Over the years, halloween costumes have shifted to portray different outlooks on the holiday of Halloween. There are scary costumes and then more cute, or even if dared to say, sexy, costumes. With this generation, it is rare to see a costume that makes you jump a little, unless that jump is coming from a state of shock from the audacity to wear something so scandalous.
Halloween parties started to become more popular during the 1930s. People would either wear a skeleton, witch, or ghost costume. In the twenty first century, people now wear their cute and funny costumes to Halloween parties with their friends. It is more common to see a “cute” vampire costume rather than one with fangs and fake blood, but do cute costumes truly represent Halloween?
While cute costumes may be fun to wear, they are overrated. People should wear costumes without the pressure of having to fit in with the rest of the crowd. It shouldn’t be discouraging to wear a costume with some fake blood or unappealing aspects. For instance, there is one scene in Mean Girls when the main character, Cady, shows up to a Halloween party in a dead bride costume with disgusting fake teeth, she is surprised to see that she is the only one who dressed up to be scary instead of cute. Cady then feels embarrassed for wearing a costume that reflects the ideals of Halloween.
The change with Halloween costumes over the years is partly due the fact that schools started to outlaw things like scary masks and any costume involving violence. While this may protect innocent children’s eyes from anything spooky, this causes the younger generations to dress up as things like Elsa from Frozen instead of an old witch. By changing our values for what is “appropriate” for Halloween, we have moved away from dressing up as scary characters.
