So I've been slowly gathering everything I need for a Joker costume for Halloween this year. I'm shooting for a cross between Heath Ledger's Joker if he was doing the Killing Joke storyline: messy makeup, scars, scraggly hair, and bad Hawaiian shirt. I'm even trying to stop biting my nails so that I can have some options in that department. I'm excited... even going so far as to make the shirt myself and dye the shorts and hat.
This dive into cosplay has me wondering why people do it.... it's a lot of work for little to no pay. The short answer is because Halloween is awesome. I love the energy, the kids, the candy.... Halloween is one of the coolest days ever.
Beyond that, cosplay has the same appeal as acting. I get to step outside myself and play pretend for a few hours. As I get closer and closer to ready, I find those points of intersection between myself and the character. In an election year, it's not hard to identify with an "agent of chaos" who believes everyone is just one bad day away from the edge. That linking in provides a certain freedom from the everyday routine. For a little bit, the cosplayer can be Marilyn instead of Norma Jean.
There's something of all of this in the writing process as well. Writing fiction allows me to indulge what its and viewpoints that I know are too dangerous to entertain by the light of day, too unstable for daily living.