Image Attribution: “Joshua Seaman – VISA 1500 – Assignment 2, Part A” by Joshua Seaman is licensed under CC0. (See interactive map)
Joshua Seaman (T00644678)
Assignment 2, Part A
October 18, 2021
VISA 1500 – Introduction to Visual Culture
This picture depicts an American cosplayer, costumer, model, and Internet personality named Linda Le, although she’s better known as her alias “Vampy.” In this picture, Linda is cosplaying as Psylocke, a superhero from the Marvel Comics franchise. Judging by the background, it appears that this picture was taken at a comic book convention, which means there were others there who were also cosplaying as comic book and/or video game characters. Linda has gained a large following online, with her Instagram account, @vampybitme, amassing over 387,000 followers. On her Instagram, you can find Linda cosplaying as various popular anime and comic book characters.
In an interview with MYX-Rated, Linda details how she first became interested in comic books and anime, “When I was younger it was hard because I actually didn’t have a lot of friends that were girls. I always grew up with a lot of like, guy toys. I have two brothers and one was heavily into anime. We used to go to this place and every week they would have new anime from Japan, so we would go there every week to buy the new anime and I fell in love.” Linda then goes on to explain how she got involved in cosplaying and how it is strange to think about her fame within the cosplay community, “In the beginning it was kind of awkward because I would go into the conventions and having people know my name was kind of weird. I guess geeking out every day is my normal thing and people like it. I just spilled out there and I got this growing number of people telling me that they enjoy my work, and going to the conventions I got to meet them and that was really cool because everyone is a real geek and they’re geeking out with each other.” This shows how a large component to Linda’s enjoyment of cosplaying is being around others who have similar interests in cosplaying and “geeking out.” She finds value in having a caring fandom that enjoys the work that she does in the cosplay community.
In a paper published by Jayme Rebecca Taylor, she describes how conventions are constructive to many people, “Conventions offer the perfect setting for open and public celebration of fandom by hosting various events related to fan interests in a short amount of time. Panels are a universal feature of anime conventions, and can provide affirmation that others share the fans’ love for a particular series or special interests” (p.17, 2009). Many cosplayers feel like outcasts in society because they do not conform to the dominant ideology of appearance and how they should dress. Therefore, having others around them who like to cosplay helps them to feel more included and accepted in a community of shared interests.
Works Cited
“MYX-Rated MYX TV Linda Le aka Vampy Interview.” YouTube, uploaded by VampyBitMeChannel, 21 Aug. 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=755cIonNFrQ.
Taylor, Jayme Rebecca. “Convention cosplay: Subversive potential in anime fandom.” The University of Oregon, Apr. 2009, https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/24/24/items/1.0067114.