Quote:
Originally Posted by lwcamp
I was reminded today of another nearly universal remedy for repelling supernatural monsters and evil spirits - scary faces and loud noises. From the Greek gorgon face to African masks to stylized representations of eyes, or Chinese firecrackers to banging on pots and pans to scare off evil spirits, these sorts of beliefs are found around the world. So maybe these Brazilian commandos put on Halloween masks when they go on anti-monster raids (which was, after all, the original meaning of Halloween costumes anyway). I figure with modern firearms, they've got the loud noises part down.
They might need to be careful, though. Masks have also universally been used as part of transformation rituals, to literally become a god or spirit. So it might make them more susceptible to possession - not by the spirit they're fighting, but by whatever they are disguising themselves as. Or maybe the mask would make them enact the part of that character in its mythological story. Maybe the more what they are doing is like the role of their disguise in the myth, the more likely the operative is to become drawn into and "consumed" by the story, fated to follow the story to its mythical conclusion.
An emblem of a gorgoneion, or a nazar amulet, would probably be a lot safer. If less interesting and awesome.
Luke
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In this context, it's probably worth noting that the special police tactical teams that participate in most of the urban warfare in Rio de Janeiro make heavy use of skull imagery, in their badges, on their vehicles and so forth. It's also probably relevant that in order to avoid personal reprisals, police commandos wear masks when making raids. These masks are often fancifully decorated, presumably for intimidation purposes. Mostly, they seem to be working with the skull motif, but I've seen photographs with demonic or dragonic faces, and I would not be surprised at all if a real BOPE or CORE commando used a gorgon's face.
So, eh, I guess this is more or less the state of affairs in real life. Ah, Rio, the more research I do, the more it looks like the setting for a particularly vivid and exotic First-Person Shooter game.