CT ROTJ and Vaders unmasking...

It's amazing the power of a mask in movies. Some of our most iconic movie moments all surround someone behind one, causing us to form our own image of the character based on his deeds, and our shock when we see the "real" character, whether it exceeds our worst nightmare, or whether that face causes to wonder if that entire persona was just an illusion. "The Phantom of the Opera" in the 1920's gave that face nobody could imagine existed. "The Wizard of OZ" gave us a mask we didn't even realize was being worn.

And "Return of the Jedi", that unmasking completely changed our view of who we thought the most evil villain in the galaxy really was all along. The previous episode gave us the verbal revelation of "I am your father.", and this episode gave us the visual revelation of "And deep down behind this mask, I'm really just a man."

 

Well said. Vader's character development is fascinating. I think that David Prowse acted well with the mask on. Despite its intimidating appearance, Vader conveyed emotion well with simple body language. Although the mask is somewhat like a skull, it also looks sad and sympathetic at times. Vader looks scary, but he also appears trapped within the persona of Vader. That's because, deep down, he's Anakin, of course.