This Pandemic Has Ruined Westerns for Me Forever.

[alynwa]

I used to love watching Westerns when I was a kid.  One of my favorite tropes?  The Masked Man. 

A gang of outlaws rides into town, robs the bank and takes off for Mexico.  The sheriff rounds up a posse and demands of the witnesses, "Who were they?  What'd they look like?" and the witnesses all shake their heads and answer, "We don't know!  They were all wearing masks on their faces!"

Now I know that if Bad Guy Joe puts a bandana on, it's just Bad Guy Joe with a bandana on.  People are completely recognizable!  So now I know that if the Lone Ranger came into town without his mask, people would whisper, "Look, it's The Lone Ranger without his mask.  Don't tell him we know who he is."

I'm bummed.

Comments

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I was never particularly a fan of Westerns, though as a horse-crazy kid I watched them for that reason, and of course Alias Smith and Jones is a lifelong favorite for me. But whenever I watched Lone Ranger (or even Superman, who was George Reeves back then) I thought "Come on! How can they NOT know?" It kind of ruined it for me, because I thought it was so stupid.

But I mostly watched horror/science fiction as a kid. Honestly, it probably has just as many silly tropes, I just didn't care. :-)

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Oh my - I never thought about it but I guess the ubiquitous mask has lessened its threat factor in a cowboy movie.