Being able to afford to costume and go to conventions to show off your costume without having a full time job to pay for it? Someone needs to write an article on how that's done.
American Enterprise Institute Fellow Blames Cosplay For Poor Economy
- Thread starter roseofbattle
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I see it as a case where the fashion market needs to wake up. Cosplay-inspired casual wear, anyone?
I'm with him. I go to conventions and I've heard people talk about what it took to make so-and-so.Micalas said:
The first thing is that, yeah, this can get expensive. And the more complicated it is, the more cost there will be.
Second, in order to be able to MAKE any of this stuff, the person must be able to sew and craft. This requires skill. Skills like these are marketable, since they can produce. Some people sell arts and crafts for a living. Some of them even do so at the conventions. This, to me, sounds like a stable economic system.
THIRD, just as an aside, it's not like none of these people hold jobs. In fact, this kind of action acts as a stress-reliever FROM a job. Everyone has a cut-off valve somewhere that they let the steam out with. If that includes creating a life-sized THWOMP and hauling it around a convention center (Actually happened.), then so be it.
Wow, DANGER- MUST SILENCE just demolished this thread. Bravo.
Coincidentally, I first saw this article via twitter from former Escapist's Editor-in-Chief Susan Arendt. Yeah, a lot of people in the thread were not happy. A lot of the article is a gross generalization of many things, but again the previous poster nailed it.
Coincidentally, I first saw this article via twitter from former Escapist's Editor-in-Chief Susan Arendt. Yeah, a lot of people in the thread were not happy. A lot of the article is a gross generalization of many things, but again the previous poster nailed it.
As usual I came here to talk but you took every word and more out of my mouth. Fantastic post, I guess there are things you just can't learn by simply speaking the language. One of these days I might save up enough money to get a start and actually spend some time living in Japan.DANGER- MUST SILENCE said:
This is the sum of what I got out of the article as well. I don't entirely believe that it is a valid assertion. My experiences with Cosplayers is that they are highly motivated and intelligent. Most of the really good ones make a living off of cosplay. They are not the type of people that are trying to escape reality.Defective_Detective said:
Actually that's a bit backwards. Westerners are much more likely to consider anime "kids' stuff" (hence the Animation Age Ghetto trope), but people obsessing over them are usually only considered mildly weird. In Japan, anime is much less age-restricted, with there being shows that are actually aimed to young-adult and adult audiences shown in prime time slots, however they are also much more conformist and because of that they treat people obsessed with them (and thus sticking out of the line) much more harshly.Darth_Payn said:
Case in point, the "Western Otaku" is usually depicted as weird and annoying but ultimately harmless cosplayer/weeaboo, while "Japanese Otaku" are usually depicted as fat, ugly perverts leeching on others to fuel their hobby and destroying society from within. Kind of a big difference.
As for the actual article, it should be saved, printed outs and placed wholesale into the dictionary right under "Click Bait" as the prime example. I literally only clicked on the headline because I was baffled by how an economist could say something so stupid, and then it turns out they said the exact opposite. Be ashamed Escapist, be very ashamed. >:|
It's better to say that it's the cause?Kenjitsuka said:True. But a site called "The Escapist" might not want to advertise that escapism is a sign of bad economy.Defective_Detective said:
Still shitty journalism though, especially after all the nonsense we had a few weeks back surrounding that sort of thing.Kenjitsuka said:True. But a site called "The Escapist" might not want to advertise that escapism is a sign of bad economy.
As for that lad himself, it's just another case of mistaking correlation with causation. Not all that interesting. Pretty big clickbait article. Made a misplay here Escapist folks.
Oh I wouldn't say the headline is misleading, it's straight-up bullshit.Defective_Detective said:
This isn't even a correlation =/= causality mistake. The title says cosplay is cause when their post and the actual article both very clearly take the position it's an effect. Near as I can tell nobody is arguing the position claimed by the title of this thread.
2 words for that: bull-fucking-shit.
So the headline says "American Enterprise Institute Fellow Blames Cosplay For Poor Economy".
But in the article the author being quoted says, "It's hard to blame them. After all, it's not that these young adults in Japan are resisting becoming productive members of the economy - it's that there just aren't enough opportunities for them."
Thus he expressly does *NOT* blame them - he even uses the actual word 'blame' in a manner utterly inconsistent with what the headline is.
Am I missing something here? Because it feels like I'm missing something here.
But in the article the author being quoted says, "It's hard to blame them. After all, it's not that these young adults in Japan are resisting becoming productive members of the economy - it's that there just aren't enough opportunities for them."
Thus he expressly does *NOT* blame them - he even uses the actual word 'blame' in a manner utterly inconsistent with what the headline is.
Am I missing something here? Because it feels like I'm missing something here.
The author of this article is actually stating something completely opposite to what the headline says. He is blaming the poor economy for the rise of cosplay and escapism. Which probably isn't centrally accurate either. I don't cosplay, but even if the economy was thriving I'd still play games and what not to escape because my life is less than ideal and I don't know how to fix it.
Interesting article, I like how it acknowledges that these arent just layabout no good kids, that they're from all ranges of life, and many are actively seeking non-existent jobs. Nice to see someone attempting to relate to something they dont partake, rather than hurl blame at those young people, and their darned time wasting.
Shame about the blatantly clickbait terrible article title which is stating the exact opposite of the content.
Shame about the blatantly clickbait terrible article title which is stating the exact opposite of the content.
"any rise in people fleeing reality for fantasy suggests problems with our reality."
Ya don't fucking say
I swear the 'experts' are getting dumber every fucking time they say something.
Ya don't fucking say
I swear the 'experts' are getting dumber every fucking time they say something.
Dreadful clickbait headline. I expect better from you, Escapist.
Now, for Gen Y university is both expensive and takes twice as long because declining entry standards have opened the floodgates and made getting a Masters compulsory if you want to stand out. Full time employment programs for graduates have been shredded, and most employers prefer to offer short contracts or employ casual labour so they don't have to pay the full-time loading and sick leave, as well as being able to dismiss people at the drop of a hat. On top of this, negative gearing has killed the property market for young first home buyers, leading to people who are stuck renting for their whole lives. Thus, Gen Y tends to be much more transient, and many of them display little interest in climbing the corporate ladder and instead look to following their dreams of being a chef, yoga teacher, fitness instructor etc. The radio and papers are filled with grumpy Baby Boomers ranting about how they won't hire Australian Gen Y (Gen Y Bother, they call them) because they don't show any 'loyalty', which most businesses refuse to show them. There was a court case here recently won by a few supermarket employees who had worked at the same place for THIRTEEN years and had still not even been made permanent employees.
So it's not so surprising that this kind of thing is happening the world over as the corporate system screws people out of an existence and emerging generations prefer to take their chances elsewhere.
Very interesting to read, kudos. I must say, I can see shades of similarity with what's going on at present in Australia. The old paradigm for Baby Boomers was free education for anyone who could work, followed by entry to the workplace where you took on a solid 40 hour week and worked your way up without demanding too much from your employer, especially if you were a woman with ambitions of having children. Then as you got closer to retirement you would take advantage of the government's negative gearing of investment property to build a portfolio and retire very wealthy.DANGER- MUST SILENCE said:
Now, for Gen Y university is both expensive and takes twice as long because declining entry standards have opened the floodgates and made getting a Masters compulsory if you want to stand out. Full time employment programs for graduates have been shredded, and most employers prefer to offer short contracts or employ casual labour so they don't have to pay the full-time loading and sick leave, as well as being able to dismiss people at the drop of a hat. On top of this, negative gearing has killed the property market for young first home buyers, leading to people who are stuck renting for their whole lives. Thus, Gen Y tends to be much more transient, and many of them display little interest in climbing the corporate ladder and instead look to following their dreams of being a chef, yoga teacher, fitness instructor etc. The radio and papers are filled with grumpy Baby Boomers ranting about how they won't hire Australian Gen Y (Gen Y Bother, they call them) because they don't show any 'loyalty', which most businesses refuse to show them. There was a court case here recently won by a few supermarket employees who had worked at the same place for THIRTEEN years and had still not even been made permanent employees.
So it's not so surprising that this kind of thing is happening the world over as the corporate system screws people out of an existence and emerging generations prefer to take their chances elsewhere.