VISA 1500 – Cosplay Characters 2021

The woman who is cosplaying in this photo is named Yaya Han. She is a Chinese American cosplayer who has been active in the community for 22 years. According to her website, she has appeared in over 300 conventions, made over 400 costumes, and amassed more than 3 million followers. She is known to cosplay many different characters, but she is most known for dressing up as characters from video games and Japanese anime. In the attached photo, she is cosplaying a character named Chun Li who is featured in the game “Street Fighter.” She is posing in front of what appears to be water while wearing a blue and white homemade outfit.

It appears that this character, Chun Li, is very prevalent in the cosplay community. If you search up her name, you will find hundreds of other people who are either in a similar outfit or a different version that they created themselves. This means that she is a very well-known and well-liked character within the cosplay community.

There are a few things that her presenting as this character could signify. The first is that it signifies the increasing acceptance of women in video games. The character herself was the first female character to appear in Street Fighter which is significant because many characters in video games are male, and the cosplayer is portraying a video game character which breaks down the stereotype that women can’t be involved in or like video games. The second is that it shows her immersing herself in Asian culture. While looking through her social media, it is very clear that the majority of her outfits depict either traditional Chinese clothing or characters from Asian media. This shows that cosplay is significant to her because it allows her to keep in touch with her culture in a unique way.

Personally, I am not in the Street Fighter fanbase, but I can see there are good and bad attributes to this character. One of the positive attributes is that in the game, she is presented as a very muscular and strong character which is rarely seen in female representations in media. One of the negative attributes that she has is that she is very overly sexualized. One of my main critiques of this character’s image is one of constructed femininity: huge breasts with heavily accentuated cleavage, an hourglass-shaped body, and conventionally attractive features that are topped off with makeup. It is disappointing that, yet another female character is designed solely for sexual consumption. The hyper-sexualization of women in culture is not a new concept but in order to have effective representation more realistic bodies should be made that aren’t designed solely for male consumption.

The thing that Yaya Han may have found worthwhile sharing about herself as this character is representation. It shows that women can be involved in video games, and it also shows Asian women being more prevalent in both the cosplay community and the videogame community.

Works Cited

“Chun-Li.” Street Fighter Wiki. N.p., 2017. Web. 11 Oct. 2021.

Cramer, Rob. “10 of the Most Popular Cosplayers in the World.” TheRichest 15 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Oct. 2021.

Han, Yaya. “Yaya Han – Cosplay Galleries, Supplies, Ideas, Book…” Yaya Han. N.p., 2019. Web. 10 Oct. 2021.

Lamp, Sophia. “The Sexy Pikachu Effect: Empowerment and Objectification in Women Who Cosplay.” Eagle Scholar. N.p., 2018. Web. 11 Oct. 2021.

Lome, Jordan. “The Creative Empowerment of Body Positivity in the Cosplay Community.” Transformative Works and Cultures 22. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2021.