Costumes that are intense, perfectly designed replicas of demons found in Japanese folklore get much less respect than tweaked versions of a popular icon.

Dressing like Oiwa, the droopy-eyed ghost of Japan, at a mausoleum costume ball got comments like:

“Who are you?”

“She doesn’t know who she is”  (insultingly, from somone dressed as a Dean Koontz character)

“Are you a dead geisha?”

Dressing like a lady Ronald McDonald for work got comments like:

“That’s amazing.”

“I can’t believe you did this.”

“Where did you find this outfit?  It’s perfect!”

“I’m lovin’ it!”

“You make a good Michael Jackson!”

Peope don’t want to see the handiwork of an amazing costume– they just want to recognize it.

Representing a figure who is too obscure implies they don’t know something, or they don’t get the joke.  As humans, we all want to be in on the joke.  And when we’re excluded, we’re indifferent.  Or dismissive.

Or confrontational.

This Halloween, I also learned that costume contact lenses are not to be played with, and wll send you crying to the ER with a corneal abrasion.

I also learned that you can’t drive a car with an eye patch.

Next Halloween’s costume is going to be a pop-culture explosion, with no need for eye alteration.  Live, learn, and optimize.