Masks in Movies Pt 5

Yet through all the horror of the 70’s and 80’s, something happened as we approached the 90’s. Our heroes would start to return, yet almost as dark as the villains they encountered. In 1989, “Batman”, directed by Tim Burton, returned the hero to the screen. However, this was not the campy Batman of the 1960’s. This batman was in black, he prowled a gothic Gotham City, and he meant business. His nemesis, The Joker, was not the Sid Cesar of old, but a psychotic Jack Nicholson, who was possibly more liked than the hero! Dark, twisted humor was the order of the day. And fans flocked to the cinema, raking in over 200 million dollars domestic box office, which back in 1989 was almost unheard of, an era where “Star Wars” was at the top of the fox office records with over 300 million. The franchise would spawn one sequel under Burton (Batman Returns), with a latex clad Catwoman in Michelle Pfeiffer, before being turned over to Joel Shumacher for two rather underwhelming sequels. But the idea of heroes being as dark as their villains started to take hold.

Heist films would start to become noted in the cinema for their use of masks in the 90’s. Now heist films had been around for many years, but the masks, often baklavas, or maybe pantyhose, were merely a prop. Certainly Stanley Kubrick’s “The Killers” had the antagonists wearing pig type of masks, but it wasn’t until Point Break caught filmgoers attention. The film, in which the characters wore masks of various presidents, caught filmgoers imagination. The movie is probably more well known for the masks, than for the actual film; Point Break with simple baklavas would come across as “just another Heist film. “ “Heat” is another heist film where the masks, this time hockey masks not unlike “Jason” masks, are worn in the film. This film also has Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro , two of the greatest actors of the generation, in the film which obviously helped. The climactic shootout between the masked gunmen and police is one of the highlights of cinema history. “Sugar And Spice”, a teen comedy heist film, portrays the characters in identical “Barbie” masks. The twist in the film is that the “villains” are all cheerleaders helping out their pregnant fellow cheerleader. More recently, “The Town”, where the characters wear various masks, from monsters, to hockey masks (a tribute to Heat) to elderly nuns(!), and The Dark Knight, where the movie opens to a heist with clown mask clad robbers continue the heist genre. What is notable about all these films, people wish to have replicas of the masks. They empathise as wanting “the big score” and some excitement in their lives. Also notable is the masks are either suggest innocence (nuns, Barbie) or are cynically appropriate (presidents/politicians). So we see that the masks in fact become part of the story, and are often featured prominently on ads for said films (“Heat”, “Sugar and Spice”, “Point Break” and “The Town”).

As movies moved into the 21st Century, the heroes and their masks became more fantastic. At the dawning of the new century, masked heroes have returned, again with a twist. Advances in computer effects now allow for “fantastic” heroes to come forth. “Spiderman” (2001) would be one of the first examples of this. Crawling walls, and swinging from webs, the movie was a comic book brought to life. “Iron Man”(2008) is another example of this-a robot-like suit of armour allows the hero to fly and blast repulsor rays. Yet looking at these fantastic heroes, the masks need noting. The masks are “full face” ones, not exposing any humanity-because possibly they aren’t seen as human. Flying, swinging on webs, crawling on walls-these fantastic elements could be seen as dehumanizing the hero. They are beyond human in their form. Yet these heroes regularly “unmask” during the film, to show us the human side of us. It’s an interesting contrast between the “humble” human and the “fantastic” hero that sets him apart from those he wishes to protect The Batman franchise would restart in 2006 with a return to its darker roots. Christian Bale would take up the lead role as the Caped Crusader “Batman Begins”. A sequel would follow, “The Dark Knight”. This sequel, even darker than the first, starred the late Heath Ledger as The Joker in a performance that was considered by many to rival Nicholson’s. Ledger died shortly after the filming was completed due a drug overdose. “The Dark Knight” was a critical and box office smash, recording over five hundred million at the North American box office alone. Part of the mythology about the Batman stories is about masks that are worn, and the psychological importance of the “alter ego”. Also in 2006, “V for Vendetta” opened. A story about a masked anti-hero who wears a Guy Fawkes mask, the story in unusual in that, unlike most hero movies, we never see an unmasked “V”. The character, played by Hugo Weaving, either is seen on screen with his mask on, or shots without his mask do not show the character’s face. In a symbolic way, the mask is more important than who is wearing it; it is about the ideal that is trying to be communicated. The mask is the symbol of the revolution, and Guy Fawkes is certainly an appropriate image.