Top Ten Halloween Costumes For 2016

Google has passed on some Halloween information this week, mainly a list of the most popular Halloween costumes for 2016. Ok, it's not Halloween so how do they know? Either Google knows all, as some believe or they composed the list from from the top 500 costume searches in the U.S by Google users. The list is interesting, but Google should have asked me what I think about this. If I were costuming I would search for a prison outfit, a wig and a female pant suit to costume as 'Hillary Clinton Goes To Prison'. I find the thought exhilarating. If only the world was fair and Hillary would be sent to the slammer.

Back to reality. Here is the top ten from Goggle: 10) dinosaur 9) clown 8) Star Wars 7) Batman 6) witch 5) Wonder Woman 4) pirate 3) Super Girl 2) joker and the number one costume for this Halloween will be 'Harley Quinn'. Huh? What is that. Let me look on line to see...... Google says that "Harley Quinn is a fictional super villain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Batman." It also says that Harley likes murdering people. Hmmm This does reflect negatively on our costuming mental health. But at least they didn't run with my Hillary in prison idea. Hillary might be worse than Harley.

Outside of maniacal maniac Harley, that list looks pretty traditional. It is also loaded with fantasy hero types. But then, many of us live in a fantasy world of the internet and cell phone. I suppose it reflects  our desire to leave this messy and uncomfortable world, trading it for one of those cell apps, I suppose. The University of Miracosta in California, and  Rider University of New Jersey,  surveyed college students to study how a persons Halloween costume choice may say something about their personality or current life situations. The results are more common sense than surprising.

It said that Halloween costumes tend to follow a common theme, and the wearers personalities were the sometimes opposite  and sometimes similar to the different categories of costumes, but most students picked costumes for their peers that reflected an opposite persona compared to that students personality. It said that sexy Halloween costumes tend to reflect either a  repressed sexuality or a health expression of someone that is not very repressed. Individuals that choose celebrities for their costume may be trying to show their knowledge of trends, pop culture, and current events.

Those that choose celebrities may also be trying to express personality traits associated with that person such as intelligence or sexuality. People that choose to be scary characters such as zombies or vampires are said to be showing their fascination with horror, gore, and death. Individuals that choose costumes of innocence such as a princess of fairy are often trying to retrieve their lost innocence and go back to a much simpler stage of life. People that choose costumes of animals are said to be displaying a personality trait that they have or admire.

Finally, the study concluded that if someone picks a costume of a cartoon character it is often because they want to leave the seriousness of life for the evening and be silly  and light. Those that pick an evil villain are said to be expressing their dark side without feeling guilty. A villain costume may also represent a person trying to alienate themselves from others indicating that they feel anxiety about being intimate or feeling vulnerable. Picking a powerful character like a super hero or even a villain can represent a persons feelings of helplessness and insecurity.

So, what costume would you pick if you were to dress for Halloween?