White Mask of Doom: Difference between revisions

[[File:darker_than_blackdarker than black.png|link=Darker than Black|right]]

{{See also: [[|The Blank]].}}

** A majority of [[Char Clone|Char Clones]]s in [[Gundam]] sport a white mask in reference to the original.

* Used symbolically in Ingmar Bergman's ''[[The Seventh Seal]]''. Two of the characters (ironically, {{spoiler|the only major characters to survive the film's ending}}) are a husband-and-wife team of actors who [[Street Performer|perform shows in the streets of the towns they visit]] while wearing stark white face paint so glaring it shows up even on the film's black-and-white palette. We get to see one of their performances, which consists largely of them singing and playing [[Bawdy Song|Bawdy Songs]]s while wearing the whiteface. Their songs, while ostensibly entertaining, are quite crude and sound a bit...off, suggesting that something dire is about to happen. And in fact something dire ''does'' happen - namely, the show is interrupted by a procession of flagellating penitents wreathed in incense, loudly moaning ''[[Ominous Latin Chanting|Dies irae, dies illa, solvet saeclum in favilla...]]'' (which in English is "Day of wrath, day of mourning, Earth in smoldering ashes falling...").

** The assassins of the Eversor temple wear a similar white skull helmet. Where as the other temples of Officio Assassinorum rely on stealth, [[Cold Sniper|accuracy]], [[The Infiltration|misdirection]], [[The Soulless|and soul crushing power]], Eversor Assassins will crash through a wall and kill everyone in the building.<br /><br />An Eversor's mask looks like a giant skull. It pumps a stupendous amount of combat drugs directly into the brain; the wearer becomes a screaming ball of death and terror. The assassin will kill until he is killed or there is no one left. At which point he explodes.

** Koh, whose most memorable face is a female Noh mask .<ref>He actually has a lot of Noh-style masks, and this may have inspired his name.</ref>.

* ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'' has Dr. Facilier wear a Baron Samedi half-mask, but only during the climactic moments of his [[Villain Song]]. <ref>He's also seen wearing a grinning jester mask while incognito at the Labouff's masquerade ball.</ref>

* Plague doctors during the Black Death wore white bird masks to prevent from getting the plague. These masks also had the effect of being ''[http://arts.atenveldt.com/Portals/arts/2005/plague%20mask.jpg frickin terrifying]'', despite being a dead ringer for the Black Spy from ''[[Spy vs. Spy]]''. For some plague victims, that would be one of the last sights they'd ever see. Being scary was intentional -- theintentional—the doctors had to be fearsome and barely-trusted, half mythical figures, or else they'd get mobbed by the sick every time they went out. They also went armed with clubs. The "beak" was stuffed with sweet smelling herbs to mask the sickening smell of dying plague victims.

** Strangely enough, the mask and the rest of the plague doctor outfit actually functioned as a fairly effective, though crude, biohazard suit. Since the mask covered the mucous membranes--eyesmembranes—eyes, mouth and nose-- andnose—and doctors covered their bodies entirely with long, waxed robes, they were generally protected from plague spread by fleas or the victim's bodily fluids.