It was my third time attending this parade on Commercial Drive, and I went as No Face from Spirited Away. I think the character was perfect for me. I liked how I mystified people. I felt sneaky when everyone thought my eyes were looking out of the mask, instead of the hidden black mesh below it. I felt smug when big macho guys felt intimidated and came up close to make faces or 'playfully' punch me or shake my hand. Little babies chased me, SFU students recruited me for a film, Japanese girls screamed and grabbed 'gold' (Werther's candies!) out of my hands, and mothers pushed their ambivalent kids towards me to take pics. It was a blast getting into character.. bowing, offering gold, and basically not talking, save for a few 'uhs' when offering gold.
The most liberating part is being able to interact with society without caring what expression is on your face! I could be sticking my tongue out, walking with my eyes closed, being bored, and nobody could tell since all they saw was the face two feet above my head. I wish real life was like that.. I wish we could walk around all day and show our real emotions, without having to force fake laughs out of politeness, or contorting our faces in many ways to show things we don't really feel, or to communicate in ways our hands cannot. Every day, we wake up and put on our 'society masks.' And ironically, it is only in the putting of a physical Halloween mask over our faces that we can let our real emotions show. I wonder what the repercussions or benefits would be of taking off the societal mask.
The tomato cage on my shoulder, responsible for giving me an extra 2.5 feet of height, starting digging into my shoulder a bit, and my lower back was sore. But overall, everything stayed in place, and the pho we ate after was SO delicious and well-deserved! (My costume prevented me from eating or drinking anything from 5-10pm).
My friend and I both agreed that the costumes the previous year had been cooler. But I've been looking at some of the pics on Flickr, and it seems we missed several really good costumes.. like a walking bar, a Queen Victoria in a gorgeous hand-sewn dress, cat robot and penis that shot silly string. Good costumes we saw were a kid in a biohazard box on a stretcher pushed by white suited guys, an octopus, a can of Raid, Noah's Ark and a band of robots playing Daft Punk.
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1 comment:
great post. i loved your costume, and i love the idea of keeping your identity totally secret and not even speaking. people would know you only from your movements. it kind of forces people to pay more attention in a way. sometimes i think we should be silent more so that we can focus more on what's being said:)
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