Masked Deviants in Twentieth-century Entertainments: Constructing a Theory of Sociallyameliorative Destruction

Masks and mask-like makeup in public entertainments and public life were once commonplace: from the Onna and Ghost masks of Noh theatre to the Krampus and Perchten of Germanic alpine parades and festivals. Although masks had been transformed in Western perception in the 18th-19th centuries into a device for deviance, recently, groups like Mummenschanz, Cirque du Soleil, and others, as well as the surviving ancient theatre around the world have resurrected the mask. Simultaneous to this a renewed interest in blood and terror. From the Grand Guignol theatre of France to the films Halloween and V for Vendetta the mask has become in many ways synonymous with deviant behavior. What this book seeks to do is to explore mask use for deviant behavior in theatre and film. The behavior and the perceptions of the masks are explicated using theories of deviant behavior from sociology, social psychology, cognitive science, criminology, and moral theory. This book takes the stance that deviance in a narrative can be either punished/resolved or unpunished/unresolved and asks what each of these narrative dramaturgies might say about the hegemonic structures in the societies that bred them.