Being John Malkovich

I think that this film is a unique way to introduce the topic of masking and invisibility. It is a modern movie that many students have already seen, but when put into context of the class "Masking and Invisibility," it can be seen in a completely new light. This piece allows for us to evaluate and understand what it means to mask ones self or others. It allows us to see what it truly means to mask and conceal ones own image. It is such an unusual, yet constructive piece that immediately provokes questioning of our views on what we think it means to mask or be made invisible.

The Mask

This 1994 film delves into the physical possibilities of putting on masks to conceal an identity. We will discover the negative consequences of masking through this film. At various points within the film we learn specific definitions of what it means to mask. We will use this film to help identify what our definitions of masking are at the end of the unit.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

A specific episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer shows an excellent example of what it means to be invisible. In this episode a young girl engages in her first years of High School in an unfamiliar environment. She experiences what every adolescent fears: invisibility. Her peers do not acknowledge her existence leading her to physically become invisible by the closing of the show. We will use this example to discover what it means to be invisible.

The Usual Suspects

This movie will begin our investigation of what masking and invisibility mean in our society. This movie will engage us into discovering what it means to be masked in a broader sense than our original definitions lead us to believe. We will uncover the life of Keyser Soze and learn to discover how this movie suggests masking from the perspective of an ingenious criminal. We will question what type of people are seen as masking themselves as well as discovering that masking does not have positive outcomes in our society.

Primal Fear

This novel is a strong example of a double-whammy of how masking is used. We will uncover the multiple personality disorder of a young boy, whose personality "Roy" has viciously murdered the all-superior archbishop. We will discover an unusual ending that will leave us further questioning our opinions of what to means to mask and how people go about masking. On the opposite side of this picture is the archbishop who we later learn has been teaching and making pornography videos with the altar boys. All around, this novel is full of masking and how we understand it in our society.

Silence of the Lambs

This film examines a serial killer's motives for covering up his true identity because of his remorse of his true gender. He focuses on making a mask from the skin of females. We learn from this film what it means to conceal our identities from others. Jodie Foster's character illustrates her masking the cries of these females by trying to save the lambs. This film is used to symbolize the complexity of what it means to mask.

The General's Daughter

This text deals with an innocent woman who gets raped and whose father decides to cover up this experience for the sake of the military. We learn later that she covers up her actions of sexual abuse of men later on, to get back at her father for not telling the police about her rape. Through this novel, we will uncover the negative effects of masking ones actions and behaviors. Eventually, evidence arises that suggests that the police officer in charge of investigating the crime has been masking himself all along.

1984

This novel revamps what it means to be a free individual. During this fictional novel, Big Brother, is seen as the all knowing being that is everywhere. We notice in this novel that the people that live in these three countries all become brainwashed by Big Brother. However, a man named Winston does not believe that this is the "right" way that society should work. He and his girlfriend, Julie, end up going against the system and are eventually caught. Once this happens, they never see each other again, and the man who first gave him the idea to stand up against Big Brother tortures Winston. From this we see that both masking and invisibility come into play from two opposing characters. In conclusion, we find out that Winston ends up conforming to societies ways. This example reveals to us the pressures of being invisible in a conformed society.

Life is Beautiful

This film by Roberto Benigni portrays life in Italy and Germany during the early 1940's. By viewing this well-made movie of the Holocaust, we will discover a man who does everything in his power to cover up the events of the Holocaust for his son. This movie explores the ideas of masking and invisibility within concentration camps during the Holocaust. We will uncover the Nazi's who make the Jews invisible, as well as the masking of the pain that Jews undertake. This film will benefit our history unit in that we will learn how the Holocaust is masked and made invisible through various perspectives.

The Broken Spears

This text marks the beginning of our history outlook in relation to masking and invisibility. As history tells us, the Aztec account is masked by the white society who has covered up the true history of the conquest. This novel engages us in the "un-masking" of the Aztec account. We learn what happened through the perspective of the Aztecs, rather than the perspective of the white society. We will start to develop a new understanding of what it means to mask different accounts of history.

The Narrative of Fredrick Douglas

This text is similar to The Broken Spears in that it is an African American man who works to "un-mask" societies ways of treating slaves. This short story works to uphold how Fredrick Douglas strived to get away from this way of living to be a free man. From this story we will discover the problems that Douglas faced while growing up. In addition, we will learn how African Americans have been masked and the way that they worked against this difficulty.