to function as an item for the wardrobe. I’ll be looking in particular at how the Her Universe jacket connects the wearer with the onscreen character, permits a celebration of character, and also how the jacket connects fans to the wider source material of the Star Wars universe. The purpose of this post is not to try and sell you this jacket or give you any fashion gossip, rather I’m interested in the exploration of Star Wars, character analysis, and costume.

Cosplay Scholarship, Acafan Studies, and Cultural Studies – A Reflection

Written by Daniel Skentelbery – This post was originally a talk written for the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NWCDTP) Postgraduate Conference 2021. It is based on findings during my PhD research at Keele University. This talk was originally written to share my experiences with new PhD students and openly discuss experiences of change and adapting to change during one’s research. It was the aim of the talk to reassure new students that change is very much a part of the PhD process. I have decided to share my talk, to extend this message, and to offer an accurate summation of the findings of my PhD research.

Introduction

My PhD research is an investigation of the cosplay community. Cosplay is an abbreviation of costume and play; I have come to define cosplay as a process in which a fan dresses and performs as characters from popular film/TV/comics/games. Initially, my project sought to examine the ways in which cosplayers use cosplay to negotiate, question, reaffirm, or express gendered and sexual identities. Subjects around gender identity and expression is a growing field of study in cosplay scholarship, especially in the works of writers such as Bainbridge and Norris (2009, 2011), Gn (2011) and King (2013, 2016). This emerging area of study is hardly surprising given the visibility of certain gender play cosplay. Two of the most common forms of gender play in cosplay include Gender-bending and Crossplay, according to Aadahl gender-bending is the process of “taking a character who is canonically female and reimagining them as male, vice versa, or giving a genderless character gendered characteristics” (Aadahl, 2018). On the other hand, crossplay “is far less easy to spot. […] The hope here is to not stand out as a different gender, to present themselves as the gender of the character as seamlessly as possible” (Aadahl, 2018). Other forms of identity performance include Race-bending and Age-bending. Whilst little cosplay literature exists on race-bending it is a widely accepted term among cosplayers, referring to the process of cosplaying a character who is not of one’s own racial identity. Finally, age-bending is a term I have coined after observing just how common it is for cosplayers to perform as characters that are significantly older/younger than the cosplayer.

Quick thoughts on Halloween 2020 in Costumes

Written by Daniel – Some of you will know all too well that I’m fascinated by costumes, and every Halloween I give my thoughts on the most popular Halloween costumes (via Google Freightgeist). So here are some quick thoughts on this year’s most in demand costumes, they are as follows:

3. Harley Quinn: I’ve been curious over the results this year, in past years I have noticed that the popularity of costumes tend to run in line with popular cinema. With the success of ‘Birds of Prey’ at the start of this year (as well as the ongoing success of Animated Series ‘Harley Quinn’), this might offer an explanation to Harley Quinn’s return to being such a demanded costume (following last year’s dip at 15th most popular). I also find it interesting that Harley Quin’s ‘Suicide Squad’ outfit is the first (and main) search result. I suppose from one stance the costume is iconic, evocative of Debbie Harry’s 1970’s punk shoot. The simplicity of the costume makes it easy to mass produce. But from another stand point, it is Harley’s most overtly sexual costume (from a film which positions her in an abusive relationship), it’s just a shame, we don’t see more Birds of Prey or Animated series costumes.

2. Dinosaur: Of course, with Covid-19, a lot of media, namely cinema, has seen projects pushed back, or simply gone out of the radar from public imagination. But, streaming services haven’t left our side. As of August 2020, Netflix become the home of the Jurassic Park films, as well as introducing their own original animated series ‘Jurassic Park Camp Cretaceous’. The T-Rex costume vines/tick-tocks have seen dinosaur costumes remain relatively popular in the past. But, I think the revived visibility of Jurassic Park definitely has definitely been an influence on consumers costume purchases here.

1. Witch: Finally, in at number one is the Witch, last year we saw witches in at number 2, and I wasn’t really able to figure out why. Witches have long been popular within consumers imaginations for some years, with shows such as AHS (series 3), ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’, ‘Little Witch Academia’, ‘The Worst Witch’. It is a character which appeals to all age groups, inspiring artists and creatives throughout the year. The powerful magic of the witch is tempting. During these chaotic times, I think the figure of the witch is actually quite a hopeful figure of transformation. Given the history of witches, I think their costumes and the resurgence of the characters are highly political. Witches have become detached from their dark history, and become symbols of female power, which challenge the powers of misogynist leaders. Importantly Witches don’t work alone, witches are part of a coven and use their powers together to conjure change. 2020 needs Witches!

RAIDERS of the Lost Methodology

Written by Daniel Skentelbery – This is an adaptation of a talk I gave at the 12th Annual Post-Graduate Conference at Manchester Met University (04.03.2020), the theme of the conference was Roots and Reach placing a focus on development of methodologies and how we engage with other people inside and outside of academia. My talk ‘RAIDERS of the Lost Methodology’ looked at the development and ongoing revisions of my methodology, as I go about my NWCDTP funded PHD research at Keele University.

I’m in the second year of my research which is seeking to understand the ways in which cosplayers use costume play to navigate gendered and sexual identities. In my research I have incorporated a number of different approaches, however, over the course of my first year certain tensions began to arise, which encouraged me to reconsider my line of attack, and the subsequent write up of my findings. Here, I will reflect on what I’ve learnt from adapting my methodologies, and some of my wider opinions on academic convention more broadly. I hope to offer an encouraging reflection on the processes of change and revision, to do so I will be drawing on my academic hero Dr. Indiana Jones.

Dr. Jones is an important representation of academia. He is an unconventional glamorous depiction of academia, I will admit, but an important one. Just like Dr. Jones my adventure begins with me carefully weighing up how to grasp at the golden figurehead, or rather how I do measure my methodology. What are the best methods I can employ to best answer how cosplayers perform gender and sexuality in cosplay? I conclude upon three main approaches. First of all, I use theoretical and textual analysis drawing on gender and queer literature to discuss shifts in fan cultures and dominant western culture. Secondly, I use ethnographic semi-structured interviews, interviewing cosplayers to learn from a varied pool of unique experiences. Finally I also decide that I will be reflecting upon my own auto-ethnographic experiences attending conventions. As Dr. Jones swipes the golden idol and runs with it, I swipe for the perfect methodology and go for it. But, those familiar with Raiders will know that things do not quite work out for poor Indy.

“It’s Just a Costume! It’s Just a Costume!!”

Written by Daniel – In 2017, I wrote two dissertations for my undergraduate, one on cosplays of Harley Quinn and the other on interventionism and internationalism in Scooby-Doo! So this post is really just an ego trip, as I treat myself to combing my two interests in costume and Scooby-Doo! I’m curious about how costumes, fancy-dress, and cosplay posses narratives, and in taking on these narratives through our clothing we change ourselves into someone else, our identity transforms, and we encourage others to see us differently. It’s the narratives that these costumes posses which are used by their wearers to adapt how they’d conventionally like to be perceived. Such dress changes not only their appearance but how we ought to interact with them, and how they interact with everyone else. Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004) is a great jumping board for this discussion, because the costumes in this film have no wearers. In this film, it’s not just a costume, but the costumes are actually monsters!

Since 1969 Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang have been traveling the world unmasking monsters for who they really are: bitter business men and women trying to scare away competition, investors, locals, or members of the public. Now in its 50th year, the show continues to depict the Mystery Inc. Gang unmask those behaving as monsters. However, in Scooby-Doo 2 written by James Gunn who has gone on to write and direct The Guardians of the Galaxy films, this film sees in its opening minuets an exhibition of costumes from some of Scooby-Doo’s most iconic mysteries. But the exhibition launch is cut short as the costumes are stolen from the gang, only to be brought back to life by an evil masked figure, who wants to see Mystery Inc. come to an end. In this film the monsters are no longer frail bitter humans to be unmasked but they embody the supernatural and the otherworldly, the codes and signs sewn in to fabric are brought into the real material world.  

The Planets: Holst, Anime Fans and the Solar System

Written by Daniel – If you haven’t read my post ‘Protecting Earth-Chan: Anthropomorphism of Astronomical Objects in Fan Art and Bodies‘, I recommend that you check it out. I’ll be continuing my exploration of the planetary ‘Chans’. These ‘Chans’ depict our solar system, the characters are original characters (meaning that they do not come from any existing copyrighted franchise, rather a love for an artistic style combined with a love for astronomical objects and bodies). The characters are inspired by a tweet posted by Trinimomortal, who proposed the idea of a show in which all the characters are the planets anthromorphised as school girls. The idea blew up among anime online communities, inspiring a hole host of fan art, videos and cosplay. What is perhaps most interesting about this community (from my perspective at least) is how these fan creators have agreed upon a consistent style, common narratives, and will see characters evolve and relationships change in response to news stories and scientific findings of the solar system and the universe beyond.

This post is an adaptation of the talk ‘Astronomical Objects and Bodies’ which I presented at Keele University’s ‘Creative and Applied Research Methods’ conference (2019). The purpose of the talk was to show some of the connections between the arts and the sciences, and how fan artists might show academics new methods of engaging with audiences. I open by looking at Gustav Holst’s The Planets, before swiftly moving onto the creativity of anime fans, arguing these fans to be a much more productive and culturally important discussion of the solar system, how we look after our own planet, as well as how we express ourselves to each other.

Composed between 1914-16, Gustav Holst’s The Planets is a suite influenced by astrological mythology rather than astronomical sciences. Earlier this year, Brian Cox hosted the centenary performance of The Planets. In this performance Cox discussed how our current understandings of our solar system and the universe might still be found in Holst’s work. Cox asks how we might interpret The Planets differently to how it was originally written, to investigate what discussions can be had between science and art? I intend to do similarly here, but instead of looking to the high art of Holst, I propose that fan communities are an important cite engaging with such discussion. So let’s begin where Holst does, on the Red Planet. The planet of war. The planet Mars.

Protecting Earth-Chan: Anthropomorphism of Astronomical Objects in Fan Art and Cosplay

Written by Daniel – In this post I’ll be looking at how fan artists and cosplayers have gone about creating and recreating characters; Earth-Chan (Planet Earth), Oppy (The Opportunity Mars Rover), and Black Hole-Chan (First Photographed Black Hole). This post will delve into the history of how anthropomorphic fan interpretive characters have evolved alongside scientific discoveries, and asking how are they getting people to engage with environmental sciences and astronomy, or even if they can…

These characters are the creation of anime and manga fans. This is immediately indicated in the consistent style the characters have been drawn in between different artists (mimicking the traditional style of Japanese comics and animation). Furthermore the lexis ‘chan’ is a Japanese title meaning ‘child’ or ‘small’ in English. It is a common title used in anime and manga, particularly of the ‘school-girl’ or ‘maid’ genres, the common usage of the title has subsequently resulted in western audiences incorporating the term within their own fan art and sub-cultural lexicon. (Artists are credited throughout, a full list is included at the end of the article).

From a galaxy far, far away: A Thought Piece on Everyday-Cosplay

Written by Daniel – The clothing brand ‘Her Universe’ have announced a new line of Star Wars themed clothing called ‘Sisters of the Force’ to be unveiled at Star Wars Celebration 2019. Founded by Ashley Eckstein (voice of Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels) nearly a decade ago, one of the companies first line of clothing was a Star Wars series of apparel. This featured many conventional t-shirts and dresses with Star Wars iconography, but it also contained a few more unique pieces, which at first glance appeared to be replications of costumes from the films and TV animated series. But, on closer inspection had subtle differences designed for everyday wear, such clothing has become known as ‘Everyday-Cosplay’ or ‘Casual Cosplay’.

Her Universe – Padmé Lakeside Dress

Her Universe – Sabine Wren

Her Universe – Rose Tico

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a PhD student specialising in cosplay, in particular looking how we can use costumes to explore our own identities and communicate with those around us. But, what is everyday-cosplay, and how does it differ from cosplay? Where cosplay is the costumed performance of a character (from popular media), everyday-cosplay is typical the act of wearing clothes which evoke a popular character. It’s not uncommon to find lists of clothing on ‘Pinterest’ featuring collections of clothes (often from numerous different brands) which compose an outfit evocative of a character. For example, ‘Disneybound’ have produced numerous ‘Pintrest’ collages of clothing one could wear, so that the individual may evoke some of their favourite characters through their everyday clothing. 

Everyday-cosplay is a type of dress which goes beyond wearing a logo on a t-shirt. It implies a sense of creative expression among fan communities, but also a means of expressing ones-self. Cosplay is momentary, a performance which is ‘put on’ for an afternoon, or a photo-shoot, before the participant returns to their usual self. Every-day cosplay however implies a deep connection between the individual and the fictional character. The reasons for which will be many, including but not limited to the desire to try and be more like someone you admire, to express who you really are, or perhaps simply because you feel an affinity with the character, as if they are like you. Everyday-cosplay might be best seen as a form of adaptation, a means of re-imagining a character (or characters), to re-tell popular characters stories within a new medium, this new medium being the practicalities of real life. These adaptations, much in the same spirit to cosplay allow fans to get creative, to mix an match clothes, or even to design and produce their own clothing which evokes their favourite characters. We can just look on ‘Etsy’ to see a whole host of indie clothes manufacturers who have created their own everyday-cosplays for fellow fans to purchase. Such as: a Chewbacca dress by CrystalCottageCrafts, a Padmé Amidala running top by SundayMorningActive, or a Han Solo inspired skirt by RushHourCosplays.