History Main / MasqueradeParadox

[[folder: Films -- Animated ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[folder: Real Life]]

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' is a textbook example of the Paradox; a discussion of it even provides the page quote. The stated reasons for the Masquerade are that {{Muggles}} are inclined to mistrust wizards and [[TheWorldIsNotReady not ready to learn the truth]], and Muggles would want magical solutions to all their problems. Wizards cite medieval BurnTheWitch sentiment as the reason to enact the Masquerade to begin with, but that fails to address why the Masquerade is necessary ''today''. And even then, the books point out that few witches or wizards were actually ''harmed'' by medieval witch hunts, as they could create the illusion of their suffering and death and walk away from a witch-burning unscathed. There's also the possibility of informational exchange, as wizards are shown to be absolutely hopeless with technology but good with healing power (and supplemental material suggests this is ''exactly'' how wizards and Muggles interacted before the witch hunts). And wizards not only have superior firepower to {{Muggles}} (the question of whether Muggle weapons could [[MugglesDoItBetter take down a wizard]] is a bit of a [[BrokenBase contentious topic in the fandom]]), but magic explicitly neutralizes technology -- so why not just take over? The Masquerade seems to hit pretty much every point of contention the Paradox raises. Perhaps the most interesting explanation is ''wizard'' prejudice -- they hate {{Muggles}} and don't want to interact with them in principle. Arthur Weasley has an interest in Muggles and likes tinkering with Muggle devices, but this gets him seen as a kook by other wizards and the entire Weasley family is disparaged by pure-bloods for ''not'' having FantasticRacism against Muggles.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' plays with its Masquerade. Monsters hide in the closet to scare children because children's screams are used as a power source -- but children are equally scary to monsters, who believe them to be so toxic that even touching one can be fatal. If a monster accidentally brings an object a child touched back to their world, it triggers a prompt response from the Child Detection Agency, who dispose of the item with extreme prejudice. But the monsters don't have any ''proof'' that children are dangerous; Mike and Sulley are initially terrified of Boo but start interacting with her more and more as the movie goes on. Then we discover that [[spoiler:Randall and Waternoose not only believe children aren't dangerous, they're secretly plotting to kidnap them to use as a power source. The Child Detection Agency probably also knows the truth, but keeps up the Masquerade to [[BenevolentConspiracy protect the children from abuses like this]]]].

[[folder:Religion & Philosophy]]

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* ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'' resolves this in an interesting way. The Masquerade is maintained by the Fraternity, an almighty Legion of Doom of allied supervillians who exterminated all superheroes on Earth in 1986, then performed a CosmicRetcon to the rest of the world so that everyone, including any surviving heroes, believes that superheroes are fictional. Being supervillains, the Fraternity refuse to use their vast powers to benefit the world, and they spend most of their time making mountains of money and [[ForTheLulz amusing themselves]] through clandestine and criminal means. Their concern is [[AlternateUniverse parallel universes]], which might ''still'' have superheroes who can choose to intervene -- Fraternity members do occasionally raid those other universes, but they're very careful to cover their tracks. The Masquerade becomes a major plot point, as the Fraternity is divided on whether to maintain it or drop it and rule openly.

* In ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'', the Land of Magic enforces the Masquerade by careful use of mind-altering magic, and by [[FictionAsCoverUp producing anime and manga of the Magical Girls' adventures]]. The Magical Kingdom's insistence on the Masquerade [[ReedRichardsIsUseless effectively prevents the Magical Girls from doing more to help humanity than patrolling their areas looking for people to help]]. Magical Daisy even suggests using her disintegration beam for waste disposal, only to be shot down because it would put a few Muggles out of a job.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' is a textbook example of the Paradox; a discussion of it even provides the page quote. The stated reasons for the Masquerade are that {{Muggles}} are inclined to mistrust wizards and [[TheWorldIsNotReady not ready to learn the truth]], and Muggles would want magical solutions to all their problems. Wizards cite medieval BurnTheWitch sentiment as the reason to enact the Masquerade to begin with, but that fails to address why the Masquerade is necessary ''today''. And even then, the books point out that few witches or wizards were actually ''harmed'' by medieval witch hunts, as they could create the illusion of their suffering and death and walk away from a witch-burning unscathed. There's also the possibility of informational exchange, as wizards are shown to be absolutely hopeless with technology but good with healing power (and supplemental material suggests this is ''exactly'' how wizards and Muggles interacted before the witch hunts). And wizards not only have superior firepower to {{Muggles}} (the question of whether Muggle weapons could [[MugglesDoItBetter take down a wizard]] is a bit of a [[BrokenBase contentious topic in the fandom]]), but magic explicitly neutralizes technology -- so why not just take over? The Masquerade seems to hit pretty much every point of contention the Paradox raises. Perhaps the most interesting explanation is ''wizard'' prejudice -- they hate {{Muggles}} and don't want to interact with them in principle.

[[folder:Religon & Philosophy]]
Religion and philosophy gives us ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_otiosus deus otiosus]]'', and the closely related ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_hidden_God deus absconditus]]'', addressing the question of why, if there is a God, is such a being hidden from the world? As with similar topics, various philosophies and schools of thought offer different answers.

The {{Masquerade}} is a common tool in UrbanFantasy stories -- all powerful magical beings, heroes and villains alike, are living in their own WainscotSociety, hidden from the world at large. But this creates a bit of FridgeLogic: why is this necessary if the magic users are [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual so much more powerful]] than everyone else? The author makes a fantasy world of incredibly powerful beings coexisting with {{Muggles}}, but simultaneously has them ''afraid'' of {{Muggles}} to the extent that they keep themselves hidden, as an explanation for why we never see them. For many audiences, it comes across as an AbsurdPhobia. This is the MasqueradeParadox.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation keeps the existence of the paranormal a secret because TheWorldIsNotReady. It's a world where almost ''all'' MagicIsEvil and ScienceIsBad, so they've got ''very'' good reasons for keeping the public from knowing about it. Interestingly, neither the foundation itself nor most of its members are paranormal themselves.

It's a real problem for UrbanFantasy writers, who have come up with a number of different explanations. From a [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Doylist]] perspective, it's a NecessaryWeasel if they want to make a world LikeRealityUnlessNoted. But InUniverse, they've come up with a number of different possible explanations for why a {{Masquerade}} might be necessary, all of which have their own issues:

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' is a textbook example of the Paradox; a discussion of it even provides the page quote. The stated reasons for the Masquerade are that {{Muggles}} are inclined to mistrust wizards and [[TheWorldIsNotReady not ready to learn the truth]]. Wizards cite medieval BurnTheWitch sentiment as the reason to enact the Masquerade to begin with, but that fails to address why the Masquerade is necessary ''today''. And even then, the books point out that no witches or wizards were actually ''harmed'' by medieval witch hunts, as they could create the illusion of their suffering and death and walk away from a witch-burning unscathed. There's also the possibility of informational exchange, as wizards are shown to be absolutely hopeless with technology but good with healing power (and supplemental material suggests this is ''exactly'' how wizards and Muggles interacted before the witch hunts). And wizards not only have superior firepower to {{Muggles}} (the question of whether Muggle weapons could [[MugglesDoItBetter take down a wizard]] is a bit of a [[BrokenBase contentious topic in the fandom]]), but magic explicitly neutralizes technology -- so why not just take over? The Masquerade seems to hit pretty much every point of contention the Paradox raises. Perhaps the most interesting explanation is ''wizard'' prejudice -- they hate {{Muggles}} and don't want to interact with them in principle.

* In ''Film/{{Hellboy|2004}}'', magic and magical beings are hidden rather ineptly, as Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and Lizz get along with their Muggle counterparts just fine. The Masquerade is broken in the sequel, and the world seems to be okay for the most part with Hellboy and company.

* ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'' will frequently go out of his way to prevent the world at large from learning about magic, to the extent that he employs magical LaserGuidedAmnesia. Most normal people believe Strange is a charlatan pretending to use magic -- even though [[ArbitrarySkepticism he shares a universe with powerful superheroes who operate openly]].

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive:'' {{Justified}} due to the nature of the magic system. In this particular setting, ''anyone'' can gain magic with sufficient study and focus once they know it exists, and spells are customized to reflect the personality of those who get them. Consequently, there is no way to make useful magic publicly available, or even publicly reveal the ''existence'' of magic, without putting dangerous magic in the hands of those who would most abuse it. As Mr Verres [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1692 puts it]] after one of the comic's most powerful and depraved villains has been defeated. Another explanation is that [[SentientCosmicForce magic is sentient]] and doesn't like too many humans to know about it. If magical knowledge became widespread, it'd simply reset all the rules so know one could use it the way they learned how.

* '''{{Prejudice|Tropes}}.''' The idea is that {{Muggles}} react [[BurnTheWitch violently]] to shows of magic. Partly it's a belief that MagicIsEvil, but there are also aspects of jealousy and longstanding human classicism. The ''Franchise/XMen'' series, for instance, is a lengthy exploration of what happens when you ''don't'' have a Masquerade. Usually, it fails to address the issue of the power imbalance; the Muggles may ''want'' to burn the witch, but they [[BullyingADragon don't have the power to catch them]].

* The toys of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' drop or freeze in place when humans or animals approach. This is apparently a societal more, as they treat breaking cover on Sid in the first movie as a desperation move. Perhaps they could have avoided injury if they acted sooner. Either way, the ''reason'' for the Masquerade isn't explicit.

* In ''Literature/{{Touch}},'' why the government hides the existence of magic is vague, though we get some interesting takes on the personal level. When James first realizes that he has powers, he reasons that a.) he can't be the only one in the world whom this has happened to, and b.) since ''he'' didn't know that powers exist, there must be some reason that everyone else is keeping them a secret. [[DramaticIrony As the reader already knows]], he inherited magic from his family, but they're ''also'' keeping the truth from him.

* The early editions of ''[[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' sometimes suffered from this due to Power Creep and Serial Escalation. Vampires could become so powerful that it stretched the believability of mortals posing any serious threat. 5th edition introduced the Second Inquisition to try to rectify this by presenting mortals as a more serious threat.

** When James' father, Peter, finds out that he has powers, he explains that there's a Catch22 about telling your kids. Powers only manifest if [[TrumaticSuperpowerAwakening if you're under a lot of stress]], but if you know that you might get powers, you worry less when you're in danger. After all, your powers might manifest and save you.

* In ''Series/MightyMed'', supers are completely hidden from the public, and their exploits are hidden from the public and [[FictionAsCoverUp sold as comics]] -- they've earned enough to fund a hospital. Apparently, people are too distracted by their phones. But before phones became commonly used? And why hide supers in the first place when it becomes so much harder? In the later show ''Series/LabRatsEliteForce'', the supers just say they're bionic, like that's somehow better.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' has a strong WeirdnessCensor. In Season 5, when Lucifer is freed from Hell and unleashes a demonic HatePlague, the public dismiss it as Swine Flu. Most hunters, Men of Letters, and sympathetic angels who spend their time protecting humans from monsters refuse to publicize their knowledge. Justified somewhat in that some monsters, like the Leviathans, go out of their way to hide themselves from the public.