Cosplaying: Literalists vs. Generalists
There are generally two sides of the spectrum when it comes to cosplaying – we’ll call them the “literalists” and the “generalists.” Literalists believe that every single detail needs to be perfect, and if your color pallet is a shade off, you’re doomed to cosplay hell for eternity. They’re usually the ones who view cosplaying as a serious craft for professionals. Generalists are their polar opposites; they don’t care about the little things as much and believe that as long as you’re close enough to the character, you’re perfectly acceptable to cosplay. They tend to cosplay for fun every now and again rather than as an occupation.
Who’s right? The world will never know. Does the character look more convincing when you have all of the little details in place? Definitely. Is cosplaying’s only purpose being as close to the original character as possible even if you die creating the piece in the process? No, it began as and remains a way for fans to express their love for something, however imperfect that love may be.
We’d like to say that we’re somewhere in the middle. On the side of the literalists, if you’re going to do a cosplay, do it right. Get in as many details as possible in your costume, even drawing in that freckle on their cheek, because it just makes the entire cosplay seem more real. If, however, lime green hair doesn’t look good on you no matter how hard you try (*cough* C2 *cough*), going a shade darker to make it look more natural isn’t the end of the world. We have to remember that anime characters aren’t always realistic, and oftentimes they have insane outfits and weird hairstyles full of obnoxious colors not appropriate for everyday life. We spoke in an earlier article about cosplaying what suits you – so if you’re black, you’ll stand out and look best cosplaying a black character. However, if you’ve decided to do a particular cosplay no matter what and there’s one aspect doesn’t quite look good on you, altering the color or style in minute ways to make it seem more natural is definitely something you should take into consideration.
