Excerpt about love from my previous interview with Beijing costume player Francesa. Francesa’s photographs can be found at hybridre.deviantart.com/gallery
F=Francesca, or Hybridre, Cosplayer and Photographer
K=Katrien, Interviewer
C=Carol, Translator/Interviewer
C: Can I ask a question? Assuming that you and your lover are both cosplayers, when you cosplay two characters in love with each other, would you feel that you two are actually in love?
F: Actually I can’t completely split the real love from the love in fiction. Sometimes you feel that the character you are going to cosplay is so similar to yourself. And your partner is also cosplaying a character that is very similar to him. When you two are cosplaying, maybe you will feel that you are performing real life. It’s convincing.
K: If you and your partner can both accept the characters, it will be very powerful. For instance, when my current partner first met me, I was actually dressed up like the character Libidot (not a cosplay character) I was so worried that he would not like me as my real self, but it turned out to be ok. He just really liked me dressed up like that. If you two can accept each other’s characters and love each other, it can be very powerful.
F: I often wonder whether you like the person or you just like the character. It’s hard to say. The experience of playing roles is also influence by our relationship.
K: Maybe you start with cosplaying together, and then it moves into other things, and then everything. That’s life.
C: If your favorite character is cosplayed by someone that you don’t like, could you become very annoyed?
F: Of course. I can’t understand why you would cosplay that character if you are not so good. But we should at least respect them if they love the character too.
