Impersonation

[buldog5151bass]

Round here calling a mulitple print of a sketch of a can of soup ''art'' isn't a lot different.

Only if the artist states there is only one copy when he/she sells multiple copies. Lithographs and other ways of copying art goes back centuries.

 

[Downunderwonder]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[fhm555]

How about impersonating a US military veteran?

I'm not up to the minute on this, but my understanding is this is something that came out of the Vietnam war, but really took off around 2003~04 when people who had never served started taking an interest in being more hawkish and many went all the way by impersonating a military veteran. It was apparently so pervasive by 2010~11 legislation was passed in 2013 criminalizing the practice. There were/are politicians and fortune 500 execs caught taking advantage of the increasing positive public interest in the military. In certain circles, veterans move to the front of the queue quickly when it comes to job offers and promotions. Companies want to appear patriotic by hiring veterans so there is plenty of temptation to impersonate one. People go so far as to do extensive research and memorize amazing amounts of info in order to pass as a combat veteran. From what I understand, even with the prohibition against it, it is still widespread enough a cottage industry of sorts exists to locate and drop a dime on these guys.

Not sure if this is what you had in mind, but it is one of the most widespread acts of impersonation in modern times.

Stolen Valor

 

[bholder]

Perhaps this is outside of your intended scope, but how about the phenomena of young children who play with imaginary friends?

I used to have an imaginary friend, but he said I was boring and ran away.

 

[Richland123]

There are many people who dress up as clowns.

 

[bholder]

There are many people who dress up as clowns.

I work with a bunch of them. In business suits.

 

[Richland123]

I work with a bunch of them. In business suits.

Do they wear business suits with huge shoes?

 

[bholder]

Do they wear business suits with huge shoes?

View attachment 2799201

"It is now time to lock your wigs and deflate your shoes."

 

[bolophonic]

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"?

I saw a LOT of Gwar in the mid-to-late 80's. It was pretty wild to see a joke band in cruddy paper mache costumes turn into a 30-year career. Their costuming became sophisticated. I remember going to see them at a place called the Floodzone in Richmond and they had a giant meat grinder set up that sprayed gunk all the way to the back wall.

 

[Pilgrim]

Not being yourself?

That goes back to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, where Olivia responds to a question about whether she is lady of the house: "An I do not usurp myself, I am."

And the response is: "Most certain, if you are she, you do usurp yourself, for what is yours to bestow is not yours to reserve."

I know, that's probably the ultimate academic geek response....but Olivia's response is my favorite answer to people who ask if I am (my name.)

Also, universities are excellent at turning ideas with an element of virtue into giant cluster functions.

 

[NullPorch]

I know throughout many cultures their are traditional rituals involving dressing up as characters. The monster masks of several Balkan nations (both South-Slavic and non-Slavic so likely predating the current ethnolinguistic cultures but rather originating in some previous culture which inhabited the area; possibly Celtic or Thracian?), Chinese New Year parades (I don't know as much but I know it's ancient and the costumes, such as the dragons, are very elaborate), the tribal warrior masks in parts of sub-saharan Africa, etcetera. A lot of very different cultures utilize costuming in various rituals.

I believe the Balkan monster masks are similar to the original traditions behind Halloween in that they're intended to ward off evil spirits, but it's done near new years. They're called kukeri.

 

[hrodbert696]

How about impersonating a US military veteran?

I'm not up to the minute on this, but my understanding is this is something that came out of the Vietnam war, but really took off around 2003~04 when people who had never served started taking an interest in being more hawkish and many went all the way by impersonating a military veteran. It was apparently so pervasive by 2010~11 legislation was passed in 2013 criminalizing the practice. There were/are politicians and fortune 500 execs caught taking advantage of the increasing positive public interest in the military. In certain circles, veterans move to the front of the queue quickly when it comes to job offers and promotions. Companies want to appear patriotic by hiring veterans so there is plenty of temptation to impersonate one. People go so far as to do extensive research and memorize amazing amounts of info in order to pass as a combat veteran. From what I understand, even with the prohibition against it, it is still widespread enough a cottage industry of sorts exists to locate and drop a dime on these guys.

Not sure if this is what you had in mind, but it is one of the most widespread acts of impersonation in modern times.

Stolen Valor

That's very interesting. It isn't really what I originally had in mind, but I may start taking stuff like this into account once I see how the project develops. Someone earlier amended my title to impersonation, a history of showing who you really are, and in a way that's really more where I'm going; when Ted the Stockbroker puts on a Civil War military uniform and drills with a "unit" of similarly uniformed guys, but if you ask him his name and what he does for a living he'll still tell you he's Ted, a stockbroker. That's also why I'm setting aside actual actors for now, since on stage they usually fully inhabit the role and observers react to them as the character rather than as the actor; while when Gene Simmons puts on his Demon makeup, he's still Gene Simmons.

 

[fhm555]

That's very interesting. It isn't really what I originally had in mind, but I may start taking stuff like this into account once I see how the project develops. Someone earlier amended my title to impersonation, a history of showing who you really are, and in a way that's really more where I'm going; when Ted the Stockbroker puts on a Civil War military uniform and drills with a "unit" of similarly uniformed guys, but if you ask him his name and what he does for a living he'll still tell you he's Ted, a stockbroker. That's also why I'm setting aside actual actors for now, since on stage they usually fully inhabit the role and observers react to them as the character rather than as the actor; while when Gene Simmons puts on his Demon makeup, he's still Gene Simmons.

IC said the blind man.

 

[MrLenny1]

How about the power of the 3 pc suit ?

 

[Downunderwonder]

That's very interesting. It isn't really what I originally had in mind, but I may start taking stuff like this into account once I see how the project develops. Someone earlier amended my title to impersonation, a history of showing who you really are, and in a way that's really more where I'm going; when Ted the Stockbroker puts on a Civil War military uniform and drills with a "unit" of similarly uniformed guys, but if you ask him his name and what he does for a living he'll still tell you he's Ted, a stockbroker. That's also why I'm setting aside actual actors for now, since on stage they usually fully inhabit the role and observers react to them as the character rather than as the actor; while when Gene Simmons puts on his Demon makeup, he's still Gene Simmons.

I am still seeing a gulf between Gene and Ted. A rockstar is a rockstar but the account becomes a civil war actor.

Where do you put Lemmy?

 

[bholder]

That's very interesting. It isn't really what I originally had in mind, but I may start taking stuff like this into account once I see how the project develops. Someone earlier amended my title to impersonation, a history of showing who you really are, and in a way that's really more where I'm going; when Ted the Stockbroker puts on a Civil War military uniform and drills with a "unit" of similarly uniformed guys, but if you ask him his name and what he does for a living he'll still tell you he's Ted, a stockbroker. That's also why I'm setting aside actual actors for now, since on stage they usually fully inhabit the role and observers react to them as the character rather than as the actor; while when Gene Simmons puts on his Demon makeup, he's still Gene Simmons.

I think Gene really is a demon and his "human" face is just a costume.

 

[buldog5151bass]

That's very interesting. It isn't really what I originally had in mind, but I may start taking stuff like this into account once I see how the project develops. Someone earlier amended my title to impersonation, a history of showing who you really are, and in a way that's really more where I'm going; when Ted the Stockbroker puts on a Civil War military uniform and drills with a "unit" of similarly uniformed guys, but if you ask him his name and what he does for a living he'll still tell you he's Ted, a stockbroker. That's also why I'm setting aside actual actors for now, since on stage they usually fully inhabit the role and observers react to them as the character rather than as the actor; while when Gene Simmons puts on his Demon makeup, he's still Gene Simmons.

Depends. I've never done it myself, but some align themselves with the actual unit of their family or town, and some take the person of specific people, especially when reinacting actual battles or campaigns.

Not sure if people have mentioned it, but some actors adopt the person of specific celebrities at places like the Hollywood Walk of Fame to interact with toutists. Apparently some make decent money.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Barry Humphries is much better known as Dame Edna Everidge and less so as Les Patterson.

 

[two fingers]

Steampunk has to be one of the most recent huge waves.

That being said, the whole rockabilly/greasers/rat rod thing is getting pretty huge again. A buddy of mine recently ran sound for a four-day festival. He said those guys and gals took the whole thing way too seriously.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Did anyone mention cult movies, like Rocky Horror Picture Show, or Grease?