#onscreen villain
Before the 1960s, when filmmakers, artists, or everyday people wanted to dress up as villains or spooky figures for Halloween, the most obvious go-to choice was to wear a mask — the more inhuman one looks, the more villainous it felt. Fashion historian Nancy Deihl notes that anonymity played a role in the evolution of the villain archetype. The essence of dressing up as a villain was to achieve total disguise. This concept of obscured identity is mirrored in…