Surgical Impersonation: Difference between revisions

A subtrope of [[Magic Plastic Surgery]], this is when a person, whether by accident or on purpose, ends up with the face of another through reconstructive surgery. Usually, some kind of big accident is involved (or staged) that leads to the fateful operation, or the person might just disappear for a while and come back with the new face. However, as mentioned, this is a subtrope of [[Magic Plastic Surgery]]: it is not enough that the person has a new face, it is a ''specific'' face, the face of someone else that is known to the other characters, perhaps even a character who's a participant in the story. Also, this isn't LITERALLY''literally'' having the other person's face ([[Face Off|usually...]]), just having surgery to look like the other person. Bottom line is this: the person's new face is not a random or unknown one, it is a face well known to the other characters. Also, this is not the same as [[Latex Perfection]]: while that might be another way of impersonating someone, it is not at all permanent like Surgical Impersonation is, nor does it have as many dramatic options.

* [[Identity Amnesia]]: A very interesting combination: a character suffers amnesia and is given someone else's face. This can lead to a [[Tomato in Thethe Mirror]] situation in which the character eventually finds, to his horror, that he's not the person everyone claims he is. A [[MiningConveniently AccidentUnverifiable OnCover TroyStory]] might also play a part here. If the author wants to hit the character with the full whammy, he might go for [[Amnesiac Dissonance]], too.

* [[Dead Person Impersonation]]: One of the more common tropes associated with this one: the person is impersonating a deceased person for some motive or another, usually revenge. If the impersonator CAUSED''caused'' the original's death, it's [[Kill and Replace]]. It can also be a case of [[My Sibling Will Live Through Me]]: the person receiving the surgery takes this trope to the extreme, becoming physically identical to the dead relative.

* Probably the most literal example is ''[[Face Off|Face/Off]]'', in which a policeman undergoes a special operation in which he has his face literally taken off and replaced with a crime lord's in order to infiltrate his organization... and later the crime lord manages to get the cop's face put on him to return the favor.

* In [[Ed Wood (Creatorcreator)|Ed Wood]]'s ''Jail Bait'', a crook blackmails a plastic surgeon to change his face so the police won't recognize him. The plastic surgeon responds by giving him the face of his (the surgeon's) own son, who's been falsely accused of murder.

* ''[[Diamonds Are Forever (Film)|Diamonds Are Forever]]''. Blofeld has two [[Mook|mooksmook]]s undergo plastic surgery to make them look like him in order to distract [[James Bond (Filmfilm)|James Bond]].

{{quote| '''Flint:''' They're impostors.<br />

'''Cramden:''' Gridley? He's been with us...That's Gridley!<br />

* A subplot in ''[[LAL.A. Confidential]]'' involves a ring of prostitutes who received plastic surgery to make them look like famous actresses.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Get Smart (TV)|Get Smart]]'': In one of the many [[Spot the Imposter]] episodes, master impersonator Alexi Sebastian has his face altered to look like [[Da Chief]].

* In the ''[[The Man Fromfrom UNCLEU.N.C.L.E.|The Man from UNCLE]]'' episode "The Double Affair," a THRUSH agent gets Magic Plastic Surgery and voice training to look and sound like Napoleon Solo so he can replace him and sabotage UNCLE affairs.

* An assassin in ''[[Twenty Four|24]]'' does this by impersonating a photographer and stealing his identity to get through security.

== [[Theatre]] ==

[[Category:DoppelgangerDoppelgänger]]