Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather gather to Overthink Halloween, and to answer the question, “Why do we (still!) dress up as things?”
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Further Reading
“Weekend Box Office: ‘Inferno’ Loses to ‘Madea’ in Stunning Halloween Upset”
Oh my things have changed on the comment section huh?
This is a much better title
WHat happened to my other comment?
When you were talking about “What does this costume mean to the people in my group?” I was thinking “Who are the people in my neighborhood? The people that I meet each day!” This of course implies a different sort of costume, since we all wear clothes appropriate to our jobs, and for preschool kids watching Sesame Street it was pretty obvious.
Personally, I haven’t celebrated Halloween since I went trick or treating as a child. I feel like I already go out enough as it is and I already treat getting dressed up like putting on a costume. Since middle school I haven’t experienced any kind of rigid or formal dress code so I’m already free to be as playful as I want to be with my attire. I don’t need to fantasy/pretending to be someone else element of it.
I love dressing up on Halloween. That, and seeing other people’s costumes, is the main appeal. In fact, Halloween is the only holiday I really like. Most other holidays are about family or food but Halloween is about costumes! (Or candy if you’re a child, but candy isn’t as loaded as meal-centered holidays).
For me, dressing up on Halloween is a chance to put on a fantasy identity for a while. It’s kind of like cosplaying at a convention, though it doesn’t have to be a specific character. You not only broadcast “this is what I like” but also “this is something I want to be like.”Now that I am thinking about my last few costumes, they are all distinct identities, ones that are fun for a night but not right for my life. There’s also something appealing about taking on a very loud identity. I wouldn’t want to dress “goth” every day, even if black was my color, but it’s fun to take on that elaborate identity for a night. In the last few years I’ve gone as: femme Han Solo (tomboy/rougue), Misa from Death Note (goth sexypot), Gwen Stefani (rocker chick), Cinderella (super feminine princess), a mermaid (still super feminine but more sexy). In my everyday life, I am a writer and I pretty much live in jeans, a t-shirt, and hoodies. My clothes are unexciting and practical and they present me as someone practical (or perhaps as a hipster, depending on my outfit). It’s fun to take on a more colorful role.
Also, “This Podcast Is Not A Lawyer” would have been a great title for this episode.