Gail Simone's Blog, page 838

I've never cosplayed before, and I've been considering it, but I was wondering- do people, when cosplaying, generally tend to try to stay in character, or do they usually just act like themselves?

I am really not an expert, but I think they mostly have an “on” and “off” switch. They are on when walking the floor. Or having photos taken, but maybe are off-duty when having lunch or going to the bathroom or whatever.

I have only met a few who stay in character at all times, and some are just themselves, but in costume.

That’s my experience but I am not really qualified. Again, cosplayers, help?

RE: WPCAPOC (way too many letters) I remember during a Dwayne McDuffie retrospective, someone mentioned that he hoped to one day see young, white fans cosplaying as Static because that would prove how popular the character was to different people.

Static is my son’s favorite superhero by miles, and Dwayne was always amazing to him (my son, I mean). I tried to get him to cosplay as Burnout once (he looks EXACTLY LIKE him from my run with Talent Caldwell, a complete coincidence), but I know he would a thousand times rather play Static.

That sounds like something Dwayne would say…he was no one’s patsy but he was very kind and patient with other people.

Re: White People cosplaying POC Chars - It's fine, generally, as long as there's no black/red/yellowfacing or anything legit offensive. That said, it's kinda like, "Why the 1 POC character in the sea of 239847489748974 white characters you can cosplay?" It

I can totally see that. I didn’t want to speak for everyone

Also, the people who give POC crap for playing white characters are wrong, I feel.

Re: White People cosplaying POC Chars - It's fine, generally, as long as there's no black/red/yellowfacing or anything legit offensive. That said, it's kinda like, "Why the 1 POC character in the sea of 239847489748974 white characters you can cosplay?" It

I can totally see that. I didn’t want to speak for everyone

Also, the people who give POC crap for playing white characters are wrong, I feel.

wide-worlds-joy:gailsimone:wayne-manor:This is a sad...

wide-worlds-joy:

gailsimone:

wayne-manor:

This is a sad truth.  As a freelancer, I fight with this mentality every day of my life. 

Didn’t you JUST post about getting stuff on a torrent site?

I’m confused.

True, I did.  About getting a TV show off that site.  I do buy movies on DVD, artwork that I use, pay for animal art, books in electronic format and music from artists I love.  I pay for a subscription to Netflix and to a service that shows anime. So if I could have seen the Doctor Who special in any of those, I would have.  It’s not trying to get around paying for the entertainment, and when it finally shows here in the states on broadcast TV (can’t get cable/satellite in my complex for some reason) I will watch it and the advertisements.

Reposting so people can see the poster’s clarification.

I am not judging the poster, I just saw a post about using torrent sites right next to one about paying for art and was confused.

I totally believe the poster’s clarification, for the record.

*shakes head*

wide-worlds-joy:

Love anon hate over a misunderstanding perpetuated by someone tumblr famous. 

It’s like Fox News making a claim that so-and-so is a pedophile  ruining their reputation, and putting the retraction/apology buried in their website where NO ONE is going to see it.

That’s not what I intended at ALL. I am not judging you, it’s your business. I just thought those two posts back to back were contradictory.

For the record, everyone, this lovely poster whom I like very much clarified their position on torrent sites in a separate post. That’s all.

I've seen several pictures of PoCs cosplaying as white characters, and generally they are accepted and encouraged. Do you think the same level of acceptance would be applied to white people cosplaying as PoC characters? I haven't seen it happen yet, mayb

The general sentiment seems to be (and I’m sure there are exceptions), that most cosplayers seem to be with people cosplaying characters outside their race. But for legitimate, obvious reasons, they are not okay with blackface, brownface, or yellowface make-up.

I’m sure it gets a little trickier with characters that specifically represent a culture…I would think people just need to be sensitive enough to know that a white person showing up in Native American headdress is going to be given the serious side-eye.

We’ve seen several times recently that some people online make ignorant comments when a POC plays a white character. Hopefully enough people will make it clear that that is completely unacceptable.

But I am not an expert.  Lots of people here know both issues of race and cosplaying better than I do. Maybe some would like to chime in?

I've seen several pictures of PoCs cosplaying as white characters, and generally they are accepted and encouraged. Do you think the same level of acceptance would be applied to white people cosplaying as PoC characters? I haven't seen it happen yet, mayb

The general sentiment seems to be (and I’m sure there are exceptions), that most cosplayers seem to be with people cosplaying characters outside their race. But for legitimate, obvious reasons, they are not okay with blackface, brownface, or yellowface make-up.

I’m sure it gets a little trickier with characters that specifically represent a culture…I would think people just need to be sensitive enough to know that a white person showing up in Native American headdress is going to be given the serious side-eye.

We’ve seen several times recently that some people online make ignorant comments when a POC plays a white character. Hopefully enough people will make it clear that that is completely unacceptable.

But I am not an expert.  Lots of people here know both issues of race and cosplaying better than I do. Maybe some would like to chime in?

wayne-manor:This is a sad truth. As a freelancer, I fight...

wayne-manor:

This is a sad truth.  As a freelancer, I fight with this mentality every day of my life. 

Didn’t you JUST post about getting stuff on a torrent site?

I’m confused.

Dear Gail, as an aspiring black writer, I'd love to create the next Batman, Superman, or Harry Potter.I sometimes worry that if I write a story with a black character as the lead, I might have a hard time selling it to a publisher. Also not sure if that wo

I am not going to pretend I have knowledge of all aspects of publishing and the media, but I know very few people who have ever had to sell the idea of a white person being ‘commercially viable,’ while the same can’t be said of characters of color.

I think in many cases, the creative team doesn’t click…recent comic books with POC leads, I think some of them failed might have failed because people didn’t find them compelling. But I’m also sure that many books with POC leads might have a different struggle in the marketplace.

However.

There is an antidote to this, and that is a combination of clout, name recognition, branding, and talent. If a book is exceptionally well-written, that can break down a great many walls. For a lot of people, Harry Potter was the first series of fantasy novels written by a woman that they had ever purchased. Quality of work and commitment still can make a difference. Not always, sometimes great, committed works still go nowhere. But it can help.

Then the other is clout. If you have built up a name for yourself, if your work is known and followed, you can make things happen that may be harder for a newbie writer. If Geoff Johns and Jim Lee decided to create a character of color to star in their own book, it would succeed.

My final thought is this, though. It may have a higher degree of difficulty to make a book with a non-white, or non-cis, or non-het lead and have it succeed. But it IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE.

And truthfully, I think it’s worth it. If the first one doesn’t succeed, do a second one. I think it’s absolutely worth it. I don’t know anything at all about what it’s like to be a writer of color, but I do know that writing diverse casts is important to the audience and to the writer, the importance of it can’t purely be measured in sales. It means something, it moves the needle, it shifts the gameboard.

Good luck, let me know how it turns out!

Edited to add: Ohmygil makes an excellent point that Image has had breakout POC stars since they started and quite a few just recently. But again, most of those were established creators, too. Definitely don’t let it hold you back!

Good luck!