History Main / BecomingTheMask

*** Lelouch arguably believed in many of the ideals that he used Zero to represent but was too cynical to admit to himself. But with [[spoiler:Nunnally becoming Viceroy in Area 11]], being told by Kallen to keep [[spoiler:deceiving her and the Black Knights]] as Zero.

* This is arguably the entire point of ''TheNameOfTheWind'', though it's not clear until the end of the first book. [[spoiler:Bast, the hero's student]] is worried that Kvothe is no longer a hero pretending to be an innkeeper, as he "doesn't take off the innkeeper when people leave anymore." To combat this, he [[spoiler: deliberately "gets drunk" and leaks that Kvothe is the innkeeper, in the hopes that ''someone'' who'll remind him of his old life will come by. Chronicler is described as "perfect."]]

** Arguably happens with Jesse, as well.

* Arguably Nick in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2''. Whilst he begins as a [[JerkAss passive-aggressive jerk]] who admittedly sticks with the others just for safety, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold he gradually opens up]] and becomes [[ThePowerOfFriendship one of the group]].
** Played ''even straighter'' if one of the group dies; he even goes as far as dropping the [[DeadpanSnarker hostile]] attitude and [[NeverGotToSayGoodbye will even apologize for making fun of Ellis]] if someone dies later in the game. When you compare it to his [[OpinionMyopia responses to death during the first campaign intro]], it only serves to emphasize [[HeelFaceTurn later attitude/opinion change.]]

* BecomingTheMask is arguably a component in StockholmSyndrome, since the captive or victim, if they want to come out of their situation unharmed, would first have to unwillingly act cooperative before showing true attachment.
* Joe Pistone, a.k.a Donnie Brasco, would arguably qualify as a subversion. While he admits he retains some "wiseguy" habits from his six-year undercover stint and felt some closeness to mob mentor Sonny Black, his daily interactions with real-life Mafiosi more or less reinforced his negative view of the Mafia and its members.

* In the classic SF story ''PrivateEye'' by C.L. Moore and HenryKuttner, the main character radically changes his identity in order to give himself an alibi for a murder he is planning. Since the police have chronoscopes in the future, he needs to play the role to the hilt. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone At the end he realizes he liked his new identity better.]]

* Lalla Ward once said in a ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' interview that the reason she and TomBaker [[RomanceOnTheSet got married]] was because they played the Doctor and Romana LikeAnOldMarriedCouple, and then mistook that for actually being in love.

* ''Training Day'': One EpilepticTree claims that Alonzo is so dangerous precisely because being "The Wolf" does not come naturally to him - his bad guy persona is taken to the max precisely because he has to construct it.

* ''TheFastAndTheFurious'' series has Paul Walker's cop become a street-racing rogue like the people he infiltrates.

** HughLaurie really did develop soreness in his back and leg from constantly limping in his role as Dr. Greg {{House}}.

** Creator/WilliamShatner and Creator/LeonardNimoy are nearly as close as Captain Kirk and Commander Spock are. The were both close with Creator/DeForrestKelley.

*** JeremyBrett and EdwardHardwicke are prime examples: Hardwicke, who played Watson from "The Empty House" onward, would try to help Brett while he was battling bipolar disorder.

* A common dating tip for men who have trouble approaching women because of low self-confidence is "Pretend that you've got a lot of confidence. After a while you'll find that you don't need to fake it anymore."

* Marvel's first [[{{CaptainMar-Vell}} Captain Marvel]] was a Kree soldier named Mar-vell, who came to Earth to spy out humanity. He eventually came over to Earth's side for real.

* Detective Inspector Zain Nadir of ''TheBill'' is warned of how this can occur to undercover detectives who stay in a role for too long. This somewhat happens to him too when he becomes romantically involved with a drug dealer.

** In a Season 2 episode the wife of an American mathematician (guest star ChristianSlater) turns out to be a Russian agent who fell in love with him for real. It also turns out [[spoiler: her husband was an NSA agent and knew his wife was all along.]]

* In one episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'', he joins a cult to investigate claims that its leader murdered an ex-member, but he actually starts to get sucked in to its teachings when he finds that they help him overcome his OCD. It's also present to a lesser extent in the episodes where he goes undercover as an office worker and a butler, only to find that those jobs suit someone with his obsessions extremely well.

* In ''Disney/TheLionKing 2: Simba's Pride'', Kovu is sent to ingratiate himself into Simba's pride in order to kill him. Unfortunately for his mother, Kovu's growing love for Kiara allows him to break free of his mother's conditioning, realize the evil that he is collaborating in and decide he wants no part of it.

* This is the main character problem affecting Robert Downey Jr.'s character in ''TropicThunder''. Specifically, he's supposed to be an AffectionateParody of Daniel Day-Lewis.

* In ''Manhua/RavagesOfTime'', Sima Yi's plan for revenge after [[spoiler:Cao Cao has his family purged]] involves his assassin Liaoyuan Huo joining "a worthy lord" and using Sima Yi's money to build him up as a rival to Sima Yi's lord Cao Cao[[hottip:*:particularly after the deaths of Lu Bu and Sun Ce, then moreso after the northern Yuan clan's downfall]] so that [[TheStarscream Sima Yi can work his way up Cao Cao's ranks]]. However, Sima Yi already admits [[CallForward his recognition that Liaoyuan Huo has been "want(ing) to leave this dark maze"]] (as Zhao Yun realized during [[spoiler:his rescue of Zhang Lei and Sima Lang during the purge of the Sima clan residence]][[hottip:*:"I have always wanted to crawl out of this place, crawl toward the light. For what? Living without ambition, like Zhongda; I hate that kind of life. Living from day to day, like my life; I hate that too."]]) and years later, in chapters 386 and 387 [[spoiler:Huo turns on his teacher as an assassin after the teacher and his men take Liu Bei's wives and son hostage during the Battle of Changban]], having by now internalized the name that Liu Bei gave him: [[spoiler:Zhao Yun, styled Zilong]].

* The song "I Whistle A Happy Tune" from ''TheKingAndI'' gives BecomingTheMask a lighthearted approach. The singer advises the listener to make believe they're brave so that they may become brave.
* The ''Trans Siberian Orchestra'' song "Promises to Keep" contains, in reference to the "Christmas Spirit," the lines:
-->And if our kindness
-->This day is just pretending
-->If we pretend long enough
-->Never giving up
-->It just might be who we are

--> You're going to play the good guys
--> By singing the good guys' hymn --
--> You're building the halls with the outer walls
--> But you haven't got a thing within...
--> Eventually, the whole facade
--> Becomes more than a whim.
--> By starting to build on the outside
--> You're gonna fill up the walls within.

* The ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' cartoon has evil shapeshifter Ron Kar finds himself sympathizing with the good guys, and even willingly helping them, after his MemoryGambit infiltration is exposed.

* The danger of the unicorn's human guise in ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn''. Amalthea, the eponymous unicorn, slowly forgets who she was, as she becomes more and more human. It takes the three others protagonists (''including'' the human she felled in love with) to put her back on her quest.

** ''Literature/LukeSkywalkerAndTheShadowsOfMindor'' has Luke half-awake during [[AndIMustScream an eternity after the heat death of the universe]], after all the stars have burned out. He escapes the projection of this eternity before he can despair enough to [[GrandTheftMe let his body be stolen]], but for quite some time later he's cynical, depressed, even nihilistic, believing that all of his friends are using him and nothing will matter in the end. He's [[TheMessiah Luke Skywalker]], so he very consciously decides to act ''exactly'' like he would have before going through that, hoping that eventually it will stop being an act and he can "fall back into the dream of the light". Fortunately he doesn't have to wait that long before regaining his faith during a {{Mind Screw}}y metaphor-heavy sequence.

** ''CatsCradle'', by the same author, has a religion created by two men to keep a country happy. They decide to have the religion outlawed, with one playing the role of President, the other TheMessiah. Eventually, of course, the President gets too deep into his role and starts executing heretics.

* [[spoiler:Joshua]] of ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' decided to [[spoiler:keep Shibuya the way it was after winning the last Game.]] at the end because of his experiences with Neku.