-
There's this fact that I love
that I read somewhere once --
-
that one of the things that's contributed
-
to homo sapiens' success as a species
-
is our lack of body hair.
-
That our hairlessness,
-
our nakedness combined
with our invention of clothing
-
gives us the ability to modulate
our body temperature
-
and thus be able to survive
in any climate we choose.
-
And now we've evolved to the point
where we can't survive without clothing.
-
And it's more than just utility,
-
now it's a communication.
-
Everything that we choose
to put on is a narrative,
-
a story about where we've been,
-
what we're doing ...
-
who we want to be.
-
I was a lonely kid.
-
I didn't have an easy time
finding friends to play with
-
and I ended up making
a lot of my own play.
-
I made a lot of my own toys.
-
And it began with ice cream.
-
There was a Baskin-Robbins in my hometown,
-
and they served ice cream
from behind the counter
-
in these giant, five-gallon,
cardboard tubs.
-
And someone told me --
-
I was eight years old --
-
someone told me that when
they were done with those tubs
-
they washed them out
and they kept them in the back,
-
and if you asked they would give you one.
-
It took me a couple of weeks
to work up the courage but I did,
-
and they did.
-
They gave me one.
-
I went home with this
beautiful cardboard tub.
-
And I was trying to figure out what
I could do with this exotic material--
-
metal ring, top and bottom --
-
and I started turning it over
in my head and I realized,
-
"Wait a minute,
-
my head actually fits inside this thing--"
-
(Laughter)
-
Yeah, I cut a hole out,
-
I put some acetate in there
-
and I made myself a space helmet.
-
(Laughter)
-
I needed a place to wear the space helmet,
-
so I found a refrigerator box
a couple blocks from home.
-
I pushed it home,
-
and in my parent's guest room closet,
-
I turned it into a spaceship.
-
I started with a control panel
out of cardboard.
-
I cut a hole for a radar screen
-
and put a flashlight
underneath it to light it.
-
I put a view screen up which I offset
off the back wall --
-
and this is where I thought
I was being really clever --
-
without permission,
-
I painted the back wall
of the closet black
-
and put a star field
-
which I lit up with some Christmas
lights I found in the attic,
-
and I went on some space missions.
-
A couple years later,
-
the movie "Jaws" came out.
-
And I was way too young to see it,
-
but I was caught up in "Jaws" fever like
everyone else in America at the time.
-
And there was a store in my town
that had a "Jaws" costume in their window,
-
and my mom must have overheard
me talking to someone
-
about how awesome
I thought this costume was
-
because a couple days before Halloween,
-
she blew my freaking mind
by giving me this "Jaws" costume.
-
Now, I recognize it's a bit of a trope
-
for people of a certain age to complain
-
that kids these days have no idea
how good they have it,
-
but let me just show you a random sampling
-
of entry-level kids' costumes
you can buy online right now ...
-
and this is the "Jaws" costume
my mom bought for me.
-
(Laughter)
-
This is a paper-thin shark face
-
and a vinyl bib with the poster
of "Jaws" on it.
-
(Laughter)
-
And I loved it.
-
A couple years later,
-
my dad took me to a film
called "Excalibur."
-
I actually got him to take me to it twice,
-
which is no small thing
-
because it is a hard, R-rated film.
-
But it wasn't the blood
and guts or the boobs
-
that made me want to go see it again --
-
they helped --
-
(Laughter)
-
It was the armor.
-
The armor in "Excalibur" was
intoxicatingly beautiful to me.
-
These were literally knights
in shining, mirror-polished armor.
-
And moreover,
-
the knights in "Excalibur" wear
their armor everywhere.
-
All the time.
-
They wear it at dinner,
-
they wear it to bed.
-
(Laughter)
-
I was like, "are they reading my mind?
-
I want to wear armor all the time!"
-
And so I went back
to my favorite material--
-
the gateway drug for making:
-
corrugated cardboard.
-
And I made myself a suit of armor,
-
replete with the neck shields
and a white horse.
-
Now that I've over-sold it,
-
here's a picture of the armor that I made.
-
(Laughter)
-
(Applause)
-
Now this is only the first
suit of armor I made
-
inspired by "Excalibur."
-
A couple of years later,
-
I convinced my dad to embark
on making me a proper suit of armor.
-
Over about a month,
-
he graduated me from cardboard
to roofing aluminum called flashing
-
and still, one of my all time favorite
attachement materials,
-
POP rivets.
-
We carefully over that month,
-
constructed an articulated suit
of aluminum armor
-
with compound curves.
-
We drilled holes in the helmet
so that I could breathe
-
and I finished just in time
for Halloween and wore it school.
-
Now this is the one thing in this talk
that I don't have a slide to show you,
-
because no photo exists of this armor.
-
I did wear it to school,
-
there was a yearbook photographer
patrolling the halls
-
but he never found me
-
for reasons that are
about to become clear.
-
There were things I didn't anticipate
-
about wearing a complete suit
of aluminum armor to school.
-
In third period math I was standing
in the back of class,
-
and I'm standing in the back of class
-
because the armor did not
allow me to sit down.
-
(Laughter)
-
This is the first thing
I didn't anticipate.
-
And then my teacher looks at me
sort of concerned
-
about half way through the class
-
and says, "Are you feeling OK?"
-
And I'm thinking, "Are you kidding?
-
Am I feeling OK?
-
I'm wearing a suit of armor!
-
I am having the time of my --"
-
And I'm just about to tell her
how great I feel
-
when the classroom
starts to list to the left
-
and disappear down this long tunnel,
-
and then I woke up in the nurse's office.
-
I had passed out from heat
exhaustion wearing the armor.
-
And when I woke up,
-
I wasn't embarrassed about having
passed out in front of my class,
-
I was wondering,
-
"Who took my armor? Where's my armor?"
-
OK, fast-forward a whole bunch of years,
-
some colleagues and I get hired
-
to make a show for Discovery Channel
called "Mythbusters."
-
And over 14 years,
-
I learn on the job how to build
experimental methodologies
-
and how to tell stories
about them for television.
-
I also learn early on
-
that costuming can play a key
role in this storytelling.
-
I use costumes to add
humor, comedy, color
-
and narrative clarity to the stories
that we're telling.
-
And then we do an episode
called "Dumpster Diving,"
-
and I learn a little bit more
-
about the deeper implications
of what costuming means to me.
-
The episode "Dumpster Diving"--
-
the question we were trying to answer is:
-
is jumping into a dumpster as safe
as the movies would lead you to believe?
-
(Laughter)
-
So the episode was going to have
two distinct parts to it.
-
One was where we get trained
to jump off buildings by a stuntman
-
into an air bag.
-
And the second was the graduation
to the experiment:
-
we'd fill a dumpster full of material
and we'd jump into it.
-
I wanted to visually separate
these two elements,
-
and I thought, "Well, for the first
part we're training,
-
so we should wear sweatsuits --
-
Oh! Let's put 'Stunt Trainee'
on the back of the sweatsuits,
-
that's for the training."
-
But for the second part I wanted
something really visually striking --
-
"I know! I'll dress as Neo
from 'The Matrix.'"
-
(Laughter)
-
So I went to Haight Street.
-
I bought some beautiful
knee-high, buckle boots.
-
I found a long flowing coat on eBay.
-
I got some sunglasses
-
which I had to wear contact
lenses in order to wear.
-
The day of the experiment
shoot comes up
-
and I step out of my car in this costume
-
and my crew takes a look at me ...
-
and start suppressing
their church giggles.
-
They're like,
-
(Laugh sound)
-
And I feel two distinct
things at this moment.
-
I feel total embarrassment over the fact
that it's so nakedly clear to my crew
-
that I'm completely
into wearing this costume.
-
(Laughter)
-
But the producer in my mind reminds myself
-
that in the high-speed shot in slow-mo
-
that flowing coat is going to look
beautiful behind me.
-
(Laughter)
-
Five years into [the] "Mythbusters" run,
-
we got invited to appear
at San Diego Comic-Con.
-
I'd known about Comic-Con for years
and never had time to go.
-
This was the big leagues.
-
This was costuming mecca.
-
People fly in from all over the world
-
to show their amazing creations
on the floor in San Diego.
-
And I wanted to participate.
-
I decided that I would put together
an elaborate costume
-
that covered me completely
-
and I would walk the floor
of San Diego Comic-Con anonymously.
-
The costume I chose?
-
Hellboy.
-
That's not my costume,
-
that's actually Hellboy.
-
(Laughter)
-
But I spent months assembling the most
screen-accurate Hellboy costume I could,
-
from the boots to the belt,
-
to the pants
-
to the right hand of doom.
-
I found a guy who made a prosthetic
Hellboy head and chest
-
and I put them on.
-
I even had contact lenses made
in my prescription.
-
I wore it onto the floor at Comic-Con
-
and I can't even tell you how balls-hot
it was in that costume.
-
(Laughter)
-
Sweating --
-
I should of remembered this --
-
I'm sweating buckets
-
and the contact lenses hurt my eyes,
-
and none of it matters
because I'm totally in love.
-
Not Synced
(Laughter)
-
Not Synced
Not just with the process of putting
on this costume and walking the floor,
-
Not Synced
but also with the community
of other costumers.
-
Not Synced
It's not called costuming at Cons,
-
Not Synced
it's called "Cosplay".
-
Not Synced
Now ostensibly, Cosplay means
-
Not Synced
people who dress up as their favorite
characters from film and television,
-
Not Synced
and especially anime,
-
Not Synced
but it is so much more than that.
-
Not Synced
These aren't just people who find
a costume and put it on.
-
Not Synced
They mash them up.
-
Not Synced
They bend them to their will.
-
Not Synced
They change them to be the characters
they want to be in those productions.
-
Not Synced
They're super clever and genius:
-
Not Synced
they let their freak flag fly
and it's beautiful.
-
Not Synced
(Laughter)
-
Not Synced
But more than that,
-
Not Synced
they rehearse their costumes.
-
Not Synced
At Comic-Con or any other Con,
-
Not Synced
you don't just take pictures
of people walking around.
-
Not Synced
You actually go up and say,
-
Not Synced
"Hey I like your costume,
can I take your picture?"
-
Not Synced
And then you give them time
to get into their pose.
-
Not Synced
They've worked hard on their pose
-
Not Synced
to make their costume look
great for your camera.
-
Not Synced
And it's so beautiful to watch.
-
Not Synced
And I take this to heart.
-
Not Synced
And at subsequent Cons,
-
Not Synced
I learn Heath Ledger's shambling
walk as the Joker from "The Dark Knight."
-
Not Synced
I learn how to be a scary Ringwraith
from "Lord of the Rings,"
-
Not Synced
and I actually frightened some children.
-
Not Synced
I learned that "herr herr herr"--
-
Not Synced
that head laugh that Chewbacca does.
-
Not Synced
And then I dressed up as
No-Face from "Spirited Away."
-
Not Synced
If you don't know about "Spirited Away"
and it's director, Mayao Miyazaki,
-
Not Synced
first of all, you're welcome.
-
Not Synced
(Laughter)
-
Not Synced
This is a masterpiece
-
Not Synced
and one of my all-time favorite films.
-
Not Synced
It's about a young girl named Chihiro
who gets lost in the spirit world
-
Not Synced
in an abandoned Japanese theme park.
-
Not Synced
And she finds her way back out again
-
Not Synced
with the help of a couple
of friends she makes.
-
Not Synced
A captured dragon named Haku
and a lonely demon named No-Face.
-
Not Synced
No-Face is lonely and he
wants to make friends,
-
Not Synced
and he thinks that the way to do it
is by luring them to him
-
Not Synced
and producing gold in his hand.
-
Not Synced
But this doesn't go very well,
-
Not Synced
and so he ends up going on a kind
of a rampage
-
Not Synced
until Chihiro saves him --
-
Not Synced
rescues him.
-
Not Synced
So I put together a No-Face costume
-
Not Synced
and I wore it on the floor at Comic-Con.
-
Not Synced
And I very carefully practiced
No-Face's gestures.
-
Not Synced
I realized --
-
Not Synced
I resolved I would not speak
in this costume at all.
-
Not Synced
When people asked to take my picture,
-
Not Synced
I would nod
-
Not Synced
and I would shyly stand next to them.
-
Not Synced
And they would take the picture
-
Not Synced
and then I would secret out from behind
my robe a chocolate gold coin,
-
Not Synced
and at the end of the photo process,
I'd make it appear for them.
-
Not Synced
Ah, ah ah --
-
Not Synced
like that.
-
Not Synced
And people were freaking out.
-
Not Synced
"Holy crap! Gold from No-Face,
oh my god, this is so cool!"
-
Not Synced
And I'm feeling and I'm walking
the floor and it's fantastic.
-
Not Synced
About 15 minutes in something happens.
-
Not Synced
Somebody grabs my hand
and they put a coin back into it.
-
Not Synced
And I think maybe they're giving me
a coin as a return gift,
-
Not Synced
but no, this is one of the coins
that I'd given away.
-
Not Synced
I don't know why.
-
Not Synced
And I keep on going,
-
Not Synced
I take some more pictures.
-
Not Synced
And then it happens again.
-
Not Synced
Understand, I can't see
anything inside this costume.
-
Not Synced
I can see through the mouth --
-
Not Synced
I can see people's shoes.
-
Not Synced
I can hear what they're saying
and I can see their feet.
-
Not Synced
But the third time someone
gives me back a coin,
-
Not Synced
I want to know what's going on.
-
Not Synced
So I sort of tilt my head back
to get a better view,
-
Not Synced
and what I see is someone walking
away from me going like this.
-
Not Synced
And then it hits me.
-
Not Synced
It's bad luck to take gold from No-Face.
-
Not Synced
In the film "Spirited Away,"
-
Not Synced
bad luck befalls those who take
gold from No-Face.
-
Not Synced
This isn't a performer-
audience relationship.
-
Not Synced
This is Cosplay.
-
Not Synced
We are, all of us on that floor,
-
Not Synced
injecting ourselves into a narrative
that meant something to us.
-
Not Synced
And we're making it our own.
-
Not Synced
We're connecting with something
important inside of us.
-
Not Synced
And the costumes are how
we reveal ourselves to each other.
-
Not Synced
Thank you.
-
Not Synced
(Applause)