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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I define here the notion of Masquerade by a
universe where the appearances can be wrong with a fake construction of
reality.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1) The dreams: a part of the plots which happen in
Duckburg happens in the world of the dreams; the dreams stories exist in many
italian ones but also in Carl Barks (in old California, Cave of Ali Baba, Back
to long ago, in these stories the frontier between the dreams and reality is
blurred).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2)Double identities: the double personalities play
a substantial role in Duckburg (piège pour le sou fétiche d'oncle picsou mickey
parade 1199bis, all the content of the mickey parade 1301 bis, see also
Topolino, the gothic horror story The golden fleecing Carl Barks 1955);
sometimes this double personality appears to be the work of Magica De Spell (for
old dime's sake 1962, Magica is used to taking a lot of different
personalities), sometimes the double comes from the magic powers of the witch
Carabosse (Donald paladin de Picsou VI, mickey parade 951 bis, 1971); the double
appears to be a substitute of the comics super-heros of the sixties (the
character of super-duck). In a story of Carl Barks, some unknow strangers play
the part of guardians of a lighthouse on a coast where a lot of Scrooge's boats
crash; these guardians prove to be the Beagles Boys; sometimes this is the time
dimension which is responsable of a splitted personality (paperino anno 2001 -
Donald De Picsou en l'an 2001 - a story where Scrooge is both everywhere and
nowhere, everywhere because his image goes through the entire story and people
talk constantly about him, everywhere too through the Donald of the future as
well as in the video screen of the beginning; nowhere because his real
personality is materialized nowhere, so, the best representation that we can
have of him in this story is the representation of a ghost, here and nowhere at
once; for summarizing, paperino anno 2001 or the art of talking about Scrooge
without Scrooge); other italian stories play with the double and the ambiguity
of the personalities: l'antipaperone, in the excellent ludicrous story of the
sixties Zio Paperone e il richiamo turistico this is the own secretary of
Scrooge who plays the masquerade in order to fool Rockerduck (Flairsou) for
selling him an unproductive Scrooge's hotel lost in the mountains and inhabited
by no one.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>3)The money bin: a real fortress? One thing which
seems to be interesting about the money bin is that it seems to have accelerated
the solitude and misanthropist side of Scrooge; in the Carl Barks' pre-money bin
stories, we are still seeing a lot of people agitated around him: his numerous
employees; following these stories, and later, in the italian stories, we are
seeing Scrooge rather alone in his fortress; in the sixties italian stories, we
often see him with just a secretary and a majordomo (this consideration is a
generality, the contrary is proved by a fifties Scarpa's story Picsou et le sage
de Ulah Ulah, mickey parade 30, where the money bin contains an army of
accountants); however, the money bin isn't the impregnable place which is
supposed to be; in some stories this is almost an open place where people
-strangers- go and come; a lot of villains succeed in reaching Scrooge easily,
and sometimes thanks to the help of brillant disguises (Magica De Spell, the
beagles boys in many stories); an another analogy in the game of the masquerade:
there is an important number of stories where the things don't work quite well
for the characters or are simply illusion: onc picsou au pays d'Alkali,
repetitive failures in the Gyro's inventions, quests for some money or treasures
which end badly and without success (the surprisingly bitter end of The Seven
Cities of Cibola Carl barks 1954).</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>