Take Off That Mask
Take Off That Mask As sad as it seem first impressions often dictate the way
people feel about one another. In most cases the way a person looks doesn’t at
all reflect on their personality. This stigma of the way a person looks goes far
beyond being pretty and ugly. All to often people are assumed mentally retarded
because of a facial deformity when in fact that person is as able or in many
cases more then able to perform and task they are asked to perform. Ironically
in this modern society where such stigmas exist, some movies are able change our
thinking if not remove the stigmas altogether. The film Mask is a perfect
example. This movie shows the stigmas for what they are and at the same time
changes our impression of facial deformity. This movie enables anyone who views
it look at a person and see them for who they are and not what they look like.
The film Mask we see the story of Rocky Denis, played by Eric Stoltz, is a
teenage boy dealing with the effects of craniodiaphyseal dysplasia.
Craniodiaphyseal Dysplasia also known as Lionitis, is a life shortening disease
that causes calcium to accumulate in the skull. The calcium make the head grow
to twice the normal size. Rocky obviously does not look like the average
teenager. This is an observation we can see right away. Outside of the way Rocky
looks his lifestyle is also slightly different from most teens.
His mother
Rusty, played by Cher, is affiliated with a gang of bikers. She drinks and uses
drugs, and although she seems to try and hide these things from Rocky he is well
aware of what his mother is doing. The movie is quick to bring some of the
stigmas about Rocky’s disorder to our attention. In two scenes we see how people
outside of Rocky’s immediate family treat his disorder. First we see how the
principal of the local public junior high school views Rocky. He tells Rocky and
Rusty that, “There are special schools for children like Rocky,” the principal
upon looking at Rocky immediately thinks he is mentally retarded. Rusty shows
him this is far from the truth by giving the principal his grades from lower
levels of schooling. She then threatens to sue the school if he does not enroll
Rocky. Rocky shows the principal a thing or two when he goes on to graduate with
awards for excellence in almost every academic subject. The principal also shows
Rocky a little surprise when he offers him a job at a summer camp for blind
children. The second scene is particularly disturbing because it takes place in
a hospital. In this scene a doctor that is not familiar with Rocky’s case tries
to explain to Rocky and Rusty the unfortunate truth of his life expectancy.
Rocky and Rusty deal with the situation by pretty much brushing off everything
the young doctor says. The reason this scene is disturbing is because the doctor
inadvertently makes himself no better then a common person misjudging Rocky. The
one place you would think Rocky can be free from these stigmas seems to be worse
then the outside world when a doctor gives off the emotions of a person seeing
Rocky for the first time.
