Fridge / The Mask

Fridge Brilliance

• Stanley obtaining the mask was perfect timing for Edge City (following the movie and cartoon series, ignoring the sequel film). Dorian was already an active gangster and if Stanley hadn't gotten in the way, he'd have robbed the bank successfully and probably used the money to fund a mob war against his boss, whom he was already at odds with. Dorian taking over the mob in Edge City would've been bad, so Stanley got rid of Dorian and took Nico with him. Then a year later, Doctor Pretorius arrives to cause trouble, and it's safe to say he would've shown up regardless. He'd have successfully stolen the automated futuristic house, perhaps ended up in a war with Dorian, and no one could've stopped him when he eventually chose to nuke the city. And all those other villains? Walter was around anyway, Kablamus was created in a balloon factory accident, Putty Thing & Fish Guy were a deliberate act by two idiot teenagers, Tempest and Channel Surfer would've gained their powers anyway, Gorgonzola would've found a permanent host, the list goes on. Point is, these mobsters, madmen and super-powered crazies would have walked all over the city even if the Mask hadn't been around, leaving Edge City an eventual nuclear wasteland.
• Why don't the police in the film start crapping themselves over the sheer physics defying abilities the mask gives its wearer? Because the film version of the mask also affects reality itself and not just have the wearer as the one subjected to cartoon physics. The police behave as police in a Bugs Bunny cartoon would behave because of Rule of Funny combined with the mask's Reality Warper powers. It's noticeable that when Dorian gets the mask, people seem to be able to notice how horrifying the things he does are. Stanley's the one with the love of old time cartoons and his mask persona's abilities and behaviour reflect that. Dorian is a monster who wants people to fear and respect him and his persona reflects that too.
• Why The Mask still lives in Stanley’s apartment even though he's probably hidden enough money over time to get a new bigger house is because, despite his ego, the Mask is actually humble. Even though he has run for mayor and became assistant to the President of the United States of all things, he has seen how power corrupts absolutely and therefore he decides not to use his power to get himself a new house or other benefits. He may also be aware that Stanley and Milo won’t be very comfortable with a new house that will be bigger than the apartment they live at so therefore he decides to let them live in the apartment so that they won’t feel uncomfortable. In his own way, the Mask genuinely cares about Stanley and Milo despite his overall attitude, and won't force them to move if they don't want to even if he himself might want a new house.
• Why The Mask doesn’t hurt anyone is because he’s actually a lot more reasonable than he can appear to be. Even though he shoves exhaust pipes into literal bottoms of the mechanics, that's only because they ticked Stanley off in the first place; most of the time, such as when annoyed by the guy honking at him and a gang that was harassing him, he doesn't immediately resort to outright violence, destroying the honking man's car windows and shooting around the gang harassing him rather than shooting at them directly. While he was somewhat sleazy toward Tina, he does not try to force himself on her and instead tries to impress her with his antics. In the animated series, even though he is a very lazy troll, he still does his job as a superhero knowing that there will be supervillains attacking the city. While he is genuinely insane, he does keep his mind in balance most of the time because he knows that he can’t afford to lose it especially when there are people in danger, which shows when he regains it at the last second and keeps himself focused on the main threats at hand.
• Why The Mask goes into different forms is because that he thinks they are appropriate for the situation he's in, and like Stanley he is a big fan of pop culture. His favourite forms include a superhero along with the forms that he finds fits him most, such as a child which represents his childish nature, a swimsuit which represents his going with the flow, a knight which represents his bravery and heroism, a ancient martial arts master which represents his ready to go into battle, a pirate which represents him being crude, a terminator which represents how he controls himself despite his wildness and finally a superhero which represents him liking being a hero despite his lazy nature and having a good heart as well.
• The differences between the film and the comic can be explained by a Perspective Flip between Stanley and Lt. Kellaway, in the movie we saw everything from Stanley's point of view, when he wore the mask he started operating on Cartoon Physics and therefore saw the rest of the world that way. The Comic on the other hand showed the world from Kellaway's point of view where without Cartoon Physics the injuries have serious, lasting and most of the time fatal repercussions. The over the top sadism could represent his view of the world.
• In 'The Mask Strikes Back', some people had issues with the series leaning away from the iconic stomach-turning violence and gore and more towards cartoon antics, which all in all was probably due to the success of the Jim Carrey film adaptation which itself had a much lighter tone... but there's also an explanation in universe: for the first time since the series began, the Mask isn't being worn by adults. It's being worn by a bunch of arrogant, stereotypical teenagers with a lot of ambitions. The main kid, Rick, is an anti-cop anarchist punk, but a lot of teenagers are like that, and usually grow out of that phase in a few years. Ultimately, the violence and gore was toned down in-universe because unlike before, this was just a bunch of dumb kids who didn't actually want to hurt anyone. They all noticably take off the mask a lot faster than Kellaway or Kathy ever did, maybe they were able to realise what it was doing to them faster than them.
• A sticker album released with scenes from the pilot episode of the cartoon shows a still frame of Walter with a look of terror on his face before the bomb explodes. He may be indestructible, but until then he may not have been standing point blank as a bomb was about to go off & been unaware it wouldn't kill him.
• In the film it's weird how Lt. Kellaway doesn't react to the Mask's antics and seems immune to his magic, but he isn't. The Mask is a comedian, and he's supernaturally making Kellaway his Straight Man.