History BecomingTheMask / RealLife

* It's not uncommon for people who start engaging with creative works on a purely ironic level or pretending to enjoy it for the purpose of humor or mockery to develop a genuine appreciation for it through a combination of exposure and seeing legitimate merit the more time they are around it, particularly with music. There's actually a phrase for this: "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_it_till_you_make_it Fake it till you make it.]]"

* It's not uncommon for people who start engaging with creative works on a purely ironic level or pretending to enjoy it for the purpose of humor or mockery to develop a genuine appreciation for it through a combination of exposure and seeing legitimate merit the more time they are around it, particularly with music.

* It's not uncommon for people who start engaging with creative works on a purely ironic level or pretending to enjoy it for the purpose of humor to develop a genuine appreciation for it, particularly with music.

* The psychological theory of the ''persona'' is basically this. A persona is essentially a filtered version of a person's core personality, based on their life experiences, defence mechanisms, culture, social groups, career, and so on. It is developed over a person's entire life, and usually without the person realizing it. When compared to Freudian psychology, the persona can be compared to the idea of the Super-Ego, with the core personality being a combination of the Ego and Id.

* After UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, Hitler was employed as a spy sent to investigate what would later be called the Nazi Party. Hitler liked what he saw and he went from being a spy to the leader.

* After UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, Hitler was employed as a spy sent to investigate what would later be called the Nazi Party. Hitler liked what he saw and he went from being a spy to the leader.

* After UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, Hitler was employed as a spy sent to investigate what would later be called the Nazi Party Hitler liked what he saw and he went from being a spy to the leader.

* Creator/LallaWard once said in a ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' interview that the reason she and Creator/TomBaker [[RomanceOnTheSet got married]] was because they played the Doctor and Romana LikeAnOldMarriedCouple, and then mistook that for actually being in love.
* It is quite common that actors portraying characters who are close friends will also become friends in RealLife.
** Creator/WilliamShatner and Creator/LeonardNimoy were almost as close as Captain Kirk and Commander Spock are. They were also both very close with Creator/DeForestKelley, who played Dr [=McCoy=].
** Cirroc Lofton and Avery Brooks of ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' developed a real son-father type relationship away from the set.
** The actors who play Literature/SherlockHolmes and [[TheWatson Dr. Watson]] always seem to end up being extremely close friends in real life. Casting for modern adaptations mainly focused on the chemistry of the two leads so they would invoke this trope.
*** Creator/JeremyBrett and [=Edward Hardwicke=] are prime examples: Hardwicke, who played Watson from "The Empty House" onward, would try to help Brett while he was battling bipolar disorder.
*** Creator/MartinFreeman and Creator/BenedictCumberbatch (Watson and Sherlock in ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'') are either really good friends and very close to each other or extremely good at faking it.
** ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' actors Creator/KelseyGrammer and John Mahoney. After Mahoney passed away in 2018, Grammer honored him by saying "He was my father, [[PlatonicDeclarationOfLove and I loved him.]]", adding that Mahoney played his father longer than he knew his own father and that he never had a brother either, meaning that the relationship with both men was very much like family.
** The core cast of ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' (Creator/BenSavage, Creator/DanielleFishel, Rider Strong, and Creator/WillFriedle) have all become TrueCompanions in RealLife, much as their characters (Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and Eric, respectively) did on the show. Three of the four (all but Savage) launched the podcast ''Pod Meets World'' in 2022, in which they rewatch and comment on ''BMW'' episodes.
** Jack Klugman and Tony Randall when they played Oscar and Felix, respectively on ''Series/TheOddCouple1970''. Initially, both of them would have preferred to work with an actor that they'd co-starred with in their earlier performances of the original play. However, they very quickly bonded in the pursuit of an ever-funnier show-they'd argue all the time at work, sure, but it was always about the script and perfecting the scenes, never about them personally. Years later Klugman actually wrote a book in tribute to his and Randall's friendship, titled ''Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship''.
** The converse of this is sadly also possible. Creator/WarrenMitchell and Creator/AnthonyBooth, who played a feuding father- and son-in-law duo in ''Series/TillDeathUsDoPart'' came to loathe each other in real life. Mitchell still cannot bring himself to refer to Booth by his first name.
** The late Russi Taylor and the also late Creator/WayneAllwine, the previous voices of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, developed a romance after meeting each other for the first time while on the job, and were married till Allwine's passing.
** Creator/GatesMcFadden and Creator/WilWheaton played mother and son Dr. Beverly and Wesley Crusher on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', and maintained that bond beyond TNG, with Wil frequently referring to Gates as "[[AffectionateNickname Space Mom]]".
** The original core cast of the Avengers apparently still maintain a [=WhatsApp=] group, years after half of them have left the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.

* Some tribal cultures have rituals in which a mask causes the wearer to become the god or spirit it represents.
** This is especially true in ''topeng'', the art of Balinese masked dance-drama. The mask is extremely important, and the actor must consecrate him/herself and prepare carefully for any masked role.
** And here you have the origin of theatre and method acting.

* Psychologist Philip Zimbardo cut short his famous StanfordPrisonExperiment [[HeelRealization when he realized]] that he was beginning to think like the sadistic prison guards he was studying. It only took ''six days'' out of a planned two weeks for his test subjects to fully internalize their roles; of these once ordinary people, those chosen to be guards exhibited genuine sadism, and those chosen to be prisoners exhibited genuine helplessness and submission. And Zimbardo himself noticed that he was starting to think and act more like a warden than a researcher. As a result, he stopped the experiment cold for everyone's safety when he realized how bad it had gotten. However, [[AllForNothing this still didn't actually prove Zimbardo's theory at all]]. Not only did he encourage the behaviours that the more sadistic guards showed (they were essentially acting sadistically because they knew those were the results Zimbardo wanted), but Zimbardo also did nothing to determine if the guards that were like this had sadistic tendencies ''before'' the experiment, since it was really only a select few who engaged in most of the abuse. In a way, it comes off as Zimbardo using PsychologicalProjection to justify his actions during the experiment, by making the claim that anyone else would have done the same.
* A Russian IntrepidReporter, Yaroslava Tankova, went undercover as a GoldDigger to write a series of articles about such women in 2008-2009. In the last article she admitted that she almost wanted to give up journalism and become one, but talked herself out of it.
* Creator/CSLewis said in the preface to "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" that while lots of people requested a sequel to ''Literature/TheScrewtapeLetters'', for the longest time he refused to write one because even though the original book was the easiest thing to write that he had ever produced in his life, it was a horrific and stifling experience to have to make himself think like Screwtape and basically become a demon.
** He also said that those who are afraid that they can't "love their neighbor" should just act as if they did and the rest would take care of itself. Lewis argued that the whole point of ritual and formalized prayer in religion was that you could 'dress up' as a saint - and thereby become one.

* FBI agent Joseph Pistone successfully infiltrated the New York mafia as a jewel thief named Donnie Brasco (see Live-Action Film above for the movie based on this case). While undercover, he formed close friendships with two mobsters and had conflicted feelings when the time came to reveal himself as a law enforcement official. Ultimately, this would become a subversion, as having to deal with the day-to-day brutality and lack of any basic humanity among mobsters led Pistone to despise almost all of the criminals he was working alongside.
** Nowadays, undercover agents and officers undergo extensive training and psychological testing ''specifically'' to avert this trope. Unfortunately for Pistone, he went deep cover before any of this and had to rely on his own values.
* This is the core concept behind "Fake It Till You Make It" in sociology. By forcing yourself to act a certain way even if you don't like it or it feels awkward, that behavior eventually becomes a habit. Therefore, if one should put on a mask of being happy, they will actually become happier. While this can't solve every problem by itself, it's a core tenet of Alcoholics Anonymous and the positivity movement. The idea is not so much that being happy automatically solves everything; rather, it's the optimism that you can overcome something with enough hard work and to break out of a cynical mindset that is stopping you from trying something.

* MethodActing is all about Becoming The Mask (or the character) for a role.
** Creator/PeterSellers had said on numerous occasions "There is no 'Me'; I do not exist." As an actor, he ''became'' his role and often had a hard time shaking it off afterward.
** Creator/RobertDeNiro is said to do this, "disappearing" into his roles.
** Creator/RobinWilliams stayed in character off set until whatever film he was working on had wrapped. When he performed the chilling lead role in ''Film/OneHourPhoto'', his wife was so upset she told him she would divorce him if he took another role like that.
** Creator/HughLaurie really did develop soreness in his back and leg from constantly limping in his role as Dr. Greg Series/{{House}}... though this is slightly different, since it actually does stress the body to force it to move unnaturally, and especially so because House uses the cane ''on the wrong side''. He also kept the accent even when flubbing lines.
** Creator/ChristianBale did interviews for the Batman movies in the same accent that he uses in the movies to avoid those who don't know his other works. Pretty jarring during the MTV Movie Awards when he spoke to Creator/BrandonRouth using his natural accent.
*** Similarly, Bale spoke with an American accent during his infamous rant on the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation''.
** Creator/AndyKaufman was a vegan in real life but ate meat when portraying the JerkAss lounge singer Tony Clifton because Clifton ate meat.
** Daniel Whitney, aka Creator/LarryTheCableGuy has started falling into this according to his friends. Larry was initially just one personality in Whitney's stand-up routine, but quickly became the entire show, and according to said friends, Whitney has been gradually taking in more and more of Larry's mannerisms over the years. Even when playing characters other than Larry (such as [[Franchise/{{Cars}} Mater]]) he asks to be credited as "Larry the Cable Guy" as opposed to Daniel Whitney.
** Creator/HeathLedger may have done this before his death, production staff mention that the long hours tapped into the mind of [[ComicBook/TheJoker one of the most chaotically insane people in media]] made him a different person, and it's believed drove him to madness and suicide. However, this is deemed unlikely based on testimony from other production staff and associates, and it was far more likely that it was an accident due to job stress.
** Amusingly, a number of fans joke that Creator/RyanReynolds no longer exists, and he should now be regarded as ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}.
** Similarly, Creator/RobertDowneyJr quipped that his wife was now somewhat disgruntled to find herself married to Tony Stark, though after he left the role he made it quite clear that while he enjoyed the role, he is ''not'' Tony Stark.
** Creator/DanielDayLewis got extremely committed to the roles he played prior to his retirement, particularly villainous roles, that some actors or directors got alienated and were unwilling to work with him in the future. After a particularly intense day on the set of ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'', fellow actor Creator/LiamNeeson told Lewis "My god, man! Why don't you try ''acting?!''"
** Creator/AustinButler basically became the reincarnated Music/ElvisPresley after portraying him in ''Film/Elvis2022'' to the point that, even long after making the movie, [[https://www.tmz.com/2023/02/03/austin-butler-elvis-presley-accent-twang-golden-globes-oscars/ he admitted to having trouble shaking off Elvis's distinctive Southern twang]].

* An aversion is shown in ''A Bright Shining Lie'' by Neil Sheehan. US advisor John Vann builds up ARVN officer Colonel Huynh Van Cao as a BloodKnight anti-communist tiger in the belief that this trope would come into effect. However Cao often refused to close with and destroy Viet Cong forces when he had the opportunity to do so, as President Diem had ordered casualties to be kept to a minimum, and the propaganda image the Americans had built up now prevented them from acknowledging the flaws in the South Vietnamese military.

* Music/DavidBowie apparently became very engrossed in some of his stage personas, to the point where they affected his offstage personality. He became so immersed in the character of Ziggy Stardust that, according to people around him, he started to think he ''was'' the character. This also applied to when he performed as the Thin White Duke -- which was even more troubling, since the Thin White Duke was a NaziNobleman and Bowie ended up ''supporting fascism'' for a time. Bowie's period of PuttingOnTheReich is generally considered the lowest point of his drug-induced CreatorBreakdown -- as Rick James once said, "[[Series/ChappellesShow Cocaine is a hell of a drug.]]"
* Playing UsefulNotes/RichardNixon for ''Film/FrostNixon'', Creator/FrankLangella stayed in character all the time. When he wasn't in a scene he would just go stand quietly offstage and think. When it was his cue the stage manager would say "Mr. President, you are needed onstage."
* It can be argued that Øystein "Euonymous" Aarseth of the BlackMetal band Music/{{Mayhem}} underwent this, believing his own hype so much that he underwent severe SanitySlippage, crossed the MoralEventHorizon in regards to his treatment of their then-vocalist Dead, and cost himself multiple friendships and, if [[Music/{{Burzum}} Varg]]'s account of the stabbing is true, [[DiedDuringProduction his own life]].
** Dead himself could be considered an inversion of this trope in a very tragic way: He didn't become the mask, [[DrivenToSuicide the mask became him]].
* Japanese rockstar and entertainer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Kakka Demon Kakka]] (formerly known as Demon Kogure) takes this to another level. He has never broken character while in his stage persona of a futuristic demon from another dimension, up to this day: his actual name is unknown and he's never seen without his heavy Kabuki-esque makeup and theatrical costumes. All this while being the front man Seikima-II from 1982 to 1999 and every time they reunited.

* On the internet, it has been said that many people on the internet who've pretended to hold shocking or socially unacceptable positions (racism, fascism, misogyny, transphobia, etc.) for the sake of ironic humor have ended up actually holding those positions (becoming racist, fascist, misogynistic, transphobic, etc. for real) without even noticing. When confronted, they'll still claim they're being ironic.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rye Rye]] started out as a weed that was similar enough to wheat that it was hard to separate out. It evolved to be even more like wheat and even harder to separate out until it was similar enough to wheat that it was a perfectly good cereal crop on its own, and is now intentionally grown. In short, this is an entire species becoming the mask through evolution.
** Oats also followed the same path as Rye, being a wheat mimicker. In both cases the Romans felt they were poor grain substitutes. Thanks to active cultivation of both through selective breeding, both are now on par with wheat as a staple grain.

* Japanese rockstar and entertainer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Kakka Demon Kakka]] (formerly known as Demon Kogure) takes this to another level. He has never broken character while in his stage persona of a futuristic demon from another dimension, up to this day: his actual name is unknown and he's never seen without his heavy Kabuki-esque makeup and theatrical costumes. All this while being TheFaceOfTheBand Seikima-II from 1982 to 1999 and every time they reunited.

** The same goes for Creator/RobertEHoward, who got a lot of his ambiance for his rugged action-packed stories from the oil drillers, boxers, sailors and other RatedMForManly Men he emulated.

* During the filming of ''The Edwardian Country House'', the Olliff-Cooper family adopted the lifestyle of the upper class and eventually began to consider themselves as such, despite knowing it was all for a reality television show. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edwardian_Country_House The other wiki has a small subsection on the effect]].

* After world war 1 Hitler was employed as a spy sent to investigate what would later be called the Nazi Party Hitler liked what he saw and he went from being a spy to the leader.

** The converse of this is sadly also possible. Warren Mitchell and Creator/AnthonyBooth, who played a feuding father- and son-in-law duo in ''Series/TillDeathUsDoPart'' came to loathe each other in real life. Mitchell still cannot bring himself to refer to Booth by his first name.

** The converse of this is sadly also possible. Warren Mitchell and Creator/AnthonyBooth, who played a feuding father- and son-in-law duo in ''Series/TillDeathDoUsPart'' came to loathe each other in real life. Mitchell still cannot bring himself to refer to Booth by his first name.

** The converse of this is sadly also possible. Warren Mitchell and Tony Booth, who played a feuding father- and son-in-law duo in ''Till Death Do Us Part'' came to loathe each other in real life. Mitchell still cannot bring himself to refer to Booth by his first name.

** Oats also followed the same path as Rye, being a wheat mimicker. In both cases the Romans felt they were poor grain substitutes. Thanks to active cultivation of both through selective breeding, both are now on par with wheat as a staple grain.

** Daniel Whitney, aka Creator/LarryTheCableGuy has started falling into this according to his friends. Larry was initially just one personality in Whitney's stand-up routine, but quickly became the entire show, and according to said friends, Whitney has been gradually taking in more and more of Larry's mannerisms over the years. Even when playing characters other than Larry (such as [[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} Mater]]) he asks to be credited as "Larry the Cable Guy" as opposed to Daniel Whitney.

* Psychologist Philip Zimbardo cut short his famous StanfordPrisonExperiment [[HeelRealization when he realized]] that he was beginning to think like the sadistic prison guards he was studying. It only took ''six days'' out of a planned two weeks for his test subjects to fully internalize their roles; of these once ordinary people, those chosen to be guards exhibited genuine sadism, and those chosen to be prisoners exhibited genuine helplessness and submission. And Zimbardo himself noticed that he was starting to think and act more like a warden than a researcher. As a result, he stopped the experiment cold for everyone's safety when he realized how bad it had gotten.

* On the internet, it has been said that many people on the internet who've pretended to hold shocking or socially unacceptable positions (racism, fascism, ect) for the sake of ironic humor have ended up actually accepting those ideologies (becoming racist, fascist, etc. for real) without even noticing.

** The original core cast of the Avengers apparently still maintain a WhatsApp group, years after half of them have left the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.

* Music/DavidBowie apparently became very engrossed in some of his stage personas, to the point where they affected his offstage personality. He became so immersed in the character of Ziggy Stardust that, according to people around him, he started to think he ''was'' the character. This also applied to when he performed as the Thin White Duke -- which was even more troubling, since the Thin White Duke was a NaziNobleman and Bowie ended up expressing ''actual fascist ideology'' for a time. Bowie's period of PuttingOnTheReich is generally considered the lowest point of his drug-induced CreatorBreakdown -- as Rick James once said, "[[Series/ChappellesShow Cocaine is a hell of a drug.]]"

** The core cast of ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' (Creator/BenSavage, Creator/DanielleFishel, Rider Strong, and Creator/WillFriedle) have all become TrueCompanions in RealLife, much as their characters (Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and Eric, respectively) did on the show.