Japanese schoolchildren before the atomic revolution. A foreshadow of things to come?
AN ICON OF MANY THINGS
As discussed earlier, it was the industrial revolution that seemingly brought a new face to war, that of the rubber faced, soulless, inhuman dominatrix. With it came the fear of the masked tyrant, that anti-christ of legend who would take charge of the world's population and compel the masses to do his or her dark bidding. From this persona arose the legend of Darth Vader who made the Stars Wars trilogy a smash hit.
The concept of unbridled power and dominion is apparent in the advent of the gas mask - as an icon of such - on many other levels as well. In another session I will delve into the phenomena of the gas mask as a symbol of erotica and discuss why it is that the threat of domination from a soulless beast can be a way for certain people to get off on the sensual allure of complete and total ownership and consummation. For as many power hungry and bloodthirsty oppressors, there are at least as many who wish to be oppressed and this phenomena has given rise to an entire culture of adult fantasy aficionado's who are everywhere within mainstream society, though they are in fact hidden in a dark place where their secret actions are seldom seen and only whispered about in the most private of conversations.
As a sociological media, the gas mask has become THE icon of terror and oppression as it stands as an ever present symbol of terror and death to most of the civilized world. Those aboriginals who have thus escaped the influence of the gas mask culture have, at the very least, escaped the threat of total and complete subservience and dominion and may in fact be the luckiest people left on Earth.