It's (NOT!) A Mask Fetish

I have a thing about masks.

Oh yeah.

We'll say a fascination with masks, to avoid another certain icky word (. . . fetish? Who said that?!)

Masks have many interesting implications; mystery, danger, fear. They're also timeless; masks have been used for thousands of years. Since I know I'm not the only one fascinated with masks it's important to ask, Why are masks so interesting? (Of course, none of this has anything to do with the fact that I simply want to look at men in masks . . . )

The Obvious: Anonymity

(The Town) Better masks than old nuns, imo

Ski masks, bandannas and balaclavas have long been used as a criminal guise, to hide the perpetrator's identity and evade capture. Real crimes and the real purpose of masks then slunk easily into fiction, capturing our fear and, possibly, our thirst for adventure. They cover everyone from Old West train robbers to bank robbers to home invaders. Real crimes are terrible, so why reenact this criminal signature in fiction? What is the allure? Surely for authenticity, but why else? Because train robbers, bank robbers and burglars represent a radical snap in an everyday routine, a dangerous situation, an powder keg ready to blow, all sparked by a view of the first masked criminal. And that's exciting.

Another Obvious: Cover Up

(Kingdom of Heaven) The Leper King

Hiding a wearer's face doesn't exclusively mean they're hiding a crime, sometimes they're just hiding their face. A famous case was depicted in the movie Kingdom of Heaven in The Leper King, who was a real person, King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem in the 1100's, though it's uncertain whether he really wore a mask or not. Many other characters have used masks to hide injuries or disfigurements: V (V for Vendetta) who was badly burned or the Phantom (Phantom of the Opera) who was born disfigured. What is the allure in covering ugliness? Because it's not ugliness they're covering, it's weakness. By putting on the mask and covering their physical weakness, they become greater, stronger even than a normal person with a normal human face. V says it best, “Behind this mask there is more than just flesh.Beneath this mask there is an idea . . . and ideas are bulletproof.”

He's more samurai than man.

A Little Bit of Both: Fear

A masked criminal is a fearful sight because he's prepared and committed to do something bad. But it's more than that. If the mask covers up weakness and turns the wearer into something “more than just flesh” what does it turn him into? For V, an idea, an icon. For, say, Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)? Or Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13^th)? Something beyond human and therefore something without restraint, remorse or conflict, like an animal, a demon or, that word that we crave for our greatest villains, a monster. This tactic was used in real life long before Leatherface or Jason; Mempo Samurai masks, which mimicked folkloric demons or goblins, lent the eminence of death to great warriors (you might recognize traits of the Mempo mask in another very popular modern mask . . .?)

Though these are not the only reasons behind wearing masks (conformity, cultural significance, religious meaning, prestige etc.) I think they're the most primal of the bunch. Being fascinated by masks, of course I created a badass in a mask; Zensor. Zensor embodies all three of these masked concepts. “When the Jo-Ki take the mask,” Zensor explains, “they forsake their identity. The mask shelters their blame. Their crimes.”

Not just him, all the covers have masks!