Meet the Woman Who Invented Cosplay遇見角色扮演之母

珍妮弗·卡爾普 周坤

Myrtle R. Douglas， otherwise known as Morojo， rarely gets the credit she deserves for the worldwide phenomenon. 角色扮演如今風(fēng)靡世界，然而默特爾·R.道格拉斯，亦喚作Morojo，卻功勞未彰。

With its focus on fashion and creative craftsmanship， cosplay provides a path into fandom for young women， and once theyre inside， it makes them highly visible. Wearing their fannish devotion quite literally on their bodies， contemporary female cosplayers pay a lovely tribute to the woman who invented their hobby—though they probably dont realize it， as her massive contribution to pop culture has largely been forgotten by history.

Myrtle Rebecca “Morojo” Douglas Smith Gray Nolan was a Gemini， born in June 1904. She was an atheist， an active member of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society， and a proponent of the 19th-century constructed auxiliary language Esperanto， meant to foster communication and understanding between people of all cultures.

Between the years of 1938 and 1958， she edited three separate long-running sci-fi fanzines （“editing” including all of the typing， mimeo， and physical work required to manufacture the zines， naturally） and wrote editorials for several major early sci-fi “pro”-mags in the early 40s. Basically she was the mid-20th century equivalent of a prolific， influential blogger. She married three times， had one son， and shared a decade-long romantic and creative relationship with fellow fan Forrest J. Ackerman， with whose help she sparked off a phenomenon that would develop into costume-loving fan culture we know today. In the decades following her death， her memory has largely been resigned to footnotes designating her a mere “girlfriend，” and thats a damn shame， because both with and without Ackerman Morojo was a badass.

Though they never married， Morojo and “Forrie” spent over a decade together. Active in the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society， the couple collaborated on the production of an eight-year， 50- issue run of the clubs official zine Voice of the Imagi-Nation as well as their own fanzine Novacious. Morojos affection for Ackerman was so great that she paid him tribute in her nickname.1 Morojo and “4E” （4E = Forrie = Forrest） sometimes even used a joint Esperanto name on projects they created together， like some sort of pre-digital proto-blogger couple with a shared social media account.

For more than 10 years Morojo and Ackerman were an inseparable， intellectually compatible dream duo， and 1939 was an especially big year for the pair： they started their first major zine together， jointly financed the publication of teenage Ray Bradburys first sci-fi zine， and attended the first-ever World Science Fiction Convention （Worldcon） wearing “futuristicostumes” straight out of the 1936 H. G. Wells movie Things to Come—the first fan costumes ever worn in recorded history.

Morojo and Ackerman shook the newly developing geek culture to its core with those costumes， laying the foundation for a hobby that would become a majorly significant expression of fandom before the 20th century was out. But heres the thing： while towering Ackerman made a great model for his costume， he had nothing whatsoever to do with its construction. Both of the costumes were envisioned， designed， and laboriously hand-made by Morojo！ Forrie deserves partial credit for the invention of cosplay， sure： he was a grown man who boldly wore a shiny space cape through the streets of New York in 1939. And what the hell， well presume that they thought up the idea of wearing costumes to the con together—it would be ungenerous to suppose otherwise. But Morojo！ Morojo was the person who single-handedly brought fantasy into real physical space when she created and wore her own costume. Given modern cosplays intense focus on individual creativity and craft， its bizarre that Ackerman is the one most often credited as being the O.G. cosplayer in fan literature. Morojo， who made the futuristicostumes， deserves the bulk of the credit.

To crush the next few decades of history into a single sentence： the idea of dressing up like your favorite fictional characters caught on and gained traction. After 1939， costume contests became an annual tradition at Worldcon， drawing more and more participants with each passing year. Morojo herself wore at least two more costumes to subsequent cons： in 1941， an A. Merritt-inspired frog face mask designed and created by the then young and unknown visual effects master Ray Harryhausen， and in 1946 another Merritt-inspired “Snake Mother” ensemble， which reportedly “created a sensation.” But time passed quickly. New fans enthusiastically embraced the costume custom without really wondering about its origins. Nobody in the tight-knit sci-fi fan community bothered to explain its provenance to outsiders. When Japanese writer Nobuyuki Takahashi visited Worldcon Los Angeles in 1984 and coined the term “cosplay” to describe the experience to readers back home， Morojo had long been forgotten.

The fan costume hobby she had initiated exploded， though， becoming wildly popular in Japan. The brand-new baby internet increased ease of cross-cultural communication and the fire coming out of Japan spurred costume-wearing Western fans to step up their craft. Cosplay blazed through the geek fandoms that had sprung up in the wake of sci-fi， staking territory in fan groups devoted to fantasy， anime， comics， and gaming. It was unstoppable， and no amount of craven comment section misogyny or inappropriate leering at cons could turn the tide.

Morojo had faded from memory， but the path she hacked into early sci-fi circles lead thousands of girly geeks into fandom.

The ending of Morojos own personal tale is less unambiguously cheerful. Superfans arent always fated for eternal love， and Morojo and Forrie broke up in the mid-40s. Morojo didnt split from sci-fi fandom when she parted ways with Ackerman， however; she remained active in the L.A. sci-fi scene throughout the 1940s， publishing her own Esperanto-focused fanzine Guteto from 1941 until 1958.

Later， in an unbelievably fabulous late-life narrative twist， the Mother of Cosplay decided to spend the last decade of her time on Planet Earth indulging “a love of the nudist movement.” She lived out this costumeless dream with her third and final husband in the high desert of Southern California.

Morojo， who so loved a language created in attempt to linguistically unite the entire world， would have probably loved the internet. And Morojo， “a vociferous opponent of the Exclusion act，” sexism， and racism in early fandom， would have loved to know that the “futuristicostumes” she made in 1939 would ultimately lead to the development of a more diverse， welcoming fan community than she might ever have imagined in her own time. The next time you cosplay， remember Morojo， the first woman who ever donned a costume to march into a con. With a single epic act of fashion， she made the world a little wider for women.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ■

角色扮演聚焦時尚，專注創(chuàng)意精工，為年輕女性表達所愛鋪就了一條大道。一旦進入粉絲圈，角色扮演使她們備受矚目。當(dāng)如今的女性角色扮演者將一腔熱愛真切地穿在自己身上時，可能她們自己都沒意識到，這是在向這項愛好的發(fā)起者致敬——因為長久以來這位女性對流行文化的杰出貢獻多半為歷史所遺忘。

默特爾·麗貝卡·道格拉斯·史密斯·格雷·諾蘭，別名Morojo，出生于1904年6月，是雙子座。她是無神論者，在洛杉磯科幻協(xié)會表現(xiàn)活躍，同時也是“世界語”的倡導(dǎo)者。這門輔助語言創(chuàng)于19世紀(jì)，旨在促進不同文化背景的人相互溝通，彼此理解。

1938年至1958年間，默特爾主編了三本互不相關(guān)﹑長期發(fā)行的同人雜志（此處的“主編”不僅包攬所有的打字、油印工作，自然還包括制作雜志所需的體力勞作）。此外，她還為1940年代早期幾家主要的初創(chuàng)“專業(yè)”科幻雜志撰寫社論。在現(xiàn)在看來，基本上她就是20世紀(jì)中期影響廣泛的高產(chǎn)博主。默特爾有過三次婚姻，育有一子，與同是科幻迷的福里斯特·J.阿克曼保持了一段長達10年的戀愛關(guān)系，這段戀情既浪漫又充滿創(chuàng)意。在福里斯特的幫助下，默特爾在當(dāng)時引發(fā)了一種現(xiàn)象，而這個現(xiàn)象后來演變成了今天我們所熟知的粉絲裝扮文化。在她死后的數(shù)十年里，關(guān)于她的記憶，大多就只是附帶的阿克曼“女友”這一點。這實在令人遺憾，因為無論有沒有阿克曼，Morojo都是了不起的人物。

盡管Morojo與“福里”一直沒有結(jié)婚，他們卻共度了10余年時光。這對眷侶積極投身洛杉磯科幻協(xié)會，合辦協(xié)會會刊《想象力之聲》（連續(xù)發(fā)行8年，共50期）以及他們自己的科幻同人雜志Novacious。Morojo這一別名體現(xiàn)了默特爾對阿克曼的深深愛意。有時Morojo與4E[Forrest的昵稱為Forrie，發(fā)音與4E（Four E）類似]甚至?xí)谒麄児餐瑒?chuàng)造的東西上使用同一個世界語簽名，就好像某種前數(shù)字時代的早期情侶博主共享同一社交媒體賬號一般。

在10余年的時間里，Morojo與阿克曼是密不可分、才智相配的理想搭檔。對他們而言，1939年是意義非凡的一年：二人一起創(chuàng)辦了他們的第一本重要的同人雜志，共同資助了時值少年的雷·布雷德伯里出版其第一本科幻雜志，此外還穿著按照電影《篤定發(fā)生》（H. G.韋爾斯編劇，1936年上映）原樣制作的“未來服飾”一起參加了首屆世界科幻大會（Worldcon）——這是歷史上角色扮演所展示的第一套服飾。

憑借這些服飾，Morojo與阿克曼深入影響了新生的極客文化，為一種新的愛好奠定了基礎(chǔ)，這種愛好后來成為20世紀(jì)末一種極為重要的粉絲圈表達方式?？申P(guān)鍵在于，盡管身材高大的阿克曼出色地展示了他的服飾，但他與這套服飾的面世沒有任何關(guān)系。二人的服飾，從構(gòu)想﹑設(shè)計到艱難繁復(fù)的手工制作全由Morojo一人完成！對于角色扮演的產(chǎn)生，福里應(yīng)是有功之臣，畢竟作為一個成年人，他敢穿著閃閃發(fā)光的太空斗篷走過1939年的紐約街頭。還有，不知怎么搞的，我們竟認定裝扮出席大會是他倆共同的主意——不這么想會顯得我們斤斤計較。但只有Morojo！Morojo才是那個穿著自己親手制作的華服﹑憑借一己之力將科幻帶入現(xiàn)實世界的人。鑒于現(xiàn)代角色扮演如此專注于個人創(chuàng)造力和工藝制作，在粉絲的認知里總將阿克曼視為角色扮演第一人就很是奇怪。大部分功勞是制作了這些未來服飾的Morojo的。

將接下來數(shù)十年的歷史以一言蔽之，那便是：裝扮成最喜歡的虛構(gòu)角色的想法盛行開來并廣受歡迎。1939年后，服飾大賽成為Worldcon的年度傳統(tǒng)項目，參與者逐年增多。Morojo本人在之后的大會上至少裝扮過兩次：1941年，她戴著由當(dāng)時尚年輕無名的視覺特效大師雷·哈里豪森設(shè)計制作的青蛙面具，靈感源自A.梅里特的作品;1946年，她同樣受梅里特作品的啟發(fā)，以“蛇母”造型亮相，按照當(dāng)時報道的說法是“轟動一時”。但是時光飛逝。新的粉絲熱烈接納這項服飾活動時并未真正在意它的起源。而這個緊密團結(jié)的科幻迷群體中也沒人愿意花力氣向圈外人解釋它的源頭。至1984年日本作家高橋伸之參加洛杉磯世界科幻大會，并造出角色扮演一詞以向日本讀者描述這項活動時，Morojo早已被世人淡忘。

盡管如此，由她發(fā)起的這項粉絲服飾裝扮活動迅速風(fēng)靡開來，在日本大行其道。互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的誕生提高了跨文化交流的便利性。角色扮演在日本的火爆促使西方的服飾裝扮粉絲提升其工藝。緊隨科幻作品之后涌現(xiàn)的極客粉絲群體也熱情擁抱角色扮演。角色扮演在這些癡迷于幻想作品﹑動漫﹑連環(huán)漫畫以及游戲的粉絲群體中占據(jù)了一席之地。角色扮演的勢頭不可阻擋，即便評論區(qū)里有再多貶低女性的懦弱之言，抑或是漫展上有再多不懷好意的目光，也無法改變這種態(tài)勢。

盡管Morojo已從人們的記憶中淡去，但她進入早期科幻圈的先例卻為成千上萬的少女極客得以進入粉絲圈開辟了道路。

Morojo個人感情的結(jié)局不太圓滿。超級粉絲之間并不總是注定會長相廝守。Morojo與福里在1940年代中期情斷緣盡。然而與阿克曼分手后，Morojo并沒有脫離科幻迷圈子，整個1940年代她仍舊活躍在洛杉磯的科幻界，1941年至1958年，她出版了自己的同人雜志Guteto，雜志主要以世界語編撰。

后來，這位角色扮演之母晚年的人生軌跡發(fā)生了令人難以置信的驚人轉(zhuǎn)變：她決定在地球上的最后10年里沉溺于“對裸體運動的熱愛”。在加利福尼亞南部的高原沙漠，她與第三任也是最后一任丈夫一起實現(xiàn)了這個一絲不掛的夢想。

世界語試圖在語言上聯(lián)結(jié)整個世界，Morojo對其情有獨鐘，想必她也可能會愛上互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。Morojo強烈反對早期科幻迷圈內(nèi)的排他行為、性別歧視和種族主義，若是知道她1939年制作的“未來服飾”最終使粉絲群體發(fā)展得比她那個時代所能想象的更加多元、更具包容性，她一定會很欣慰。下次你進行角色扮演活動時，請記住Morojo，記住這個最先穿上角色裝扮服飾進入世界科幻大會的女人——她的這一時尚壯舉，讓女性的世界得以小小拓寬。? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?□

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎?wù)?單位：長沙市雅禮中學(xué)）