Theatrical Mask Analysis

I love wearing masks. I love transforming my entire being into something completely different. Offstage I’m Culley Emborg, a likeable, friendly, normal kid, but on stage, I can be anyone. Over the years, I have participated in ten musicals and I’ve played a variety of characters ranging from one of the oblivious Who-people in a Dr. Suess-inspired production to a spiteful doll in “Mary Poppins” to a crippled nerd in “13: The Musical.” The best character I’ve played, however, is the stupid yet loveable Leaf Coneybear from “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” As Leaf I wore the most wacky, unique outfit to ever grace my body: a pink bike helmet intended for little girls, knee pads decorated with Dora the Explorer stickers, a collared, tie-dye shirt, and even a long polkadot cape embroidered with a purple “L.” To this day that cape hangs on my bedroom wall and every time I happen to glance at it I reminisce about the odd boy it once belonged to.

The film King of Masks deals with and challenges the feudal idea that men are superior to women; this ideology, as the film portrays, results in alienation, tragedy and bitterness for girls in Chinese society and particularly the protagonist Doggie. In contrast, out of darkness, corruption, and poverty, the goodness of humanity and the human love sprung up from the master-apprentice relationship between Wang and Doggie will ultimately reign over narrow and backward traditional notions.

“Audiences today want a real experience in their live performance, because they can get great script based entertainment at home, through various new media sources. Traditional theatre, which appeals on a mental, and hopefully also emotional level, has not been enough to compete with other media, and audiences have been declining. Physical theatre, by contrast appeals to the audience on a physical and emotional level, providing a much more immediate experience than traditional theatre” ~ (Artmedia Publishing in Zen Zen Zo’s “The Tempest” Teacher’s Notes)

How did that costume give you insight into that particular character or into the “world” of the piece?

In Whitman’s poem Out From Behind This Mask, the poem starts out by talking about the passion and excitement that to many, lies just out of reach. Whitman is trying to illustrate how this ecstasy is much closer than once thought, by comparing the barrier as a curtain or a mask. The wonders that lie beyond this mask range from “passionate teeming plays” to “the glaze of God’s serenest, purest sky.” To Whitman, the possibilities are endless. In the first line, “Out from behind this bending, rough-cut mask”, Walt Whitman establishes that this poem has a personalized message for each reader with the “rough-cut mask” symbolizing everyone’s outside appearance (or face). The third and

The Mask may have started out with strict rules and uses; such as religious ceremonies, however, today they have become less serious with more levity interjected into their meaning. Halloween masks also reflect the spirit of merriment despite its sometimes gruesome appearance. This simple face piece has endured through time and has continued to grow to encompass the masses, demonstrating it will be a part of our lives for a long time to come with its all-inclusive

The 2015 documentary The Mask You Live In which is written, produced, and directed by Jennifer Lynn Newson, sheds a light on the state of masculinity in our American society. The film which is not yet rated, stars different people, from various racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. These individuals are called upon to share their stories and experiences with what it means to be a man. In company with these real stories, the film also features various interviews with experts in neuroscience, psychology, sociology, sports, education, and media as a way to provide empirical evidence of the film’s point of view on the state of masculinity in the United States. Newsom stated in an interview with Variety Magazine that she drew inspiration to make this documentary after she became pregnant with her son. The film aims to educate parents about how to raise their boys, and targets young men who feel like their feelings are invalidated by society.

In America, kids are taught to read by sounds, how “the” sound, how each syllable is supposed to sound like however I was though differently, since I was born in Canada. I am French Canadian and how we learned to read was by seeing the word and each word had a different picture of them, for example, “mama” ,the word for mom in french, looks totally different than “papa”,the word for dad. We were never forced to read anything however during our break, while in class, we did not have anything to do except strategy games or reading books, so we end up reading scary books or “go to a certain page ”books. Before coming to America, I had never ever had to write a book report in my life.

Mom, Morris wants me to tell you to stop smoking because it’s killing you. He will fight for his life, if you fight for yours.

The African masks are arguably the finest of creations in the art world. Traced back to Paleolithic times, they are the one of the oldest forms of Africa has to offer, some of the masks are still made with the raw material used from Paleolithic times like leather, metal, and various types of wood. They represent ancestors, mythological heroes, animals, moral values, or a form of honoring someone with great power. Though these masks are considered fine art, African masks are more than just fine art to the African people.

The Mende people created an art that was unique to them. They used masks to express their culture and the personalities of their group. A special characteristic of the masks is that each mask represents something opposite of each other. With this, the Mende people show the difference between one thing and its opposite. For example, masks that are used might represent light while another represents dark.

An allusion that appeared in Ryan Holiday’s article is when he used “Hannibal Lecter mask”, to describe how Trump is evil and bipolar (6). The best way to simplify the meaning of an allusion, is an indirect quote towards a particular thing and person; however, also grasping the reference which gets the point across. Since the author makes the comment of “Hannibal Lecter” the reader can make the reference of the allusion that Trump is like the character of the movies which is a cannibal; therefore, the author paints Trump as inhumane (Holiday 6).

“ The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Now imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer, to be our true individual selves if we didn’t have the weight of gender expectations.” (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) Two ideas that we discussed is why boys/men don’t like to express themselves or emotions. Another discussion that we had was about how Harvey Milk was getting a lot of hate because he was a gay politician that wanted to run for office.

MirrorMask is a fantasy/drama film that was released on September 30th, 2005. This movie was very different from a normal fairy tale. This movie was about a girl named Helena, she worked in a circus with her Mom and Dad and they barely got by financially. Helena didn’t want to work in the circus anymore, she wanted to be ‘normal’ like everybody else. Helena is also an incredible artist, her room was filled with artwork. When she falls asleep one day, she woke up in a magical land that was filled with her drawings, the kingdom was her drawings. After finding out they need to get the mirrormask to save the kingdom, she embarks on an adventure to save the kingdom and along the way, she meets a guy, that accompanies alongside with her. Is it true love?

I have decided to compare a movie by the name of Mask, Alexsandro Palombo’s interpretation of Disney princesses with disabilities, and a photo of America’s Next Disabled Top Models. The reason for choosing these for comparison is because I believe at first glance they might portray a certain feeling but as you look deeper the real (another) meaning presents itself.