History Main / BecomingTheMask

* Psychologist Philip Zimbardo cut short his famous StanfordPrisonExperiment [[HeelRealization when he realized]] that he was beginning to think like the sadistic prison guards he was studying. It only took ''six days'' out of a planned two weeks for his test subjects to fully internalize their roles; of these once ordinary people, those chosen to be guards exhibited genuine sadism, and those chosen to be prisoners exhibited genuine helplessness and submission. Zimbardo stopped the experiment cold for everyone's safety when he realized how bad it had gotten.

** Similarly, Creator/RobertDowneyJunior quipped that his wife was now somewhat disgruntled to find herself married to Tony Stark, though after he left the role he made it quite clear that while he enjoyed the role, he is ''not'' Tony Stark.

** Creator/HeathLedger may have done this before his death, production staff mention that the long hours tapped into the mind of [[ComicBook/TheJoker one of the most chaotically insane people in media]] made him a different person, and it's believed (but unlikely, it was far more likely that it was an accident due to job stress) drove him to madness and suicide.

** Creator/DanielDayLewis gets extremely committed to the roles he plays, particularly villainous roles, that some actors or directors get alienated and are unwilling to work with him in the future. After a particularly intense day on the set of ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'', fellow actor Creator/LiamNeeson told Lewis "My god, man! Why don't you try ''acting?!''"

* In Japanese folklore, the "Sōko-{{Tanuki}}" disguised himself as a junior monk in order to play tricks on a temple, but ended up being a genuine help -- so much so that, when he was caught in his true form napping, the other monks promoted him to a page and allowed him to stay with them to reward him for his years of hard work.

* ''WebVideo/{{Jreg}}'': In his video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsuSveDAlpI "Post-Irony, Meta-Irony, and Post-Truth Satire,"]] Jreg brings up a hypothetical case of someone initially pretending to be homeless ironically, finding themselves enjoying the lifestyle, and starting to live on the streets because of it as an example of post-irony.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia'', [[spoiler:[[GodOfEvil Avenger/Angra Mainyu]], the GreaterScopeVillain of the [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight original visual novel]], spends so much time [[DemonicPossession impersonating/being]] [[TheHero Shirou Emiya]] and living out his life during the GroundhogDayLoop with his friends and loved ones and seeing the good and bad that he ultimately decides to perform a HeroicSacrifice for all of their sakes to end the loops]].

* PlayedForDrama with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's entire running time. First intended to be a Cartman-like figure, he moved away from that quickly and started doing good things because he was desperate for people to love him. In ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'', he started to selflessly care for people and by ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' and beyond, he's a true hero [[spoiler: who takes every opportunity he can to care for his universe]].

->''"He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it."''
-->-- '''Creator/GeorgeOrwell''', "Shooting an Elephant"

* Lalla Ward once said in a ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' interview that the reason she and Creator/TomBaker [[RomanceOnTheSet got married]] was because they played the Doctor and Romana LikeAnOldMarriedCouple, and then mistook that for actually being in love.

* During the filming of 'The Edwardian Country House'', the Olliff-Cooper family quickly adopted the lifestyle of the upper class despite knowing it was all for a reality television show. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edwardian_Country_House The other wiki has a small subsection on the effect]].
* Psychologist Philip Zimbardo cut short his famous StanfordPrisonExperiment [[HeelRealization when he realized]] that he was beginning to think like the sadistic prison guards he was studying. It only took ''six days'' out of a planned two weeks for his test subjects to fully internalize their roles; of these once ordinary people, those chosen to be guards exhibited genuine sadism, and those chosen to be prisoners exhibited genuine helplessness and submission.

** He also said that those who are afraid that they can't "love their neighbor" should just act as if they did and the rest would take care of itself. He said that the whole point of ritual and formalized prayer was that you could 'dress up' as a saint - and thereby become one.

* TheEdwardianCountryHouse: The Olliff-Cooper family quickly adopts the lifestyle of the upper class despite knowing it is reality television. [[http://www.epinions.com/reviews/mvie_mu-1122362]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edwardian_Country_House]], [[http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-edwardian-country-house]], [[http://www.pbs.org/manorhouse/]]
* When you act out a role, it naturally becomes less and less of an act, as seen with method actors and army drill sergeants.

* A Russian IntrepidReporter, Yaroslava Tankova, went undercover as a GoldDigger to write a series of articles about such women in 2008-2009. In the last article she admitted that she almost wanted to give up journalism and become one.

* One of the tenets of Alcoholics Anonymous is "Fake It Till You Make It": By forcing yourself to act a certain way even if you don't like it, it eventually becomes a habit. The positive-thinking movement encourages this also.
* If a person fakes a smile (or a frown) their mood will be affected accordingly, at least a little bit. Try smiling right now, you'll feel better!
* People who freeze their faces with anti-wrinkle chemicals such as Botox are shown to not feel as sad or as happy as other people.
* Waist training with a corset [[{{Pun}} fits]] this trope.

** RomanceOnTheSet is quite often a subtrope of this trope.

** Creator/RobinWilliams stayed in character off set until the film is done. When he performed the chilling lead role in ''Film/OneHourPhoto'', his wife was so upset she told him she would divorce him if he took another role like that.

** Creator/DanielDayLewis gets extremely committed to the roles he plays, particularly villainous roles, that some actors or directors get alienated and are unwilling to work with him in the future.

* A common dating tip for men who have trouble approaching women because of low self-confidence is "Pretend that you've got a lot of confidence. After a while, you'll find that you don't need to fake it anymore." Similar tricks may work for socialization in general.
* A softer version of this trope is that spies and other undercover operatives often grow to enjoy the activities of their cover job. Many of them maintain links with it even after their mission has ended. It helps that a cover job is many times one they had an interest in anyway. Several retired spies who were "cultural attaches" became genuine proponents of cultural exchanges for example.
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Barsky Jack Barsky]] was originally Albrecht Dittrich, an [[UsefulNotes/EastGermany East German]] spy working for the [[StateSec KGB]], and assumed the Jack Barsky persona while undercover in the United States. As time went on he found himself increasingly unable to separate his fake identity from his actual self, and when the Russians ordered him to return home in 1988 he "went native" and stayed with his American family. He later came clean to the FBI and became an American citizen, and now considers Jack Barsky his real identity and [[ThatManIsDead Albrecht Dittrich a dead one]].
* A problem for people who operate in paramilitary and guerilla units is how hard it can be to go back to normal life from being a fighter. Once you've had to pretend to be tough to get the mission done, you'll find that you really do have it in you to be tough. This may sound nice up until that moment when you discover that you are becoming more inclined to stab people in the face when you are ''not'' on duty.

* Many UsefulNotes/RollerDerby skaters have noted that the athletic skills and assertiveness developed to play a full-contact sport on roller skates tend to bleed over into their lives off the track as well.
* Many UsefulNotes/{{Skydiv|ing}}ers have noted that they relate to everyday tasks, work and live with the same incredible determination, methodicalness and courage, the psychology of the sports bleeding to their everyday lives.
* Creator/MartinSheen played the President of the US on ''Series/TheWestWing'' - for quite some time fellow actors actually treated him as if he were the President.

* For many, this is the case when they start an activity whether it be acting, playing sports, doing a job, or anything really. Over time, as you become more experienced at something, you feel more confident and sure of yourself. You'll end up using lingo and adopt mannerisms that you earlier found ridiculous or annoying. Militaries and sports teams rely on this. Indoctrination starts by faking it or miming others until you become what is needed for your role. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it's bad, but it seems to be a staple of the human psyche. The causes can vary from person to person but wanting to belong to something special is a common motivation to change.

* EnforcedTrope in Ancient Rome: Enslaving a Roman citizen was generally illegal, so there were fraudsters that pretended to be slaves and sold themselves to other people, only to run away with the money. The legal punishment for such people was, you guessed it, to lose their citizenship and become a slave.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rye Rye]] likely started out as a weed that was similar enough to wheat that it was hard to separate out. It evolved to be even more like wheat and even harder to separate out until it was similar enough to wheat that it was a perfectly good cereal crop on its own, and is now intentionally grown.
* Ventriloquists eventually find that their puppets take on lives of their own and often make spontaneous in-character deviations from routines that even take themselves aback and require them to do an bit of unexpected adlibbing.

* While everybody in ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' is trying to stay in-character, several of them do so with more...commitment than others. Creator/AllisonPregler claims that she should be useless in battle because of [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs her character choice]], WebVideo/PawDugan tries to [[Film/DungeonsAndDragons gather rage]] from everybody (including the trees), and WebVideo/{{Phelous}} seems to have gone right off the deep end. WebVideo/MarzGurl also seems to be joining the throng, what with speaking only in Japanese, scenting the air and biting the Critic on various portions of his anatomy.

** The actors who play Franchise/SherlockHolmes and [[TheWatson Dr. Watson]] always seem to end up being extremely close friends in real life. Casting for modern adaptations mainly focused on the chemistry of the two leads so they would invoke this trope.

* Make a HeelFaceTurn and become TheAtoner and SixthRanger.

* In UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, after the Italians turned against the Nazis, the Germans coached an Italian petty thief to pose as an aristocratic Italian general and convince several captured resistance fighters to spill their secrets. He set out instead to be an inspiring figure who'd help the men hold onto their information and their pride. When the Germans executed him for betraying them, he died still maintaining the false identity. This was made into a movie, ''General della Rovere'', in 1959.

* It can be argued that Øystein "Euonymous" Aarseth of the BlackMetal band Music/{{Mayhem}} underwent this, believing his own hype so much that he underwent severe SanitySlippage, crossed the MoralEventHorizon in regards to his treatment of their then-vocalist Dead, and cost himself multiple friendships and, if [[Music/{{Burzum}} Varg]]'s account of the stabbing is true, [[AuthorExistenceFailure his own life]].

** The ''Weapons of Legacy'' sourcebook has the story of Ildashurn, a {{doppelganger}} who once adopted the form of a [[FishPeople kuo-toa]] to venture into the ocean, not knowing that the degenerate creatures are hated by nearly all other aquatic peoples. Sure enough, Ildashurn was attacked on sight by a sea elf, and the doppelganger defended himself, mortally wounding the elf. When Ildashurn read the dying elf's mind and learned the depth of the misunderstanding, the doppelganger felt guilty enough to take the sea elf's form and identity as he sought to make amends. As Sajolveun, the doppelganger [[GoingNative embraced the aquatic elves' culture]] and became one of their greatest heroes, wielding a legendary trident in defense of his new homeland. But when the topic of marriage kept coming up, Ildashurn eventually ran out of excuses and had to promise to take a wife after returning from a personal quest. He fully intended to run off, but when the doppelganger reached the surface, he found that he was unable to change shape - whether due to his magical triden or divine intervention, he was now permanently a sea elf. So with a smile, he returned to his ocean home.

* The Craftworld Eldar of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' once created a Chaos God from their excesses, and so the survivors follow a life of strict discipline called the Path. Each Eldar focuses on one role at a time - poet, artisan, warrior, seer, etc. - and cultivates a new personality based on that vocation, which can be set aside and returned to later. In the Aspect Warriors' case, part of their training is the construction of a figurative "war mask" allowing them to fully embrace their violent tendencies when needed and avoid being consumed by them, which must be mastered before the warrior is allowed to don the actual war mask of their armor. Despite such precautions, some Eldar become trapped on their current path, so that seers become Farseers obsessed with reading and altering the future, or a warrior becomes an Exarch who lives only to battle and train others for war, forgetting their past life and taking the name of the first to wear their armor.
* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' has this as the basis for one of the Changeling philosophies. Natural shapeshifters, Changelings of the Passer philosophy do their best to forsake their true nature, creating an identity of another race and adopting that as their 'true being'. While they can still shapeshift, they are very uncomfortable doing so, or even reverting back into their real form, as their 'mask' becomes their true identity. The other two philosophies are similar; Seekers aim to embrace the 'ultimate form', which they believe to be an extension of the Changeling's true form, while Becomers are similar to Passers, but assume myriad different lives and identities, all equally real to the Changeling.
* The ''TabletopGame/{{Promethean|TheCreated}}'' KarmaMeter represents this: the better they are at acting human, the more likely they are to internalise it. Thus, they have a higher chance of succeeding in the roll [[ToBecomeHuman to be reborn as a human]].
** This is likewise what happens when a TabletopGame/{{demon|TheDescent}} Falls. They've lived a cover story in order to fulfill the will of the God-Machine, perhaps one that had a profession, friends, even a family. But they only view such things intellectually, without any true connection. Once a demon Falls, the emotional context comes flooding in, and while there may still be some disconnect, all the elements of her Cover ''mean'' something.
* Personamancers in ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies'' base all their magic around pretending to be other people (or screwing with other peoples's self-identification). They charge their magic through pretending to be other people. Here's the catch: to gain the power for such an act, they have to ''really believe'' they're somebody else, at least a little. And gaining recognition as themselves kills their power. One of the quickest ways to gain power is to pretend to be somebody else into a mirror for one hour. Do that every day for years and eventually, you start to buy it...
* This has been the fate of more than one Scorpion spy in ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings''. In fact the sourcebook "Secrets of the Scorpion" notes that the spymaster who trains these men sometimes cries quietly in the night after having portrayed a brave and noble hero, beloved by many. He assumed the role by murdering the hero and living their life for five years, during which he performed true feats of heroism to maintain the cover. He has never impersonated anyone ever since.

* [[https://imgur.com/gallery/Tw3Xjtz The Tale of Donovan Graham]]: A low-life rogue pretends to be a paladin just so he could spend the night at the local temple for free instead of having to pay for a room at the inn, [[SnowballLie and ends up conscripted into a war against an invading army]]. His abysmal luck results in his every attempt to run away sending him blundering straight into enemy forces, which only enhances his reputation as a great paladin skilled at hunting down the invaders, and causes him to be unanimously voted as the leader of the guerrilla forces. He eventually comes to truly care about the other members of his party and ends up [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing himself to kill the enemy general and win the war]] like the heroic paladin everyone thought he was, which earned him sainthood as the patron saint of guerrillas and just causes.

* In the most literal sense possible in [[Music/{Styx} Styx’s]] "Mr. Roboto" music video:

* In the most literal sense possible in Styx's "Domo Arigato Mister Roboto" music video

* On the internet, it has been said that many people on the internet who've pretended to hold shocking or socially unacceptable positions (racism, fascism, ect) for the sake of ironic humor have ended up actually accepting those ideologies without even noticing.

** ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' actors Creator/KelseyGrammer and John Mahoney. After Mahoney passed away in 2018, Grammer honored him by saying "He was my father, and I loved him.", adding that Mahoney played his father longer than he knew his own father and that he never had a brother either, meaning that the relationship with both men was very much like family.

** Jack Klugman and Tony Randall when they played Oscar and Felix, respectively on the 1970s ''Theatre/TheOddCouple''. Initially, both of them would have preferred to work with an actor that they'd co-starred with in their earlier performances of the original play. However, they very quickly bonded in the pursuit of an ever-funnier show-they'd argue all the time at work, sure, but it was always about the script and perfecting the scenes, never about them personally. Years later Klugman actually wrote a book in tribute to his and Randall's friendship, titled ''Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship''.

** Creator/GatesMcFadden and Creator/WilWheaton played mother and son Dr. Beverly and Wesley Crusher on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', and maintained that bond beyond TNG, with Wil frequently referring to Gates as "Space Mom".