History Main / MasqueradeBall

* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', 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.

** ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'' also includes Death apparently wearing a carnival mask, and in ''Diacworld/{{Maskerade}}'' he actually does (along with the full ''Red Death'' ensemble), with the shock coming when he ''does'' take it off. Pratchett uses the same gag in the short story ''Turntables of the Night'' set at the modern-day, ultra-mundane version of the Masquerade Ball; a small town Hallowe'en disco.
** The Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'' is an AffectionateParody of ''Theatre/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.

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

* ''Series/{{The 100}}'' has a flashback where TheArk holds a masquerade party. Since Octavia had to keep her existence hidden from the rest of the Ark, this was the only occasion when she was able to leave her family's quarters and see the rest of the space station.
* ''Series/{{Once Upon A Time}}'' has Cora meeting Prince Henry at one in 'The Miller's Daughter.'

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A SubTrope of DancesAndBalls.

* The film ''Film/StartTheRevolutionWithoutMe'' (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 Masquerade Ball, 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.
* Happens in ''Film/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.

* Barbara Gordon first created the Comicbook/{{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.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Morpheus}}'', the guests of the ''Herculania'' yacht had one, where Belle Swan performed "Salome's Seven Veils". Her daughter, Claire Moon tried to [[ThrowOffTheDisability dance off her disease of polio]] after being healed by Jan Pharris' Neurographicon, but it only lasted for a few seconds. Then things went awry when Jan's [[NightmareFace ghoulish facial features]] reappeared.

** ''Witches Abroad'' also includes Death apparently wearing a carnival mask, and in ''Maskerade'' he actually does (along with the full ''Red Death'' ensemble), with the shock coming when he ''does'' take it off. Pratchett uses the same gag in the short story ''Turntables of the Night'' set at the modern-day, ultra-mundane version of the Masquerade Ball; a small town Hallowe'en disco.

* In the Literature/{{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.

* Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's "Literature/TheMasqueOfTheRedDeath". [[CaptainObvious It ends badly.]]

* This is the imaginary setting for Canadian figure skater Roman Sadovsky's [[https://vimeo.com/256451282 short program]] from the 2017-2018 competitive season where he performs to Peter Gundry's "The Vampire Masquerade." The vampire he portrays attends a grand, old-fashioned masquerade ball in order to seduce a victim with his [[VampireDance masterful waltzing skills]].

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* Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's ''[[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Masque_of_the_Red_Death The Masque of the Red Death]]''. [[CaptainObvious It ends badly.]]

* Lord Fain of ''VideoGame/{{Lusternia}}'' has an aesthetic that mixes Masquerade Ball and ChessMotifs. Appropriately, his appearance is an extended ShoutOut to [[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe Poe's]] ''Masque of the Red Death'', right down to his title ("The Crimson Masque") and his [[spoiler: [[NotAMask actual lack of a mask]]]].

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

* A masquerade ball is the central setting for the Music/{{Rammstein}} video for "Du Riechst So Gut '98". All the band members, in the form of one werewolf (who continually shapeshifts between all six without anyone noticing) tracks a woman in a red dress to a masquerade ball, infiltrates them, seeking her out by scent (he/they sniffs various women's shoulders, searching for her), culminating in cornering her in a bedroom, for a FetishFuel / horrific scene in which six wolf heads burst from his body as they kiss. The wolves escape as the partygoers try to catch them, and the woman is implied to have become a Werewolf as well.

* In the ''Literature/ElementalMasters'' series book, ''Phoenix and Ashes'', which is based on ''{{Literature/Cinderella}}'' there is a masquerade ball towards the end of the book. The heroine, Eleanor, attends costumed as a fairy princess. (Her stepsisters are dressed up as historical personages Empress Josephine and Madame de Pompadour, while her stepmother is the Queen of the Night from ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute''.

A popular 19th century setting, due to, as TheOtherWiki puts it, "both to their popularity at the time and to their endless supply of plot devices." To wit: Mistaken identities, untraceable murderers, believing something is AllPartOfTheShow, a normally-costumed character hiding in [[ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself plain sight]], (or mocked for their [[YourCostumeNeedsWork poor quality costume]]) and one of the attendees' masks being revealed to be their ''[[NotAMask actual face]]''. [[DeadlyDecadentCourt A court is a... difficult place.]]

* A black-and-white masque ball in an episode of ''UglyBetty'' provides cover for on-the-lam Claire Meade to talk to her estranged husband again.