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Impersonation
- Thread starter hrodbert696
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if you're looking into gwar, you might want to also look into a band called haunted garage. and not for the clean-living, but there's a kink subculture called puppy play, where one of the parties has ears and a tail put on them and they act like puppies, eating from a bowl and so on.
there was a CSI episode that featured people dressing up as dogs and cats and acting the parts. there was also a CSI episode called "fur and loathing" including furries where many of the characters dressed in animal costumes that looks like stuffed animal fur and features.
and there are several very historical women who dressed and acted as men in real life, although this is also a very popular fiction scenario and has been for a long time. for that matter, consider the play peter pan. peter has always been played by a woman dressed as a boy, and the audience is expected to suspend their disbelief even though some of the women were pretty womanly. i grew up with the mary martin version and never questioned it.
the wizard of oz, in both the book and the movie, disguises himself so people will think he's great and powerful. and what about the movie "some like it hot" and the later TV show "bosom buddies"?
there was a CSI episode that featured people dressing up as dogs and cats and acting the parts. there was also a CSI episode called "fur and loathing" including furries where many of the characters dressed in animal costumes that looks like stuffed animal fur and features.
and there are several very historical women who dressed and acted as men in real life, although this is also a very popular fiction scenario and has been for a long time. for that matter, consider the play peter pan. peter has always been played by a woman dressed as a boy, and the audience is expected to suspend their disbelief even though some of the women were pretty womanly. i grew up with the mary martin version and never questioned it.
the wizard of oz, in both the book and the movie, disguises himself so people will think he's great and powerful. and what about the movie "some like it hot" and the later TV show "bosom buddies"?
An activist group like Anonymous with their Guy Fawkes masks might fall within the criteria, though they're all alike.
Book: While not exactly a scholarly work, G.K. Chesterton's novel The Man Who Was Thursday is largely concerned with the idea of impersonation, in a "philosophical anarchist" setting.
Book: While not exactly a scholarly work, G.K. Chesterton's novel The Man Who Was Thursday is largely concerned with the idea of impersonation, in a "philosophical anarchist" setting.
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From the little I know about it, Masonic ritual and it's offshoots incorporate quasi-religious and historical elements with some dress-up and secrecy.
And, might I say, there's no better place to do research than on TalkBass!
And, might I say, there's no better place to do research than on TalkBass!
Not related to your thread, but if your college has a musicology department, Christian music of olden times is always a big thing for them (their mostly historians anyway). It might be interesting to see how the Christianization of various regions had impacted the musical folk traditions of their respective locales (usually by integrating one into the other), but it's something they research in ethnomusicology anyhow, and the farther back you go the harder it gets if there is no written music to look at.
How about those nifty dinner party capers where you're assigned a character and a backstory at the door? I've done a few with friends- no costumes, but it was still great fun to be spontaneously assigned a role to fill.
Or how about using a forum where you pretend to be good at bass? ... Just asking.
Addition: on the subject of play, what about RPGs like D&D, or even the more digital sorts, like WoW? It's a little less direct, since so much of the fantasy is either understood to be imaginary or digital or otherwise removed from the physical-meat-humans assuming these character roles, but I've spent many a good hour cloaked in the role of someone more interesting than myself through such games.
--^@
Or how about using a forum where you pretend to be good at bass? ... Just asking.
Addition: on the subject of play, what about RPGs like D&D, or even the more digital sorts, like WoW? It's a little less direct, since so much of the fantasy is either understood to be imaginary or digital or otherwise removed from the physical-meat-humans assuming these character roles, but I've spent many a good hour cloaked in the role of someone more interesting than myself through such games.
--^@
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We have a few local places like this. One is Fort Ligonier in Ligonier, PA and another is Old Bedford Village in Bedford, PA.
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buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
A number of the places with Civil War era stuff have vintage baseball, since when that was when the game first became popular throughout the nation, and the soldiers often played in camp during down times.
People dress up to go to the gym for sure although I don't know if sports attire also counts. It's a specific dress for a specific activity.
I do this; I'm a volunteer trolley operator at a local trolley museum. We're required to wear a certain amount of uniform. I find that different operators approach it in different ways. Some wear enough so that visitors recognize them as the operator/motorman/conductor. Others, myself included, recognize that there is a certain amount of theater involved with conducting a group of visitors on the trolley cars and touring through the car barns, and try more to look the part. The vest, watch chain, period-correct ticket punch (with something other than just a round hole being punched), my hat badge dates to the 1920s . . . It's part of the fun, but I think it makes the visit more real for those that are hoping to get into the spirit of things.
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Not sure this directly relates, but I'm reminded of how Andy Warhol used to get invited to speak at colleges, and he'd accept the invitation (and fee, of course), but not want to go, so he'd send one of his associates, dressed in Andy's wig and leather jacket, who would arrive, spout some Andyisms, give a talk, and leave, and apparently no one noticed.
And maybe in the same vein, Warhol at some point dressed as the amped-up version of himself, with the white fright wig that may have been the same color of his natural hair, but certainly wasn't his natural hair.
And maybe in the same vein, Warhol at some point dressed as the amped-up version of himself, with the white fright wig that may have been the same color of his natural hair, but certainly wasn't his natural hair.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
or what about: "impersonation: a history of attempting to become oneself" ?
i'm thinking that we all impersonate (with or without costume) in order to arrive at a manifest 'self'.
This may be outside of your scope but there are millions of people who live alternate lives (including profession, gender, etc.) on line in Second Life.
Official Site | Second Life - Virtual Worlds, Virtual Reality, VR, Avatars, Free 3D Chat
There have even been concerts and events from the real world performed only for members of the imaginary one!
Official Site | Second Life - Virtual Worlds, Virtual Reality, VR, Avatars, Free 3D Chat
There have even been concerts and events from the real world performed only for members of the imaginary one!
Round here calling a mulitple print of a sketch of a can of soup ''art'' isn't a lot different.
