Cosplaying Curvy: Why Pop’s Chock’Lit Shoppe in Riverdale is a Sham

My husband and I watch Riverdale and we quite like it. So when Madeline Pestch, who plays Cheryl Blossom, announced that her first ever Comic Con experience would be at Ottawa Comic Con we were pretty excited. Leading up to it a friend had inquired about cosplaying together since she wanted to go as Betty Cooper to meet Madeline. She wanted me to be her Veronica. I initially half-halfheartedly agreed because I did want to do it, but I look very different from Veronica Lodge. Pretty, thin, Veronica Lodge.

As the Con came closer I was surer I was not going to do it, no one would know who I was because I would not look like the character. In the end, my friend convinced me to go, and my husband wanted to go as Archie so I would be the odd one out if I didn’t. I picked up a $10 pearl necklace from the thrift store and started my descent into the world of Veronica Lodge. My first major hurdle started early, I tried a skirt and shirt combo that my husband and sibling liked but that I just couldn’t. I can only do one kind of skirt, and a pencil skirt is not it, I felt ugly and defeated and it was only the first outfit. I settled on a dress/cardigan combo that I normally would have picked out to wear for myself (Veronica and I are both pretty preppy dressers) and I felt a little better.

Liar.

The next day I became increasingly more agitated because my husband could so easily take decent pictures as Archie and nothing I took even remotely resembled my character. I didn’t resemble my character. Every picture I was in that day led me back to the same conclusion, even if I had taken the time to dye my hair black, the same as the character, I still would not be happy. My husband looked good, my friend looked good, and I was the odd one out.

Justin as Archie

Betty & Veronica

The couple that cosplays together

Blogging is an experience similar to WordArt, when you know you can do something you do it. Here is a slide show, because I can.

I should have started this post by saying that I don’t have a huge self-esteem problem. Usually I have the opposite problem, but cosplay is one of those things that makes me regress in self-confidence. Veronica does not look like me, in fact no character on that show does which is weird because they spend a lot of time at Pop’s Chock’Lit Shoppe. Are they loiterers? Is Pop’s food actually healthy food that he can just hide very well? Do these kids not eat? Are they in an alternate dimension where people can just eat whatever they want? No one has seen Judgehead even eat a burger yet which makes me believe this is some weird alternate universe where food is tasteless and unnecessary (what a sad universe). Maybe the food in this diner just tastes bad but they like Pop so much that they want to continue to keep his dream alive. Either way, it’s a conspiracy.

It’s not just Riverdale, there are little depictions of characters that are considered popular as being larger than a size 8. To see a full figured, at least a size 16, woman in the movies, tv, or comics playing a character that is popular and well respected in their community is rare. So the opportunities to cosplay these types of people are also rare. The characters that are the stars of these series are thin, but not necessarily fit. One can be larger and fit but they would not fit the label of conventionally attractive that an unfit, thin person would. This lack of choice is daunting to the beginner cosplayer that wants to try their hand at this hobby but is afraid people either won’t get what they are because they aren’t the same size as the character, or that they will react poorly because this person dares to cosplay as someone smaller than what they are. God forbid they show skin.

There is change, it is slow and small but it is there. The animated series Steven Universe features three of its protagonists as plus size. The show has many other characters with a variety of body types, highlighting only one of the many ways that it takes on representation successfully. Comic series Bitch Planet, by Kelly Sue DeConnick, highlights body image as a central theme in the story of women that are sent to prison because they don’t comply with the norms of their patriarchal society. My favourite character in the series is Penny Rolle, an obese woman sent to Bitch Planet for her weight and who loves herself as an act of rebellion against a society that refuses to accept her. Then there’s Faith, a comic series based on, you guessed it, Faith who is a telekinetic superhero in Valiant’s comic universe. Faith is plus sized, she does not have hourglass proportions but she rocks her jumpsuit regardless. Faith’s weight is not discussed in her 2016 series, written by Orphan Black comic writer Jody Houser, it does not prohibit her from getting the job done. She is badass in a way that plus sized women are not allowed to be in mainstream media.

To those that are wondering, Ottawa Comic Con turned out fine. I did not let my own worries prohibit me from having a good time and being a total badass (as exemplified in the picture below). As much as I was slightly self-conscious, I recognize the need for people like me to not let the insecurities stop us from doing something we enjoy. If I had to do the day over I would do it again, because who would Veronica Lodge even be without a healthy dose of self-confidence?

Cosplaying Curvy will be an ongoing series documenting my experiences as a curvy woman promoting body positivism in the nerd world. Please check back for more!