History Main / MasqueradeBall

* In the retro-SteamPunk ''{{Bioshock}}'', many of the splicers are wearing party masks, as there was a 'ball' at about the time they went mad.

* The video for FlorenceAndTheMachine's "Shake It Out".

* the video for FlorenceAndTheMachine's "Shake it Out".

* {{Infocom}}'s third mystery, Suspect, was set at a costume party. The hostess is murdered with part of the protagonist's costume, making the protagonist...well, as the title implies, the suspect.

* Season 2's Masquerade in {{The Vampire Diaries}}[[/folder]]

A modern costume party has some of the potential for this, especially if there are disguises abounding. If it's an ''actual'' MasqueradeBall in a modern setting, expect at least one guest to bring out the ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' quotes.

A modern costume party has some of the potential for this, especially if there are disguises abounding. If it's an ''actual'' MasqueradeBall in a modern setting, expect at least one guest to bring out the ''RomeoAndJuliet'' quotes.

* ''[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Romeo and Juliet]]'' fall in love at the masque ball, not knowing that they're members of enemy families.
* Act II, Scene i of ''MuchAdoAboutNothing''.

* ThePhantomOfTheOpera has one turned UpToEleven - the song is simply called "Masquerade," and gets used repeatedly throughout the remainder of the play.

* Used in the Disney series "The Swamp Fox". Mary was arrested for treason and told she'd be released after attending one. Marion sneaks into the ball in a redcoat uniform and tries to sneak her out. They both get caught, although they both escape soon after.[[/folder]]

* Both the anime and manga versions of ''SailorMoon'' feature Usagi attending a masquerade ball held at the D Kingdom's embassy in order to find out if the royal family's treasure is the [[MineralMacGuffin Silver Crystal]] and if Princess D is actually the Moon Princess that they are looking for. The scene is more significant in the manga as [[spoiler: Mamoru and Usagi both reveal that they have memories of each other in a past life]] at this event. Naturally, the two of them also share a dance together.

* The second arc of ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' ends with a demonic twist on one of these [[spoiler:celebrating the resurrection of the witch]]. Everyone except for Beato wears [[{{Mook}} goat head masks]]. The halls are decorated with [[ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth golden butterflies]]. [[ImAHumanitarian There is plenty to eat and drink.]]

* ''[[{{Shakespeare}} Romeo and Juliet]]'' fall in love at the masque ball, not knowing that they're members of enemy families.

* Referenced by TheGrimReaper in ''{{Discworld}}'', explaining why he appeared at a summoning ritual with a cocktail and a sausage-onna-stick.[[AC: "The party's nice, but I expect it'll all go downhill after midnight. It's when [[ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself they think I'll be taking my mask off.]]"]]

** The {{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'' is an AffectionateParody of ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', complete with [[NeverMessWithGranny Granny Weatherwax]] and [[MagnificentBastard Nanny Ogg]], rural Lancre witches who have no concept of how to behave in high society, dressing up this way and attending an opera performance. This goes about as well as could be expected given the witches concerned.

* In the {{Discworld}} novel ''Witches Abroad'', the story of [[strike:Cinderella]] Emberella is done at a masquerade ball. The Witches use this to switch the poor scullery girl with one of their own.

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* The {{climax}} of AlfredHitchcock's ''ToCatchAThief'' is set at a ball, where people wear lavish costumes fom the era of Louis XV.

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Has nothing to do with TheMasquerade, and can actually mean a break from it; see ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself.

Subtrope of DancesAndBalls. Has nothing to do with IdiotBall or any of its subtropes.

* ''{{Labyrinth}}'': Villain Jareth places an illusion of this in protagonist Sarah's mind.
** Regarding the masquerade in Labyrinth, for those of you who like symbolic details:
*** Earlier, we see that Sarah owns a little music box with a princess-like figure twirling atop it, inside walls of glass and mirrors. In Jareth's illusion, he turns Sarah into this music-box princess.
*** There are mirrors in abundance. Jareth removes his mask while the guests retain theirs, and yet he is often in close proximity to mirrors, including two which are held up to him on either side by masked women when Sarah first spots him.
*** The walls of the room itself are mirrors. Sarah has to shatter them to break the illusion.

* The climax of the anime ''[[WolfsRain Wolf's Rain]]'' has the villainous [[AristocratsAreEvil Nobles]] gather to celebrate their slightly insane plan with such a party.

* In creepy parallel to Judge Turpin above, ''{{Revenge of the Nerds}}'' has the lead nerd use his college-fair [[StarWars Darth Vader]] costume to trick the heroine into sex.
* The film ''{{Start the Revolution Without Me}}'' (a humorous account of the French Revolution, and yes, ) has a hilarious send-up of this type of party. Even though it's technically not a MasqueradeBall, everyone still wears elaborate court dress--except for King Louis the XVI, who arrives in an elaborate chicken costume. (Apparently his devious wife told him it was [[ItsACostumePartyISwear supposed to be a costume ball]] and then "changed her mind" without telling him.) There's also plenty of intrigue, spying and backstabbing going on as the ball patrons exchange secret notes with each other--so many notes in fact, that the ''entire floor'' gets covered with them.

* {{Edgar Allan Poe}}'s ''[[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Masque_of_the_Red_Death The Masque of the Red Death]]''. [[CaptainObvious It ends badly.]]

* GKChesterton's ''TheManWhoWasThursday'' ends with one.

* Featured in the {{Gargoyles}} comics by SLG. A costume party is held on Halloween at the Xanatos building- where the gargoyles fit right in and Elisa is dressed like Princess Jasmine. (She likes Disney Princesses for some reason.) Meanwhile, Fox and David Xanatos are attending a masquerade at the White House.

*** There are mirrors in abundance. Jareth removes his mask while the guests retain theirs, and yet he is often in close proximity to mirrors, including two which are held up to him on either side by masked women when Sarah first spots him.

** In ''Film/EverAfter'', it is a masked ball, but the Prince doesn't use the shoe to find her anyway.

* In the {{Discworld}} novel ''Witches Abroad'', the story of [[strike:Cinderella]] Emberella is done at a masquerade ball. The Witches use this to switch the poor scullery girl with one of their own.

** Francois Auber also wrote an {{Opera}} about the same incident, called ''Gustav le troisieme, ou le bal masque''

* An episode of the first ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon revolves around a high-class masquerade ball April attends (and looks [[SheCleansUpNicely shockingly stunning]] in her evening gown). She brings the Turtles with her, thinking it'd be fun and ironic. Over the course of the episode she is [[MistakenIdentity mistaken]] for a similarly-dressed European princess and kidnapped, and when security orders everyone to take off their masks, the Turtles are in an obvious bind.
* The episode "Heart of Tarkon" of ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers Galaxy Rangers]]'' has Doc crashing one of these and using the opportunity to turn on the charm with Maya. Maya is not fooled by his identity in the slightest, [[GiveGeeksAChance but is surprised at how charming he can be]].

** A common trend of this in ''HarryPotter'' fanfics is to hold another Yule Ball (sans the Triwizard Tournament that it's supposed to go with).

* AgathaChristie uses a masquerade ball as the starting place for a murder in the "Finessing the King"/"The Gentleman Dressed in Newspaper" two-part story in ''Partners in Crime''.

* ''BatmanReturns'' has a costume Christmas party, where everyone wears a costume except, of course, Batman and Catwoman -- for whom their civilian identities ''are'' their costumes.

* Happens in ''VanHelsing''. Fun fact: There is an outtake from this scene in which, instead of saying "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...Van Helsing!", Dracula instead declares "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...Van Halen!", followed by Hugh Jackman (that is, Van Helsing) air-guitaring.

* In ''TerrorTrain'', there's a masquerade party held in the titular vehicle, providing plenty of disguises for the killer.

** [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel Some of them have been wearing the masks so long that their faces have deformed in the pattern of the mask's interior...]]

* The film ''Start the Revolution Without Me'' (a humorous account of the French Revolution, and yes, ) has a hilarious send-up of this type of party. Even though it's technically not a MasqueradeBall, everyone still wears elaborate court dress--except for King Louis the XVI, who arrives in an elaborate chicken costume. (Apparently his devious wife told him it was [[ItsACostumePartyISwear supposed to be a costume ball]] and then "changed her mind" without telling him.) There's also plenty of intrigue, spying and backstabbing going on as the ball patrons exchange secret notes with each other--so many notes in fact, that the ''entire floor'' gets covered with them.

* Marie-Antoinette, her husband, and her two favorite ladies sneak out of Versailles to attend a masked ball in Paris in Sofia Coppola's ''Marie-Antoinette.''

* In Sofia Coppola's ''Marie-Antoinette'', the title character, her husband, and her two favorite ladies sneak out of Versailles to attend a masked ball in Paris.

* Jacqueline Carey's ''Kushiel's Legacy'' books frequently feature elaborate masked balls, usually at the winter solstice; however, the trope is averted in that most people's identity isn't really concealed all that effectively. It's an effective plot device for forcing characters together, however.
* JohnCWright's ''The Golden Age'' opens with a masquerade season to celebrate a once-in-a-millenium holiday.
* Many of the Batman short story collections feature this. A few times Bruce Wayne shows up in a Batman costume. How silly!
* GKChesterton's ''The Man Who Was Thursday'' ends with one.

* In Phillipa Gregory's "The Other Boleyn Girl" Mary Boleyn flirts with Henry the VIII at a masquerade in his court.

** ''General Hospital'' has an annual Nurses Ball, which is also used to spread awareness about HIV and AIDS.

* The episode "Heart of Tarkon" of GalaxyRangers has Doc crashing one of these and using the opportunity to turn on the charm with Maya. Maya is not fooled by his identity in the slightest, [[GiveGeeksAChance but is surprised at how charming he can be]].

STRANGER: I wear no mask.\\

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* Featured in the {{Gargoyles}} comics by SLG. A costume party is held on Halloween at the Xanatos building- where the gargoyles fit right in and Elisa is dressed like Princess Jasmine. (She likes Disney Princesses for some reason.) Meanwhile, Fox and David Xanatos are attending a masquerade at the White House.
* Barbara Gordon first created the Batgirl outfit as a costume for a party - to annoy her father. When the party was crashed by supercriminals, she responded to the crisis like a costumed crimefighter rather than a costumed partygoer (Which Bruce Wayne did, seeing as he was in a clown outfit at the time), starting her journey to become a member of the Bat-Family.
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* In ''KeepingUpAppearances'', Hyacinth wanted to go to the Lord Mayor's Fancy Dress Ball as Marie-Antoinette, but ended up with a Boudiccea costume instead. [[/folder]]
* Used in the Disney series "The Swamp Fox". Mary was arrested for treason and told she'd be released after attending one. Marion sneaks into the ball in a redcoat uniform and tries to sneak her out. They both get caught, although they both escape soon after.

* In ''TheBigO'', Schwarzwald rigged it so that the masks would eventually explode. Damn.