masks and the masquerade
May. 15th, 2019 09:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliA superhero secret identity has its affinities to the masquerade. To be sure, the superhero is known to the public world in both identities, where the magical creatures may be hiding not only that they are vampires or werewolves, but that they exist at all -- and if not, it's the mundane identity only.
Was pondering it because of reading stories where it really was like the masquerade. In fact, in one, it was -- the reason why a simple domino mask would hide an identity (at least until the talking dog smelled you out) was the same magic that let a man with goat legs walk down Wall Street unnoticed. In another, it was a pervasive effect, not controlled by any known being.
But, while they have the motives down pat unlike many masquerades, the convention is that a domino mask hides your identity, just as a character in an Elizabethan play speaks blank verse.
Makes me muse. There are no secret identities in Through A Mirror, Darkly or in another super tale I'm working, despite their integral part in the genre. (Except for some supervillains for obvious reasons.) But I had had another idea where they were part, and it's stirring. Then, the hero has as good as reason as the supervillains normally do. . . .
Was pondering it because of reading stories where it really was like the masquerade. In fact, in one, it was -- the reason why a simple domino mask would hide an identity (at least until the talking dog smelled you out) was the same magic that let a man with goat legs walk down Wall Street unnoticed. In another, it was a pervasive effect, not controlled by any known being.
But, while they have the motives down pat unlike many masquerades, the convention is that a domino mask hides your identity, just as a character in an Elizabethan play speaks blank verse.
Makes me muse. There are no secret identities in Through A Mirror, Darkly or in another super tale I'm working, despite their integral part in the genre. (Except for some supervillains for obvious reasons.) But I had had another idea where they were part, and it's stirring. Then, the hero has as good as reason as the supervillains normally do. . . .