Masquerade: Difference between revisions

Alternately, usually in shows that are on the comedy side, a large portion of the general public actually believes the [[Masquerade]] exists and the very authority figures whom they assume are covering it up are actually the ones being kept in the dark. [[The Men in Black]] may even spread true rumors with the intent that a [[Crazy Survivalist]] will deny them. It works, because without enough evidence to unravel the conflicting stories, the general public only get a general idea that they are being deceived.

 

 

If the Masquerade does manage to get blown wide open for ''everyone'', [[The Unmasqued World]] may result. If the masquerading beings aren't remotely human looking, they will have at least one means to [[They Look Like Us Now|pose as human]].

The word "Masquerade" appears with this meaning in the 1958 [[Robert Heinlein]] novel ''[[Methuselahs Children|Methuselah's Children]]'', as the code-name which the extremely long-lived Howard Families apply to their efforts to conceal their longevity from ephemerals (the short-lived three-score-and-ten-years majority of the human race). A later example appears in the [[Tabletop Games|Tabletop RPG game]] ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade (Tabletop Game)|Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', published by White Wolf Games since the early 1990s (and its short-lived TV series spinoff, 1996's ''[[Kindred the Embraced|Kindred: The Embraced]]''). "The Masquerade" referred to the necessity for vampires to hide their existence.

 

 

Not to be confused with [[Masquerade Ball]] or ''[[Masquerade (Fanfic)|Masquerade]]''.

== Anime and Manga ==

* The Roppongi Club in ''[[Speed Grapher]]'' usually covers up everything that goes awry and might expose them by either buying off people or killing them, but this starts getting harder and harder to pull off when [[Spanner in The Works|Tatsumi Saiga]] enters the picture.

* ''[[Strawberry Panic (Light Novel)|Strawberry Panic]]'' has a fairly obvious one going (on behalf of the students) to blind the faculty to the massive amounts of [[Girls Love]] going on. Since the story is set at a Catholic school, this is justified. This does have a dark side, though, in that sexual predation is more or less buried and handled informally in much the same manner.

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', a world with similarities to ''[[Harry Potter]]'', has as the first defense to magic a simple worldwide spell that prevents muggles from noticing anything [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|really obviously weird]]. Things like Negi flying on his staff are written off as nobody looking up. However it is possible for magic to be figured out or noticed, in that case the person suffers a bout of [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|forgetfulness]]. Any mage who does break the Masquerade is threatened with punishment (such as being turned into an ermine). This especially comes up in the second series, ''Negima?!'', when two "observers" threaten Negi every single episode as more and more students become aware of him (and hiding this fact becomes increasingly difficult). The school being an [[Elaborate University High]] with oddities like [[The World Tree]] and a huge dungeon for a library helps in dismissing the few scattered reports of magic [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|as just part of the package]], as does humanity's natural inclination to dismiss the illogical.

* Used in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' by most people. Whereas most of the supernatural world tries to keep out of the eyes of normal people, Harry actually ''advertises'' his status as a Wizard and assists the Chicago Police Department's Special Investigations branch in mysterious cases. Many people still think he's a charlatan, however. ''Proven Guilty'' has a villain tell Harry that he dare not threaten the [[Masquerade]] by acting against him in public. Harry comments that he's listed in the phone book, under Wizards.

** In one book, Harry specifically notes that involving the general public in supernatural conflicts would result in an escalation into global chaos. However, in a later book, when fighting an enemy faction that refuses to adhere to any of established rules, he seriously considers the option of getting the government to attack them under guise of them being terrorists (which is what they are anyways). Calling in mortals is seen as something of a "nuclear option" in the supernatural world. They may not know what's going on, but they can keep throwing bodies, guns, and potentially actual nukes at a problem until it goes away. Consequently most supernatural creatures keep a moderately low profile, though the mortals' [[Weirdness Censor]] means they don't have to try very hard, even if they have contempt for humans individually.

** The wizarding world also has an internal Masquerade with the Oblivion War, an attempt to destroy ancient evil gods. They have a very good reason for keeping quiet, because the only way for the gods to cease to exist is for no mortal to remember they exist at all. Recruiting people than absolutely necessary or sharing information is counterproductive, and they have no idea how many gods they've erased, because any record of them would let them hang on.

* As said above, the actual phrase "masquerade" appears in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Methuselahs Children|Methuselah's Children]]'', in which the "Howards" conceal their long lifespans from the rest of humanity, mainly because their long lifespans come from a program of selective breeding. ("Hey, we live for three times as long as you! Sorry, we're just special, there's no way you can have this.") The novel starts with the consequences of an attempt to drop the Masquerade which has gone badly.

 

== Web Original ==

* In Breeniverse series such as ''[[Lonely Girl 15]]'' and ''[[Kate Modern]]'', the Order of Denderah is a worldwide [[Ancient Conspiracy]] which uses various front organizations to hide its true nature from the public.

* ''[[New York Magician]]'': Unless they can See or Hear, people simply ''can't'' notice the supernatural events around them. Interestingly, when mundane people find out about the magical world, they usually take a very short time before coming to grips with it.

* The first of "Da Rules" in ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents|The Fairly OddParents]]'' is that a kid may never reveal the existence of fairy godparents, on pain of separation and memory erasure. At least once, Timmy got around this by erasing the memory of a fairy first.

** FOP has an ass-load of loopholes on this one. For example: Kids can pass them off as something else (used in the Jimmy Neutron crossovers), etc.

** Many fans have tried attributing the ghosts' lack of exposing his identity to many things such as some sort of ghost laws Danny has no knowledge of (like the Christmas truce) to some sort of threat from Vlad Masters (also a half ghost) as if Danny were exposed he could easily expose Vlad.

*** Danny actually states this- if he gets exposed, his friends and family will stick by him (and when he eventually does, they do), but Vlad will be in big trouble (when ''he'' eventually exposes himself, other issues are at hand)

[[Category:The Index Is Watching You]]

[[Category:Masquerade]]