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Show Sunday, October 24. 1982 Timely issues, news, features, including family, food, fashion Today - Page THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, is, 25 I Mask Your Fears 'V JF I ,fv' r,.'. V' . . . .. , j,?'1 . BY V v y ' RENEE C. NELSON Herald Women's Editor The concept of evil spirits on Halloween originated with the Druids, an order of priests in ancient Gaul and Britain who believed that ghosts, spirits, fairies, witches and elves came out to harm people on Halloween. They encouraged superstition because it gave them power. In pagan Ireland, there was also a preoccupation with the occult. They believed that on this night the dead could return to earth as witches, goblins, ghusts, black cats, or in other weird forms. And all these dark underworld characters were thought to participate in carnivals of malicious mischief. The use of the mask to transform the wearer into a strange and mysterious creature was an outgrowth of these early myths and superstitions. Why do children love this Halloween sport? It is all part of their innate need for make believe. With a flick of their hands, they can become some strange little creature like E.T. And at the same time they can watch grownups pretend to be frightened. Characters from "Star Wars" invaded the Halloween mask parade a number of years ago, and now it is "E.T." The movie has already made Hollywood history in terms of box office gross and attendance records. But it has reached much deeper into the heart of the people. Children of all ages (which includes senior citizens) have fallen in love with this clumsy S little creature. So what is his charm? t Ted Koppel of ABC News says "E.T." is essentially the Christ story; Christ was the ultimate being. "The movie is really about fatherhood," one author told McCall's Magazine. "It is the father we all wish we had or would like to be." . "'E.T.' is an movie. It teaches us an important lesson: Just because you are different doesn't mean I have to kill you," says child psychologist and author Arthur Kornhaber in the same article. Steven Spielberg, director of the movie, said he liked to make his characters better than he ever was and says his inspiration for the movie came from his own experiences as a little boy. "I remember that I would just make friends and begin to feel that I belonged, when we would uproot and move a thousand miles away," he said, "and then we would begin again. For a kid that can be very traumatic. "The friendship that E.T. and Elliot find and hold onto clinging to each other is sort of what I went through in four moves from the ages of four to desperately sixteen. I wished I had had a best friend." On Halloween, many a child will find a friend as he dons a mask and becomes a favorite character out of fiction. Some will seek the horror route. Others will choose a gentler character. They all hope to capture the imagination of those they meet on Halloween Eve. extra-terrestri- V- V - ' ? L- ' , 1 - J I al a Darth Vader mask from "Star Wars." f ttrL ' JrA ' JF A ?hii W infc iiii vinfe(wi lXf in' lri Ai!SbiiiM mir'- -lt n' Phil Shurtleff Photos Halloween's most popular mask is "E.T. "from the movie by the same name. f ' I '''' - "j ' . ' , " ' L. . 'A fK yy Just plain horror. v r. 11 ' 1 - ""VV f'- - ' II A' r "!,"''W:' ' " If'iff I ' ' i " '' '" 1 ( m f ( r i' ' imkSL s v ill ' , , '.' l ' ' . ' . .- 4r Mask creatures come old. (From Taylor-Mai- d Beauty Supply) MYoda" mask from the movie "The Empire Strikes Back." ' i , I |
