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I'm Ella Hope B. Maraon, a student at MMCM in Management Accounting. I've spent most of my life abroad, in places like Kazahkstan, China, and even Thailand, but as a result I'm pretty out of touch with the local culture, including pop culture. My main hobby is reading, so as you can imagine I don't really get out much, but I do enjoy other creative hobbies like baking and knitting. I'm pretty excited about learning about the local pop cultures though, such as the music, the history, art, foods, and especially local cosplay! Unfortunately, my grasp on the local language isn't very good, so a lot of the more widely known medias aren't very accessible to me. I'll still try my best though!

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A younger me, on a street in China with my brother and mother

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Discuss (in one paragraph) one Philippine Pop Culture you would like to feature in your padlet. Add photo/s or other attachments.

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Discuss (in one paragraph) one Philippine Pop Culture you would like to feature in your padlet. Add photo/s or other attachments.

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My parents and I after a concert where I sang in the choir

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My immediate family and I, at the Shenzhen Maker Faire some years ago

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An image of a cosplay competition held at MMCM

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I've been mostly peripherally aware of cosplay, and even then it's been on the fringes of my thoughts. The concept isn't hard to grasp- someone sees a character from a piece of media they like, and dresses up as them. But it wasn't until just last year that I began to really take notice of it, and especially locally. Cosplay was something I was very removed from- it was something I really associated with stuff oversees, something for people who were richer than me or had more time or whatnot. (Ignore the fact that I literally spent all my time inside, reading, unless my parents dragged me out for a walk so my muscles wouldn't atrophy.) However, after watching a video by a cosplayer on YouTube, and it changed my perspective, but it wasn't until I happened across cosplayers in real life one day that I realized it was something I really could pay attention to. The community is far bigger than I thought, especially locally, and I find myself intrigued about my fellow countrymen who want to express themselves in this unique art form!

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Bridging Gaps: Cosplay through the lens of Semiotics

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Bridging Gaps: Cosplay through the lens of Semiotics

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Cosplay is all about having fun, enjoying yourself, showing your passion for your source material- feel-good stuff like that! However it's not the sort of thing that blends well with normal society. Cosplays can be of characters who look like they could be a customer at a local café, but can easily be of characters who could never be mistaken for an everyday person! It's usually pretty obvious when someone is cosplaying, which makes it so that if the wider world doesn't appreciate it, the cosplayer could get mocked for their passion, or worse. And in a highly traditional country like the Philippines, cosplay and even fan culture as a whole is pretty sparse. However, in recent years, it's gained traction here and is growing steadily, to the point where an interschool competition actually hosted a cosplay competition as a segment of a larger one. How exciting! But what changed?

This is where semiotics comes in! Semiotics deal with the study of language and signs and meanings. Language on its own already develops in very wild ways, and semiotics are used to grasp meaning, examine branching thoughts, and whatnot. The internet especially has such a fast-changing cultural landscape, and to quote a video game character, "they live and die by the meme." (Specifically I mean memetics, but for the internet, memes is also applicable.)

All this to say that cosplay can really connect the gaps left in the spaces between the real world and the digital one, therefore allowing a level of communication. By simply existing, a cosplayer is a walking, talking sign- a sign that here is someone who loved something enough to take it into the real world with them. It signals to others who recognize them that "hello! I'm here in the world! It's good to see you!". And with the depersonalization that happens on the internet, it's good to get a reminder that people on the internet... are people, at the end of the day. So often are we reminded that cosplay is, at the end of the day, a very niche hobby, within its own niche hobby. But if a real life person wearing their favorite character's clothes can remind someone to be kind, that they're not alone; that even if there are many reasons to sink into the background, there's someone out there who can grasp the courage to be the main character of their own story.

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A selfie of me at Khao Chi Chan, also known as Buddha Mountain

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A photo with a cosplayer I took at the mall, at a cosplay competition

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La Muerte from The Book of Life at the MMCM Cosplay Competition, my personal favorite outfit 

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Blair from Barbie: Princess Charm School at MMCM Cosplay Competition