Cosplay Killing Economy....WHAT?
Links: Why the rise in cosplay is a bad sign for US economy
Journalist Claims That the popularity of cosplay is a Sign of the US impending Financial Doom
This is kind of silly in my view, but also short sighted as the writer from the first article, James Pethokoukis, he pretty much believes that cosplayers are like the Japanese ones, which is kind of silly. No nations cosplayers are the same, the Japanese cosplayers are a class all their own. The fact he points out in the article that the young men and women in Japan are basically staying longer their parents with little to no job prospects and want to cosplay their life away, that's hardly even a case to be said. Job growth in any nation is hard no matter what and also the fact that the decrease of marriage and dating in the country is based on the cultural shifts that seem to be part of the culture now.
Comparing that to the US is kind of an insult if you ask me, considering that I have a job, I work close to forty hours a week, pay rent, bills and yes, save up for the occasional convention and also make wise decisions on investing for the future.
What annoys me is the fact that this writer seems to believe the only way we (cosplayers) can contribute is to put our hobby aside and just basically forget about it. We have jobs, we work, but he seems to believe that having a family and using this argument and throwing it in our face. Only way we can contribute is to have a bunch of brats and have to deal with it? Seriously, has this guy met some of the cosplayers who are older and have kids? Hell, my first real cosplay idol wasn't Yaya Han! This lady was hell in her thirties, cosplaying Neo-Queen Serenity and her daughter who was then six was Small Lady, they lived four years in Japan while her husband was in the armed forces, guess who he cosplayed as, Neo-King Endymion. This was a family of cosplayers, she now owns and runs a corset and seamtress business designing dresses for dancing, is she contributing to a growing cosplay economy?
The Fandoms actually contribute a lot to economy, take for example the Bronies, we have a growing number of men and women who love and adore the show. They will spend on average at least and I will say this is a guess around $25.00 at most of their hobbies. These people also have jobs, some of them work for good businesses, some even contribute to the community with their own musical talents. Some go so far as to make and maintain conventions and as well as becoming part of the animation business as animators and teachers of sorts.
You also have the same in the Anime fandom where you a huge amount of the older fans are actually big into businesses and sometimes working for companies that help economic boosts.
Family?
This comes up a lot and I seem to realize that I want to skip it, I'm engaged and also we're not planning to have children anytime soon. Does that make us bad for the US economy? Actually why should it matter at all what we do? I'm kind of wondering what the article brought up that aspect at all, that Cosplayers are bad for the economy in the US when we some of us are young and don't plan to be parents.
Actually many people shouldn't or don't want kids. I'm in agreement with the idea that maybe later, but not now. Economy has a lot to do with it, more for the fact that we blame a recession, no it is more that fact we have idiots out there who would rather send the jobs overseas or higher less than qualified individuals for less. That's the problem that many Cosplayers face, it is more that employers would rather hire someone who will end up failing and firing in the end.
I watched in the beginning as I worked at Walmart, who would stay on and who would go, I was watching and my boss actually told me he wanted me to stay. Seriously, working too hard and for hours I got, he made it evident that he needed me, and transferring me to a different store felt like a mistake.
What sucks is that many times the people who are great Cosplayers end up being the ones punished for trying. I see great Cosplayers for nearly a year go without a job, she lived in her parents house and they were attempting to get her to feel better by telling her to continue Cosplaying. This girl has one countless awards in my state, she is very pleasant and it has helped with her being depressed. She has a job now, not as great, but she gets paid at least more than most at times, but still, where she lived also mattered.
Fantasy Worlds?
All right, the writer, Peter was down on the idea of going into fantasy worlds, all right Mr. Depression, how about you go and tell a bunch of kids drawing dragons and unicorns to stop! Because guess what, it won't happen. As I read the article and realized his big issue is that cosplayers are pretending to be someone they're not, that it causes issues with what he believes is productivity for the US economy.
All right, so we supply money to authors who write novels, right, I don't see Anne Rice jumping up and down against cosplay for Lestat do you? In fact I have seen her celebrate it, in the past she was even heralded as inspiration for the vampires in the show, Forever Knight.
As I see it, if someone dresses up as something from Dracula or even from Game of Thrones, the truth is the reason we do this is simple, the challenge!
What's wrong with imagination? What is wrong with pointing out how much fun something in another world is?
I use fantasy as away to escape an everyday life, I use reading as a hobby and yes, I spend money and also time in a library, I contribute hundreds of dollars toward the purchase of books in a given year. Is that not part of the economy? I spend money to pay bills, I spend money to eat, I spend money on everything to live, and yet I have time to take a library card and check out books from a fantasy section. I'm not sure how this isn't contributing to the economy?
Everyone contributes even when they don't know it.
Journalist Claims That the popularity of cosplay is a Sign of the US impending Financial Doom
This is kind of silly in my view, but also short sighted as the writer from the first article, James Pethokoukis, he pretty much believes that cosplayers are like the Japanese ones, which is kind of silly. No nations cosplayers are the same, the Japanese cosplayers are a class all their own. The fact he points out in the article that the young men and women in Japan are basically staying longer their parents with little to no job prospects and want to cosplay their life away, that's hardly even a case to be said. Job growth in any nation is hard no matter what and also the fact that the decrease of marriage and dating in the country is based on the cultural shifts that seem to be part of the culture now.
Comparing that to the US is kind of an insult if you ask me, considering that I have a job, I work close to forty hours a week, pay rent, bills and yes, save up for the occasional convention and also make wise decisions on investing for the future.
What annoys me is the fact that this writer seems to believe the only way we (cosplayers) can contribute is to put our hobby aside and just basically forget about it. We have jobs, we work, but he seems to believe that having a family and using this argument and throwing it in our face. Only way we can contribute is to have a bunch of brats and have to deal with it? Seriously, has this guy met some of the cosplayers who are older and have kids? Hell, my first real cosplay idol wasn't Yaya Han! This lady was hell in her thirties, cosplaying Neo-Queen Serenity and her daughter who was then six was Small Lady, they lived four years in Japan while her husband was in the armed forces, guess who he cosplayed as, Neo-King Endymion. This was a family of cosplayers, she now owns and runs a corset and seamtress business designing dresses for dancing, is she contributing to a growing cosplay economy?
The fact that cosplayers are the focus of the article comes after Hatsume Miku from Vocaloid was singing on David Letterman, is this a mere after thought of the writer's distaste for the fact he can't understand the attraction? Actually no, this isn't from that reaction, this is more that fact that this person seems to believe that we squander time and effort in places he believes don't belong in our country. That's kind of a concept that he seems to live with and doesn't seem to realize the Fandoms contribute to a growing economical group, Anime, Fabric companies, and more.
Does anyone know how much I spend on a cosplay that I design from the drawing board of my mind to finished product? Actually it can cost anywhere from $74.00 to $100.00 give or take, its mostly because I go off simple and effective designs. I'm also designing my own style of clothing.
I know a gentleman who designs clothes and support his group as much as I can, sometimes contributing and wanting to buy his hoodies which are made to order, personalized for the person who wants it. Truthfully he does have increasing demand for such things because he puts a loving touch to it.
What I don't get is that fact that cosplay is a focus!
You also have the same in the Anime fandom where you a huge amount of the older fans are actually big into businesses and sometimes working for companies that help economic boosts.
Family?
This comes up a lot and I seem to realize that I want to skip it, I'm engaged and also we're not planning to have children anytime soon. Does that make us bad for the US economy? Actually why should it matter at all what we do? I'm kind of wondering what the article brought up that aspect at all, that Cosplayers are bad for the economy in the US when we some of us are young and don't plan to be parents.
Actually many people shouldn't or don't want kids. I'm in agreement with the idea that maybe later, but not now. Economy has a lot to do with it, more for the fact that we blame a recession, no it is more that fact we have idiots out there who would rather send the jobs overseas or higher less than qualified individuals for less. That's the problem that many Cosplayers face, it is more that employers would rather hire someone who will end up failing and firing in the end.
I watched in the beginning as I worked at Walmart, who would stay on and who would go, I was watching and my boss actually told me he wanted me to stay. Seriously, working too hard and for hours I got, he made it evident that he needed me, and transferring me to a different store felt like a mistake.
What sucks is that many times the people who are great Cosplayers end up being the ones punished for trying. I see great Cosplayers for nearly a year go without a job, she lived in her parents house and they were attempting to get her to feel better by telling her to continue Cosplaying. This girl has one countless awards in my state, she is very pleasant and it has helped with her being depressed. She has a job now, not as great, but she gets paid at least more than most at times, but still, where she lived also mattered.
Fantasy Worlds?
All right, the writer, Peter was down on the idea of going into fantasy worlds, all right Mr. Depression, how about you go and tell a bunch of kids drawing dragons and unicorns to stop! Because guess what, it won't happen. As I read the article and realized his big issue is that cosplayers are pretending to be someone they're not, that it causes issues with what he believes is productivity for the US economy.
All right, so we supply money to authors who write novels, right, I don't see Anne Rice jumping up and down against cosplay for Lestat do you? In fact I have seen her celebrate it, in the past she was even heralded as inspiration for the vampires in the show, Forever Knight.
As I see it, if someone dresses up as something from Dracula or even from Game of Thrones, the truth is the reason we do this is simple, the challenge!
What's wrong with imagination? What is wrong with pointing out how much fun something in another world is?
I use fantasy as away to escape an everyday life, I use reading as a hobby and yes, I spend money and also time in a library, I contribute hundreds of dollars toward the purchase of books in a given year. Is that not part of the economy? I spend money to pay bills, I spend money to eat, I spend money on everything to live, and yet I have time to take a library card and check out books from a fantasy section. I'm not sure how this isn't contributing to the economy?
Everyone contributes even when they don't know it.
Will Cosplay kill the US Economy?
NO! That's a big answer to that, no we won't kill it, we will somehow maim the idiot who writes stupid stuff like this to make a statement about how much he can't stand what he doesn't understand. What get me riled on this topic is that we contribute money to a growing Animation trend, we have grown from a small group to little over a millions of fans, even as young as 15. Yet are these new fans going to not contribute to a growing economy of Anime? Actually they will.
Will we not contribute the US economy? Actually we do contribute with everything we buy, the hotel industry, the computer industry, and the list goes on and on. Many of us have jobs, we contribute to growing trends in the economy. If someone were to out right ban anime or even cosplay, not only would it cripple some design studios, but also cause problems in the future.
Just a bit of a fact, Cosplay has also given rise to other designers of fashion who would otherwise go unknown, many fashionistas are born from the fandoms. We may see some fashion designers who come right out of the Cosplay groups, including from such groups like the Anime Fandom and so on.
Speaking as a Cosplayer, and also a person who does feel they need to voice this opinion. Killing the economy is the pessimism of people who fail to use their imagination and to adapt to new trends.
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