Cosplay is about the Costume not the Flesh

People of color cosplay at fan conventions. It’s no secret. Unfortunately it doesn’t take a detective or diversity officer to see that they get flack for cosplaying “white” characters without painting their faces, white face. It doesn’t end there. White folk get flack for not getting the eyes on Asian character’s right. Others get flack because their body type doesn’t match the characters. And Other's still get flack for doing brown face or black face.

Don't get discouraged. Praise is abundant for even the most controversial cosplay. There is a lot of love dishing and flack hashing at these conventions. Maybe we can minimalize the latter.

Earlier I posted about actors of color playing typically white characters. Well the cosplay thing is completely different, because the function of the activity is different.It is an act of liberation, of relief from the constraints of a world that is not as free as our imaginations. Cosplay is the art of displaying a costume. Donning another identity for a moment. Playing by the rules of another world.
But its only a partial escape. The real world still matters. Norms still matter. People can feel offended.

Skin color is not a factor in costume play when it’s a human. unless its an alien or an orc skin color shouldn’t mater. Otherwise painting your face black, brown, or white is offensive. You can thank Minstrel Shows for that. Neither should eyes or body. The point of cosplay is manipulating costume materials not flesh.

So if we just focus on the costume and the act, and leave out the flesh as factors of good cosplay then we get rid of a major source of flack. Right?