[Last modified: November, 4 2024 09:55 AM]
I did my fieldnotes exercise at MCM London Comic Con, a convention for fans of comics, movies, books, and pop culture. I was inside a large show floor hall, tucked in the corner near the food court area. I sat on the floor against the wall, as noted by the star in my sketch.
I made notes based on different aspects of anthropology. I noted that the built environment was basic and utilitarian: an enormous convention hall, with a divider to my left indicating that the wall could perhaps be opened to create an even larger space. The floor I sat on was concrete with some kind of black coating that seemed more rubbery than regular paint. The ceiling had exposed metal framework with visible ducts and rows of flourescent lights. There was little acoustic treatment in the room, making it echo with the cacophony of the hundreds of people inside.
Through lens of dress and fashion, I noted countless people dressed in cosplay, which is a form of costume in which participants craft or purchase outfits to represent a character in a beloved story. For example, there were many people dressed as characters from anime, complete with brightly colored wigs glued and shaped into the unrealistic forms found on the animated characters. Participants sometimes dressed as gender-bent characters, although I more often noticed people with feminine bodies dressing as male characters than vice versa.
The age of people around me was almost entirely teenagers and young adults. There was a small amount of children with parents and even fewer elderly. From my position as an outside observer, it was hard to know whether any of the groups included siblings or spouses, but I did observe demonstrations of kinship in a few parent-child interactions observed. A man walked passed me with a young son on his shoulders who was dressed as Blippi, a kids’ YouTube star. Later, I observed a young woman in an elaborate Sailor Moon cosplay walking with an older woman who appeared to be her mother. Like many of the older participants, the mother was not in cosplay, but had a bandana on her head and appeared to have no hair. If I were to make an assumption, she may have been in recovery from a disease like cancer, and I was touched to see her attending the convention in support of something her daughter was obviously passionate about.
I found my notes to be quite useful in reconsctructing the scene for my memory after I left it. The drawing brought me back to my position at the time, although I feel a photograph may have been more effective and evocative. What I found particularly useful was my sorting and labeling of my observations under headings of the anthropological themes I was noticing.