Rosie has been all over the world but Comic-Con was a new ad frightening experience. See Rosie as she meets all sorts of strange creatures at Comic-Con 2009.
The first Halloween website I made in 1999 had this list of costumes.
It is still fun to view it, even if the examples are so 90s! It is meant to just
get you thinking and does not exhaust the possibilities!
Advertising
Count Chocula
dancing baby
Jolly Green Giant
Mr. Clean
Pillsbury Doughboy
Ring-around-the-collar
Ronald McDonald
Rice Krispies: Snap, Crackle and Pop
Tony the Tiger
Trix rabbit
Appliances/Electronics
ipod
boombox
camera
clock
computer
dishwasher
jukebox
oven
refrigerator
stereo speakers
tape recorder
telephone
television
wide screen tv
video camera
Art and Painting
Andy Warhol
art palette
art student
Salvador Dali
Impressionist painting
Frida Kahlo
a landscape
Rene Magritte
Michelangelo
paint brush
Pablo Picasso
a Picasso portrait
Diego Rivera
Van Gogh
Venus de Milo
Athletes
baseball player
boxer
professional wrestler
basketball player
football player
field hockey player
golfer
Tiger Woods
ice hockey player
race car driver
runner
synchronized swimmers
tennis player
Biology
cell
germ
microscope
virus
swine flu
Books
almanac
atlas
best sellers
bible
braille book
comic book
cookbook
Julia Child
encyclopedia
etiquette book
mystery
Nancy Drew mystery
romance novel cover
sex manual
Cartoons/Comics
Disney cartoon characters
Betty Boop
Broom Hilda
Daffy Duck
Dick Tracy
Donald Duck
Flintstones
Fred
Wilma
Betty
Barney
Pebbles
Bam-Bam
Dino
Garfield
Goofy
Gumby and Pokey
Jessica from Roger Rabbit
Jetsons
Martin the Martian
Mickey and Minnie Mouse
Mighty Mouse
Mr. Bill
Mr. Magoo
Odey
Opus
Peanuts Characters
Charlie Brown
Linus
Lucy
Schroeder
Snoopy
Popeye & Olive Oyl & Brutus
Road Runner
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Boris
Bullwinkle
Dudley Do-right
Mr. Peabody
Natasha
Nell
Rocky
Snidely Whiplash
Roger Rabbit
Sylvester the Cat
Tasmanian Devil
Tweetie Bird
Wil E Coyote
Woody Woodpecker*
Circus Freaks
alligator boy/girl
bearded lady
electric man/woman
fire-eater
fortune teller
half-man/half-woman
hermaphrodite
knife thrower
Siamese twins
sword swallower
tatooed man or woman
two-headed man or woman
wild man from Borneo
Cross-Dressing
Cross-dressing involves taking on a persona from the opposite sex.
It always seems more dramatic when men do it, but for women it can
really widen your range of costume possibilities.
Current Events
Any characters or event in news especially scandals, crimes and disasters.
Disney Characters
101 Dalmations
Alladin
Bambi
Beauty & the Beast
Buzz Lightyear
Cinderella
Donald & Daisy Duck
Dumbo
Esmerelda
Gepetto
Goofy
Hercules
Hunchback
Jasmine
Jiminy Cricket
Lady & the Tramp
Little Mermaid
Mary Poppins
Mickey & Minnie Mouse
Peter Pan
Pinocchio
Pluto
Rocketeer
Lion King: Simba
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Bashful
Dopey
Doc
Grumpy
Happy
Sleepy
Sneezy
Tarzan & Jane
Woody
Fantasy/Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes
Alice in Wonderland
Alice
Cheshire Cat
Mad Hatter
March Hare
playing cards
Queen of Hearts
Tweedledee/dum
Alladin and genie
angel
Cinderella
clowns
Cupid
Davy Crockett
dragon
elf
Fairy Godmother/father
Hansel and Gretel
Jack and Jill
Little Bo Peep
Little Miss Muffet
Little Red Riding Hood
Mary had a little lamb
mermaid
Mother Goose
Old Mother Hubbard
Old Woman in Shoe
Paul Bunyan
Peter Pan
Captain Hook
Michael
Tinker Bell
Wendy
pirate
satyrs
wizard
Furniture
chair
coat rack
couch
hatrack
lamp
rug
sink
toilet
History
Marie Antoinette
Lizzie Borden
Julius Caesar
Winston Churchill
Cleopatra
Christopher Columbus
Leonardo Da Vinci
Thomas Edison
Ben Franklin
Sigmund Freud
Ghandi
Henry VIII
Adolph Hitler
Joan of Arc
Ghengis Khan
Lawrence of Arabia
Lee Harvey Oswald
Abe Lincoln
Karl Marx
medieval knight
Mussolini
Napoleon
Pilgrims
Roman gladiator
Betsy Ross Teddy Roosevelt
Thomas Jefferson
troubador
Pancho Villa
George Washington
Zapata
Literature /Authors
Ahab (Moby Dick)
Emily Dickenson
Ernest Hemingway
Hamlet
Hester Prin (Scarlet Letter)
Huck Finn
Lady Macbeth
Lady of Chaillot
Macbeth
Mark Twain
Robinson Crusoe
Romeo & Juliet
William Shakespeare
Tess of the D’Urbevilles
Tom Sawyer
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Military
G.I. Joe
General Patton
marine
ninja
pirate
sailor
samurai
Monsters/Horror Figures
Abominable Snowman
autopsy
victim
Bride of Frankenstein
Chuckie
corpse
crawling eye
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Devil
Dorian Gray
Dracula
Elephant Man
Frankenstein’s Monster
Freddy Krueger
giant
Godzilla
gremlins
Grim Reaper
headless horseman
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Igor
Incredible Shrinking Man
Invisible Man
Jason (Friday the 13th movies)
King Kong
leper
Michael (Halloween movies)
Mummy
murder victim
Phantom of the Opera
Sasquatch
skeleton
Swamp Thing
two-headed person
voodoo doll
witch
Wolfman
zombie
Musicians/Entertainers
Andrew Sisters
Diana Ross & Supremes
Dolly Parton
Elvis Presely
girl groups
Janis Joplin
Jim Morison
Jimi Hendrix
John Phillip Sousa
Josephine Baker
Lennon Sisters
Liberace
Madonna
Michael Jackson
Sammy Davis Jr.
Wayne Newton
Will Rogers
Musical Instruments
drums
guitar
piano
tuba
xylophone
violin
Mythology
Achilles
Amazon
Bacchus
Cupid
Cyclops
gods
Greek/Roman
Zeus/Jupiter
Apollo/Apollo
Ares/Mars
Hermes/Mercury
Poseidon/Neptune
Hephasetus/Vulcan
Hera/Juno
Demeter/Ceres
Artemis/Diana
Athene/Minerva
Aphrodite/Venus
Hestia/Vesta
Hercules
Medusa
Pan
Priapus
satyrs
Thor
Objects
alarm clock
bar of soap
barbecue
billboard
bomb
book of matches
calendar
can of soup
candle
computer
condom
diamond
diamond ring
dirty laundry
door
envelope
faucet
gift box
ladder
laundry basket
legal document
birth certificate
divorce papers
marriage license
letter
lunchmeat
mailbox
map of USA
pacifier
pocketbook
postage stamp
postcard
ruler
signs
stop sign
no smoking sign
yield or other road signs
speed limit sign
parking sign
stained glass window
suntan lotion
teapot
teepee
Thermos
tombstone
toothbrush
trunk with travel stickers
vibrator
windmill
window
Other Cultures
Arab
Bavarian
Bedouin
cannibal
cave people
Eskimo
Geisha
Greeks
harem girl
Indian
Indian fakir
Maori
pharaoh
Romans
samurai
witch doctor
Outer Space
aliens
astronaut
chimp in outer space
comet
cosmonaut
flying saucer/UFO
moon
planets
Earth
Mercury
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Jupiter
Mars
Saturn
solar system
star
sun
satellite
Patriotic
Abe Lincoln
American flag
George Washington
Iwo Jima statue
Spirit of ‘76
Statue of Liberty
Uncle Sam
Photography
camera
flash cube
photograph
photograph in frame
Plants
cactus
flower
daisy
rose
tree
maple tree
oak tree
palm tree
pine tree
sunflower
Religious Figures
angel
Buddha
Catholic school girl/boy
Jesus Christ
minister
missionary
monk
Moses
nun
pope
priest
rabbi
saint
King Solomon
Virgin Mary
Television (Classic characters)
Addams Family
Cousin It
Gomez
Lurch
Morticia
Pugsly
Thing
Uncle Fester
Beverly Hillbillies
Ellie May
Granny
Jane Hathaway
Jed Clampett
Jethro
Brady Bunch
Gilligan’s
Island
Gilligan
Ginger
Maryann
Mr. and Mrs. Thurston Howell, III
The Professor
The Skipper
Munsters
Herman
Lily
Grandpa
Saturday
Night Live
Blue’s Brothers
Church Lady
Coneheads
It’s Pat
Land Shark
Mr. Bill
Samurai
Two Wild and Crazy Guys
Wayne and Garth
Star Trek (original)
Captain Kirk
Chekov
Dr. McCoy
Klingons
Mr. Spock
Scotty
Uhura
Tribble
Star Trek The Next Generation
The Prisoner
Car 54: Toody and Muldoon
Vincent and Catherine (Beauty and the Beast)
Weather/Nature/ Natural Disasters
earthquake
fall foliage
fires
flood
forest
hurricane
iceberg
Mother Earth
Global warming
mountain
Noah’s Ark
rain
snow
Titanic
tornado
volcano
weatherman/woman
Animals
alligator/crocodile
bat
bear
bee
birds
blue jay
chicken
duck
eagle
flamingo
owl
pelican
robin
rooster
toucan
camel
cat
chimpanzee
cow
dinosaur
dog
elephant
frog
giraffe
gorilla
horse
kangaroo
lion
lizard
lobster
mole
monkey
mouse
octopus
parrot
penguin
rabbit
rat
shark
skunk
slug
snail
snake
spider
turtle
worm
zebra
Archaeological
Easter Island Statue
Indiana Jones
Maya gods
Neanderthals
Pyramids of Egypt
rock art
Sphinx
Tutankamun
Venus of Willendorf
Body Parts
breast
ear
foot
hand
heart
nose
penis
skeleton
skull
thumb
Children’s Literature
Harry Potter
Arthur
Cat in the Hat
Chicken Little
Curious George
Franklin
Jane, Dick & Spot
Little Engine That Could
Make Way for Ducklings
Max (Where the Wild Things Are)
Oompa Loompa
Pippi Longstocking
Sam-I-Am
Spot
Three Billy Goats Gruff
Wild Things
Willie Wonka
Yertle the Turtle
Children’s Television
Barney
Bear in the Big Blue House
Bear
Luna
Ojo
Pip & Pop
Shadow
Treelo
Tutter
Bozo the Clown
Captain Kangaroo & Mr. Green Jeans
Howdy Doody & Buffalo Bob
Mouseketeers
Muppets
Kermit
Miss Piggy
Sesame Street
Bert & Ernie
Big Bird
Cookie Monster
The Count
Elmo
Oscar the Grouch
Prarie Dawn
Snufflupagus
Soupy Sales & White Fang
Clothing
bra
clothesline
diaper
girdle
glove
hat
laundry hamper
pants
shoe
sock
sweater
Underwear
Comic Books (Classics of 50s and 60s)
Archie
Jughead
Betty
Reggie
Veronica
Batman
Alfred
Batgirl
Catwoman
Commissioner Gordon
Joker
Mr. Freeze
Riddler
Robin
Fantastic Four
Green Hornet
Little Lulu
Richie Rich
Spiderman
Superman
Wonder Woman
Detectives
Charlie Chan
Mr. Moto
Nancy Drew
Nick and Nora Charles
Philip Marlowe
Sherlock Holmes
Explorers
Admiral Byrd
Christopher Columbus
Cortez
Ponce De Leon
Food
baby’s bottle
bag of beans
bag of rice
bag of potato chips
baked potato
birthday cake
bottle of honey
bottle of milk
bottle of syrup
box of candy (bonbons)
box of cereal
box of oatmeal
bread
bunch of grapes
cake
candy
bag of jelly beans
candy corn
Gummy Bears
Hershey’s Kiss
M&Ms
Milky way
Reese’s Pieces
cookies
chocolate chip
Fig Newton
gingerbread man
Oreo
cup of coffee
egg
French Fries
fruit
apple
banana
cherry
lemon
orange
hamburger
hot dog
ice cream sundae
ice cream cone
jar of peanut butter
jar of pickles
liquor bottle
lobster
McDonald’s hamburger
pizza
popcorn container
sandwich
six pack of beer or soda
spaghetti
stick of gum
tea bag
vegetable
carrot
corn on the cob
onion
peas
potato
pumpkin
tomato
wedding cake
wine bottle
Ghosts
Beetlejuice
Caspar the Friendly Ghost
Ghost of Christmas Past
Marley’s Ghost
Landmarks/Buildings/ Monuments
Big Ben
bronze statue
Chrysler Building
diner
Eiffel Tower
Empire State Building
gas station
Leaning Tower of Pisa
marble statue
Mt. Rushmore
Pyramids of Egypt
Statue of Liberty
Taj Majal
Washington Monument
Holidays
American flag
Christmas tree
Easter Bunny
Easter egg
elf
Father Time
firecracker
gift box
ground hog
Mrs. Claus
Pumpkin
reindeer
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
Santa Claus
snowman
Statue of Liberty
Thanksgiving Turkey
valentine
Insects
ants
black widow spider
bumblebee
butterfly
fly
killer bees
ladybug
spider
tarantula
Maps
United States
individual states
foreign countries
mythical lands
weather map
Misc.
atomic bomb
mushroom cloud
baby
backwards person
big butt characters
cityscape
covered bridge
nuclear war victim
old man/woman
periodic table of elements
pregnant bride
pregnant nun
rabbit in a hat
scales of justice
scarecrow
sleazy nun
tourist
Movie Stars/Characters
Al Jolson as Jazz Singer
Alfred Hitchcock
Woody Allen
Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers
Barbarella
Batman
Batgirl
Batman
Catwoman
Joker
Penguin
Riddler
Robin
Ben Hur
Birdman of Alcatraz
Carmen Miranda
Cary Grant
Charlie Chaplin
James Dean
Marlene Dietrich
Divine (Pink Flamingos)
E.T.
Edward Scissorhands
Elephant Man
Gene Kelley (American in Paris)
Indiana Jones
Jungle Jim
Keystone Cops
Marx Brothers
Marilyn Monroe
Dolly Parton
Elvis Presley
Rambo
Rhett Butler & Scarlett O’Hara
Rocky
Shark in Jaws
Shirley Temple
Spartacus
Star Trek
Star Wars
3CPO
Anakin Skywalker
Battle droid
cantina band
Chewbacca
Darth Maul
Darth Vadar
Han Solo
Jabba the Hut
Jar Jar Binks
Jawa
Luke Skywalker
Obi-wan Kenobe
pod racer
Princess Leah
Queen Amidala
Qui-Gon Jinn
R2D2
Sebulba
Storm Trooper
Watto
Tarzan & Jane
Terminator
Cyborg T-1000
John Connor
Sarah Connor
Terminator cyborg
Titanic
John Wayne
Mae West
Orson Welles
Esther Williams
Wizard of Oz
Cowardly Lion
Dorothy
Glinda (good witch)
Scarecrow
Tin Man
Wicked Witch
Wizard
Dr. Zhivago
Zorro
Occupations
50s boy (greaser)
50s girl teen (poodle skirt)
airline pilot
airline stewardess
american gladiator
archaeologist
astronaut
bartender
beatnik
beauty queen
beekeeper
boxer
boy scout
bride
bullfighter
butcher
butterfly collector
Canadian Mountie
carpenters chef
chimney sweep
cigarette girl
circus ringmaster
college graduate
construction worker
cop country singer
cowboy or cowgirl
dancer
ballerina
Can Can
40s Torch Singer
flapper
flamenco
Scottish Highland
Greek
Harem girl
Hawaiian
stripper
Chorus Girl
Follies Bergiere
Vegas Show Girl
dentist
doctor
dominatrix
drum major
engineer
executioner
film director
firefighter
fortune teller
French maid
gangster
garbage man
gardener
Girl Scout
granny
great white hunter
hippie
hobo
househusband
housewife
jester
judge
king
knight
lawyer
librarian
lounge lizard
maid
Miss America
missionary
mountaineer
movie star
musician
bagpiper
concert violinist
jazz musician
one-man band
orchestra conductor
nurse
Playboy Bunny
plumber
poet
police officer
prisoner
professional wrestler
professor
queen
real estate agent
referee
reporter
sailor
schoolgirl
scientist
southern belle
street sweeper
surfer
surgeon
tavern wench
test dummy
train engineer
used car salesman
waitress
WAVE/WAC (WW II)
zoo keeper
Presidents/Politicians
Barack Obama
George Bush
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton
Thomas Jefferson
Lyndon Baines Johnson
John F. Kennedy
Abraham Lincoln
Richard Nixon
Ronald Reagan
Theodore Roosevelt
Franklin Roosevelt
George Washington
Robots
Gort (Day the Earth Stood Still)
Robbie (Forbidden Planet)
Maria (Metropolis)
Robot (Lost in Space)
Sports Equipment
balls
baseball
basketball
bowling
football
pingpong
tennis
racquets
pingpong
tennis
Stereotypes
absent minded professor
always a bridesmaid
Aunt Jemima
baby doll
Juan Valdez
mad scientist
prom queen
southern belle
tourist
Uncle Tom
Valley Girl
washer woman
Toys/Games
Barbie
Cabbage Patch
Doll
chess set
chia pet
cooties
crayons
dice
dominoes
jack-in-the-box
Legos
Lincoln Logs
Monopoly board
Ninja Turtles
Pet Rock
pick-up sticks
plastic army guys
playing card
Potatoheads
rag doll
roulette wheel
Rubiks Cube
Scrabble Board
Smurfs
stuffed animal
Teletubbies
tic-tac-toe game
Transformer
trolls
wooden soldier
Vehicles
airplane
person in boat
person in jeep
person in tank
train
Zodiac Signs
Aries the ram
Taurus the bull
Gemini the twins
Cancer the crab
Leo the lion
Virgo the virgin
Libra the scales
Scorpio the scorpion
Sagittarius the archer
Capricorn the goat
Aquarius the water carrier
Pisces the fish
Posted in Anthropology, Comic Books, Culture Wars, Halloween, Movies, Popular culture, costumes | Leave a Comment »
When you join the Halloween masquerade, you contribute your own particular vision to creating a topsy-turvy world. Men can be Supermen or have exaggerated female features. Bold women become nuns, and shy women, Amazons. Movie and book characters come to life, animals sing and dance, and inanimate objects talk back.
In the workaday world we spend considerable time and effort striving to dress in a way that’s appropriate. At Halloween, “appropriate” is a meaningless term. Anything goes, and the only fashion problem is how to find a costume that suits your mood or interests. It might be amusing, surprising, clever, provocative, or shocking. There is no political correctness on Halloween.
Whatever costume you choose, it will set the tone for your Halloween revel. Donning Fred Astaire’s dashing top hat and tails will feel quite different than assuming the sinister cape of Count Dracula, even though both share a certain elegance. A transformation occurs. This is why we ask, “What shall I be for Halloween?” not, “What shall I wear?” Underneath, you are always yourself, but exploring other roles is a big part of the fun.
Planning your Halloween costume can be as much fun as wearing it. The key is to allow enough time. That way you’ll be able to consider lots of different possibilities and then figure out how best to produce your favorite. This doesn’t mean blocking out an entire day, or even a few hours of your schedule for costume planning. But you might want to start daydreaming about it on the first of October rather than the 30th. You could even organize a potluck supper with friends for costume brainstorming, or a get-together to actually create them.
Of course, if you just don’t get around to a decision until the last minute, you can do it all at once, fast, by visiting a nearby costume store, sorting through the racks, and paying for your choice. Or you can try a costume rental agency if you live in a large enough community. Even if you don’t want to buy your entire costume, these stores can be useful resources for getting ideas or for buying one or two critical pieces of a costume that you otherwise make yourself.
But plenty of good costumes have been produced at the last minute, and more cheaply, by combining odds and ends from around the house. Maybe you have some clothes or jewelry that you never wear because they’re too dated, or too outrageous, or too ugly. At Halloween, they’re the perfect base around which to build a costume. Or consider some more obvious examples: an apron and chef’s hat, painter’s overalls, maybe your old Eagle Scout uniform (if you haven’t put on too much weight), or the luau shirt you bought in Hawaii with the ukulele you brought back for the kids.
A still more creative, and rewarding, approach is to begin well in advance with a little soul searching. Costumes can be based on what you want to project about yourself, what you want to hide, what you wish you were, or what you fear you are.
If you want a costume based on your dreams and fantasies, ask yourself to complete the sentence “I have always wanted to be….” Then allow yourself to try it. Dreams of a change in occupation can have you appearing as an artist, a firefighter, a chef, a circus performer, a ballerina, and on and on. A freckled blonde can experiment with being a sultry brunette. A short person can build some stilts and try being tall. A starving student can pretend to be a movie star.
You can imitate a person you admire—an actor, a politician, or a movie, TV, or book character—or, through caricature, poke fun at one you hate. Topical costumes offer the chance to make a social statement as you entertain your friends. Bill Clinton (gray hair and hat with presidential seal, a big zipper?) and Monica Lewinsky (blue dress, white stain, dark hair, beret, knee pads) were the choice of many last year. Images of the millennium will undoubtedly inspire many this year.
Try having fun with your fears and neuroses and appear as someone or something that no one could have predicted. Fears about becoming fat or old or ugly can be played out in hilarious, and possibly therapeutic, ways. Are you a pacifist who wants to appear as General Patton? A neat person who wants to experience being a slob? A logical person who wonders about gypsy fortune tellers? A feminist who wants to act out her cheerleading fantasy?
Alternatively, if you want to reflect something about what you already are or do, you may want to take your occupation and exaggerate aspects of it in your costume. A nurse, for example, can come as a bedpan, a hypodermic needle, a bottle of pills, or a sleazy Florence Nightingale. A lawyer might dress as a shark, a bank manager as a convict, an at-home mother as an animal trainer.
You might begin with a hobby or interest and express that in a costume. Sports fanatics can come as their favorite players or as sports equipment—a tennis ball, a football, a fish on a fishing pole, a miniature golf course. If you play board games like Monopoly or Scrabble, or play cards, you can make a costume out of them. If you are a couch potato, you can come as one.
You can emphasize some physical characteristic that readily identifies you. If you have a prominent nose, come as one, perhaps carrying a box of Kleenex.
Some people’s favorite costuming tactic is to cross-dress, or reverse roles. Dressing in the costume of the opposite sex has a long and venerable history. Cross-dressing is about gender confusion, power plays, anxiety about the other and about the self. More generally, it is about the confusion of meaning, the impossibility of knowing anything for sure.
Cross-dressing shakes up the most basic premise of our world order, gender identification. It is a practice both fascinating and unsettling, which makes it perfect for Halloween. The approach can be obvious, using exaggerated sexual organs and/or flashy clothes, or very subtle, so that people are confused about whether you are reversing roles or are merely someone who came without a costume.
Of course, you need not come as a person, animal, or thing at all. Consider being an idea or event. A couple we know attended a recent Halloween party as “the parting of the Red Sea.” They had painted a map on their matching tee shirts, and when they stood side by side the outline of the Red Sea was complete. When they separated, it split in two. A new dimension was added at the party when they happened to meet another guest dressed as Moses.
Whatever your costume choice, success lies in the details. Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz is that much more fun when she has some fairy dust to throw around. A Shirley Temple costume will become unmistakable if you carry a tape recorder playing “The Good Ship Lollipop” on a loop tape.
To get a costume just right, nothing is more helpful than a little research. If you want to be Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra, rent the videotape and study the film. If this sounds too time-consuming, consider the benefits: you don’t have to think of everything yourself. Instead of imagining your costume, you can simply recreate the telling details—the distinctive eye makeup, black pageboy hairdo, and Egyptian-style jewelry, in this case.
For every person or thing (or event or idea), there are certain crucial identifying features, or trademark details, that make the costume. For example, a cow can be any number of different colors, but only an udder, a tail, and horns make it unmistakably a cow. A vampire can wear all sorts of different clothes from elegant to sexy; it’s the fangs, the deathly pallor, and perhaps some dripping “blood” that make you unmistakably a vampire. Add some characteristic behavior—a good “moo” and perhaps the offer of a glass of milk for the cow, “I want to suck your blood” for the vampire—and the masquerade is complete.
In case the perfect costume fails to spring instantly to mind, the pages here contain more than 1,000 suggestions. To help make sense of them, they are organized into categories, accompanied by a list of eight questions to help you if you get stuck.
In future versions, many of the costumes will be illustrated and explained in some detail according to the approach discussed above. The explanations include trademark details and clothing and makeup suggestions, then describe accessories and behaviors to bring the costumes to life. The explanations cover the range of costume making challenges, so that even if the idea you like best isn’t explained, you should be able to figure it out by reading instructions for a similar costume.
In truth, the possibilities for masquerade are endless, and as various as every person’s individual history. New ideas crop up as fast as tomorrow’s headlines, TV schedules, new books and movie listings. Yet for each of us, every year, there seems to be one right choice.
As you approach it, do keep in mind this practical advice. Measure the amount of time you have, consider in advance how much money you want to spend, and judge how adept you are at costume construction and makeup application. Think about where you will wear the costume. Don’t choose a black costume with limited vision—Darth Vader, for instance—if you’ll be escorting a group of young trick or treaters at night. And shy away from the delicate, hot, or constricting if you expect to be dancing in a crowd or moving in a crowded bar. Large elaborate constructions are better suited to parades and outdoor festivals than to an apartment party, and makeup is more easily negotiated than a mask when it comes time to eat and drink. Costumes that rely on subtle sounds or gestures won’t work at a noisy party or a raucous parade. Thinking ahead will make your investment of time, money, materials, and imagination pay off.
Thanks to Rachel Cox for contributions to this essay.
Posted in Anthropology, Culture Wars, Halloween, Popular culture, costumes | Tagged Anthropology, costumes, Halloween, help, masquerade, popular culture, ritual, superheroes, what makes us human | Leave a Comment »
This is a post 9/11 essay that seems to have renewed relevance today:
Rituals and the Restoration of the Social Order
When unexpected and unprecedented events destroy a society’s sense of security and identity, it often turns to routines and rituals to help restore the social order. Individual routines that step us through the mundane preparations for school or work provide a comforting structure when we are unfocused. Group rituals involving public ceremonies provide a sense of shared experience that can make the restoration of the social order seem more certain.
Since the terrorists attacks on the United States, both private routines and special public rituals have helped guide us through the confusion and pain of these events. While private routines are necessarily hidden, the power of shared public rituals was evident across the country, with public gatherings crosscutting religion, ethnicity and age and providing a sense of continuity and renewal.
At the time of these attacks, the Unites States was beginning to gear up for its annual cycle of fall and winter rituals that starts with Halloween and culminates in New Year’s Day. Stores were already stocking Halloween and harvest decorations and along with media outlets were providing movies, books, advertisements, costumes, greeting cards, games, toys, food, candy, videos and television programs about Halloween.
No ritual may seem more inappropriate that Halloween at this moment. As a celebration of the frightening, weird, and wild, Halloween must appear at best to be in bad taste and at worst to be replicating the horrors of September 11th. Yet it can be argued that more than ever, the American community needs to keep its ritual cycle intact by embracing Halloween this year as it does every year.
On Halloween, the boundaries we work so hard to maintain between good and bad, living and dead, fantasy and reality, and humans and non-humans all come tumbling down. On Halloween, the most basic categories by which we usually order our world collapse and for one night monsters walk, beasts talk, inanimate objects come to life, and males and females are interchangeable.
At any other time, such bizarre reversals or confused identities would be understandably terrifying and unbearable. At Halloween they are briefly embraced and then, most importantly, they are banished, controlled by our desire to restore the social order that we know keeps us human and real.
Halloween is the one and only day of the year across the United States where it should be appropriate to turn the world on its head and do the outrageous, ridiculous and horrifying things that are not acceptable the rest of the year. We not only enjoy such days, we actually need them. It is during such rituals of role reversal and simulated lawlessness that we see just what will tear our world apart and more importantly how we can safely put it back together again.
It can be argued that this year we don’t need to be reminded about what can tear our world apart. We have seen it in the countless photographs and videos of mass destruction in New York and Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon. But the power of a familiar and popular ritual like Halloween is that it provides a structure to act out, in one day, what may take our society a long time to actually accomplish: a restoration and renewal of the society we want to live in.
Throughout history and around the world, human cultures have created ritual events during which people face those things that could make their society come apart at the seams. The most familiar examples are Carnival in Brazil and Mardi Gras in New Orleans. By highlighting the taboo and antisocial in an acceptable setting and designated time, ritual revelers affirm the values of society’s normal life in a vivid, powerful and convincing way that is a testimony to the power of the social order.
copyright 2001 Louise Krasniewicz
Posted in Anthropology, Culture Wars, Halloween, Popular culture, costumes | Tagged Anthropology, censorship, costumes, Culture Wars, Halloween, reality, ritual, what makes us human | Leave a Comment »
Several people have told me to write about unemployment but honestly, what is there to say that doesn’t sound whiny or pathetic? So instead, a parable about compost…
One of my favorite lines in the movie everyone loves to hate (Twilight) is: “Compost is good!” I like that and Edward Cullen’s weird line to Bella Swan that she is “…like my own personal brand of heroin.” Well, put them together and you have my unemployment obsession: making my compost good and ready to grow a new garden in the spring. Yes, this is a neat metaphor for joblessness (it will be shamelessly extended below) but first, I really did make compost and it really was addictive. Shredded leaves last fall just when I was told my job was eliminated, scraps of fruit and vegetables all winter and spring tossed in and smothered, letting it sit in the sun and baking this summer even as my crabby neighbors were undoubtedly horrified by my piles of smoldering stuff. But time and the worms did their thing and here it is: all brown and sweet-smelling and fluffy. I have enough worms to make 100 fishermen happy (I should sell them!!). Look, there’s one next to my safety goggles:
Worms in the Compost
If I can hang in there for the long process of compost, I can make it through a winter of un/under employment, right? Well, there is only one problem (here’s where the metaphor fall apart). I just can’t get my “exit interview” out of my mind. An exit interview is a totally worthless and humiliating process in which your ax-wielding employer makes nice talk and tries to suck out of you any last bits of useful information before they show you the door. Here is what the director of the museum I was booted out of said to me, straight-faced and sincere, at my exit interview: “You are the only person who has figured out how to get people (visitors) into this museum. How do you do it?” My answer?: “I’m not telling you!”
So you see, I may have time for gardening and compost-making now, but that question still bugs me. Yes, unemployment is like compost in this way: it may make things grow in the future but it is still just worm shit. In my next post, I will show you my beautiful garden.
Posted in MISC, Twilight, gardening | Tagged Bella, Bella Swan, Compost, Cullen, Edward, Edward Cullen, garden, gardening, heroin, museum, Twilight, unemployment, worms | Leave a Comment »
This woman said Twilight ruined Comic-Con and everyone knows that vampires can’t be vegetarian.
Posted in Comic Books, Comic-Con, Culture Wars, General, Popular culture, Twilight, costumes | Tagged Comic Books, Comic-Con, ComicCon, Comics, costumes, Movies, popular culture, Twilight, Twilight Girls | Leave a Comment »
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Posted in Comic Books, Comic-Con, Halloween, Popular culture, costumes | Tagged Comic-Con, ComicCon, Comics, costumes, Halloween | Leave a Comment »
If anyone questions why there should be costuming at Comic-Con or other popular culture conventions, I offer the following evidence! But as I argued against criticisms of costuming, I think it is one of the most important and interesting part of any convention.
Posted in Comic Books, Comic-Con, General, Halloween, Popular culture, costumes | Tagged Comic-Con, costumes, Halloween | Leave a Comment »
Move over fan boys!!! Comic-Con 2009 is about to open (the preview was tonight) and the most exciting thing so far is the Twilight fan campout. Hundreds of Twilight fans are already camping outside the entrance to the big auditorium that is going to feature a Twilight panel (which will include several of the big stars) tomorrow (Thursday). A few began camping (with tents, sleeping bags, and supplies) at midnight Wednesday morning and by noon they were several dozen campsites. By evening hundreds of people were sprawled out in the line areas, waiting overnight to get into the auditorium. The Twilight session doesn’t actually start until 1:45 on Thursday afternoon so it will be a 24 hour wait for many of them.
The Twilight fans I talked to were delightful and so passionate about the series of books and the first movie (the second comes out in November and clips of it will be shown at the session tomorrow). They are all building a memorable experience. By tomorrow the line is expected to be several thousand people. Another event at a local movie theatre is sold out and fans are camping out there too.
Comic-Con now bills itself as an event looking at the Popular Arts and certainly this group of fans shows how this expanded definition of Comic-Con (beyond comic books) is a very interesting development.
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- Team Jacob!
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- Friends Priscilla, Desi, and Brenda have waited in line since noon Wednesday
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- Waiting with Edward
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Posted in Comic Books, Comic-Con, Culture Wars, Popular culture, Twilight | Tagged Comic-Con, ComicCon, Comics, costumes, Culture Wars, Movies, popular culture, Twilight, Twilight Girls | 1 Comment »
