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Quote for the week: "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
~Oscar Wilde |
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Masks have become part of our lives due to the coronavirus pandemic. We wear them to protect ourselves from contracting the virus as well as to protect others in case we are unknowingly infected.
Eventually the pandemic and all that goes with it will probably become the subject of books and movies, masks have long been part of works of fiction, including horror. Well known horror characters who wear masks include Jason Voorhees of "Friday the Thirteenth," Michael Myers of "Halloween," Leatherface from "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and the Phantom of the Opera from the play, book, and movie of the same name.
Masked villains from other genres include Darth Vader of "Star Wars" and Lesley May of Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London" series.
Of course, a character does not need to be evil to wear a mask. Masked heroes include the Lone Ranger, Zorro, Batman, and countless other superheroes.
A character may wear a mask to conceal facial injuries. Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, wears his mask to conceal a seriously deformed face. In the original novel, Erik was deformed since birth, but different versions have included other explanations for his appearance, such as acid thrown to the face. In the novel, Erik's entire face was deformed, while in movie and stage adaptations the injury and the mask only cover half his face. This change was made due to concerns about the difficulty of facial expression by an actor on stage in a full mask.
Lesley May's mask covers facial injuries sustained when she was possessed by Punch, the vengeful spirit of riot, rebellion, and anarchy who used magic to distort her features to resemble his own. When the possessing spirit left her body, the structure of her face collapsed. Lesley's partner in crime, the Faceless Man occasionally wears masks, but his true disguise is one of magic. People who have met him find themselves unable to recall any details of his appearance, while some have no memory of meeting him at all.
Other characters wear masks simply to disguise their identities. Real life evil characters such as the Ku Klux Klan conceal their features behind masks and costumes made of bedsheets while performing hateful acts of racism.
While it may seem difficult to believe that a simple eye mask would keep people from realizing that Zorro is actually Don Diego de la Vega, very few other characters figure it out. This is partly due to the fact that he conceals his fighting ability and true nature by pretending to be a coward. In this case the audience has the fun of being in on a secret that the characters do not know.
Masks can be fairly simple and still be frightening. Jason wears a hockey mask he has taken off one of his victims. Michael Myers' mask is a Captain Kirk mask painted white. The unnamed killer in "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" wears a mask that appears to be a pillowcase with eyeholes cut out.
The beaklike masks worn by plague doctors in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries were filled with strongly aromatic substances that were believed to protect them from disease. The plague doctors might make good horror characters, since they appear to be creepy humanoid birds
Some masks are quite beautiful, such as many of the feathered or sequined masks worn for Mardi Gras. It might be interesting to create a masked horror character who is beautiful rather than creepy.
Something to try: Write a horror story that involves masked characters. |
| | The Temple (13+)
A homeless man maintains a temple to an unlikely God accepting extreme sacrifices.
#2191232 by J.B. Ezar  |
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Horror/Scary: April 29, 2020 Issue [#10145]
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