Making Faces, Playing God: Identity and the Art of Transformational Makeup

by Thomas Morawetz

Wearing a mask—putting on another face—embodies a fundamental human fantasy of inhabiting other bodies and experiencing other lives. In this extensively illustrated book, Thomas Morawetz explores how the creation of transformational makeup for theatre, movies, and television fulfills this fantasy of self-transformation and satisfies the human desire to become "the other." Morawetz begins by discussing the cultural role of fantasies of transformation and what these fantasies reveal about questions of personal identity. He next turns to professional makeup artists and describes their background, training, careers, and especially the techniques they use to create their art. Then, with numerous before-during-and-after photos of transformational makeups from popular and little-known shows and movies, ads, and artist's demos and portfolios, he reveals the art and imagination that go into six kinds of mask-making—representing demons, depicting aliens, inventing disguises, transforming actors into different (older, heavier, disfigured) versions of themselves, and creating historical or mythological characters.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 2001

Reviews

[Drac]

This isn’t as in-depth as the title and foreword promise, but that’s okay. Reading this book is like having a long, invigorating conversation with an intelligent friend: he meanders a little, and he dips into the weeds of his favorite topics, sometimes abandoning philosophical discussion for a detailed encyclopedic recitation of film makeup facts; but the conversation never fails to engage you.

[Amber]

One of the best make-up, theatrical special effects books I've ever read. Very detailed, very readable. Really, really excellent.