The film again captures the view of Rocky’s face and
the first impression people have when Rocky goes to his first day of school. At
the junior high school the students see him and make their impression and Rocky
carries on as he always has. The students seem to overlook the fact that a biker
from the gang dropped Rocky off at the school. In most junior high schools a
student that is dropped off by a biker would get the full attention of
bystanders. In this case all they notice is Rocky’s facial deformity. As time
passes the students like the principal accept Rocky for who he is. The
acceptance of “who he is” is a very important theme that constantly comes up in
the movie. At one point Rocky gets in an argument with his mother in which he
asks her “Don’t you get it, it’s girls?” Rusty’s answer to this is quite
shocking. She goes to a bar to find a prostitute so that her son can experience
being with a girl. After meeting her Rocky ends up talking to her and giving her
advice and seems to form an emotional bond with her. The end of this scene takes
place when Rocky has a conversation with Gar. Gar, played by Sam Elliot, is the
only true father figure Rocky has in the absence of his real father. During this
conversation Gar explains that Rusty may not always to the right thing but she
always tries to do what is right for her son. As a whole this scene shows us how
Rocky feels about love and romance with a girl. The argument he has with his
mother shows us that he does not feel he can have a relationship with a girl
because of his face. Although the prostitute is paid to be there with him the
conversation he has with her shows us that Rocky is fully capable of creating a
relationship of the kind he is looking for.
The conversation he has with Gar
also gives some insight of his lifestyle, it gets the viewer thinking that maybe Rocky’s lifestyle has a little bit to do with what goes on in his life and the
way people look at him. In essence Rocky’s difference in lifestyle takes the
viewer of the film away from his face. After all of these interesting new
emotion take hold Rocky decides that he will take the job at the summer camp.
The camp is for blind children so chances are he will not be troubled with his
face making false first impressions. From the moment Rocky arrives at the camp
he is greeted and judged as someone without a facial deformity. This is evident
when he is asked to remove his mask. Rocky jokingly shows that he can’t take off
a mask because he isn’t wearing one. The reason this is a warm and
non-judgmental greeting is because the person was not saying it in order to
upset Rocky. It was just that from the distance that he was standing it looked
like a mask. It is more evident as we watch Rocky and his relationship with
Diana. Diana, played by Laura Dern, is a blind girl his age that can’t judge
Rocky by his face because she can’t see it. Diana eventually becomes Rocky’s
first girlfriend and at the end of the summer exchanges phone numbers with Rocky
and promises to keep in touch. At the end of the summer Rocky goes back home and
back to high school. With all of the new students in his new school Rocky is
again stuck behind his face and trying to make a first impression. This time we
see someone tell him to take off his mask, and Rocky reacts by pushing the
person into a locker while shouting back “I’ll take my mask off when you take
off yours,” this is a very emotional scene in the movie. We have seen Rocky for
who he is and this scene makes us feel how he feels, and that is angry with this
other boy. The results of the emotions we watch Rocky endure are that we feel
them ourselves. The movie is able show us how a person with a facial deformity
is a person. The only thing different about a person with a facial deformity is
that they do no fit the mold we have stereotypically put on how a face should
look. This movie enables the viewer to throw this stereotype out and view a
person with a facial deformity as a person.
Bibliography
Mask Dir. Peter Bogdanovich. Pref. Eric Stoltz, Cher, Sam Elliot, Laura Dern.
1985
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