On Masquerades

[mishalak]

At many SF conventions there are masquerade contests of some type, by which is typically meant that some portion of the convention's membership will be dressed up in costume and go across a stage in front of judges and interested members of the convention. As with any fan run institution there is a lot of argument about the rules for these costume contests. As I see it there are three different possible goals by having a costume contest.

Entertainment
Convention members can put on some pretty spectacular costumes and/or skits and this is a great opportunity to see them all.

Encouraging Participation
Some fans see the primary purpose of the masquerade as getting the various people wandering about involved rather than showing up and then leaving without interacting much with other members of the convention.

Recognition of Skill
The serious costuming people at conventions are apt to see it primarily as a way to recognize great work and have rules geared towards making sure that participants have done it all themselves and are not going out just to get the award.

I think of these a convention can serve two at most and frequently do not manage more than one. My preference is towards some combination of encouragement of participation and entertainment. I think it is neat to see lots of the hall costumes that I might have missed and to take part in cheering and clapping for a job well done. But this is a very small convention mentality, because it is very hard to get this to work when there is less of a feeling of community at the con. So my favorite masquerades have been at tiny conventions without costume guild running them, heck forget tiny, micro conventions like Karval Con. Often the costumes are not very spiffy, but gosh it is fun. I have also liked some masquerades that were more hall costumes on parade than seriously organized event.

Back to the point, I do have one for a change. My point is that to know what the rules of the masquerade should be (if any) it should be clear what the goal of the masquerade is and also know that not everyone or every goal can be satisfied by one event.

Comments

[sraun]

While I understand Masquerade as entertainment, it tends to encourage a convention mentality I don't like (convention goers are there to be entertained, and don't see any reason to volunteer - a tip-off that they have this view is that they buy tickets, not memberships).

IMAO, the Participation and Skill goals can both be satisfied at the same time - although they frequently aren't. Some of my favorite Masquerades have been Masquerade Balls - for this to work, you have to use a well-lit true ballroom space, with lots of room. Hold the crowding to a minimum, a modern club atmosphere is right out. You can do both Participation and Skill in this venue - if people want to be considered for the Skill awards, they register, and the Skill judges get a list of people / costumes they have to find and judge. You can also pass out awards that are audience / impact based - you don't have to register for those, and they're frequently based on anyone who cares to vote.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

I would think with a big convention it is pretty much inevitable that entertainment value happens. Even if a thousand person convention had a masquerade ball I think it would tend to either reward skill or encourage participation, not both. People's choice awards say what is popular, not what is skillfully done. (Or more snarkily, democracy only works when the people voting know something about what they are voting about.) Plus I would think that a large convention would have to mandate everyone at the ball be in costume or else there would be the same entertainment value event that has happened to things like Halloween in the Castro. And given the logistics of having a large enough space I would think that once the convention gets large enough it would be inevitable that it would start to exclude people who did not have good enough costumes because there would not be enough space for everyone to mill about otherwise.

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

We attend a BIG costuming SF Con - Balticon. We also have attended the Fantek Cons.

Balticon's Masquerade takes over the ballroom for the entire night saturday night & the line for seats goes on forever. It's a major production & they have a secondary competition for Hall costumes.

Fantek's Masquerade also took over the ballroom space & was a major part of the con. Hall costume was encouraged but there wasn't a competition for it.

Both were/are a combination of all three of your points.

However.

Balticon's masquerade is much more competitive & cutthroat. Fantek proclaimed its masquerade as "non-judgemental" which made it the perfect venue for local folks to try out their costume & or performance chops before "hitting the circuit" and the tougher crowds.

I've put together costumes & done several masquerades. I wouldn't even DREAM of trying Balticon. I regularly had fun @ the Fantek masquerade. One time I took a scarf I'd been given for christmas (one of those fluffy tubes) and did a mini skit advertising "The Thneed". No real costume just me in street clothes & the scarf. NO WAY I could pull that off @ Balticon.

Balticon is a major east coast con. regular 4 digit attendance. In a GOOD year, Fantek hit high 3 digit attendance.

See a pattern?

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Well of course logistics play into it. Big conventions, unless they went mad and ran the masquerade for 16 hours, could never hope to include everyone who might like to participate. And while there would be a participation value to a more limited costume event, it isn't the same as everyone participating.