The 1985 movie Mask had a profound effect on me as a child. It told the story of Roy L. “Rocky” Dennis, a teenager who, because of a rare, disfiguring bone disorder, only lived until the age of 16. Dennis’s life is defined by his lionitis, a condition that makes it difficult for him or his family (headed by matriarch Cher) to have any kind of a normal existence. Dennis is wholeheartedly accepted by his family and mother’s biker gang (don’t ask) but when he falls in love with a blind girl at camp, (Laura Dern) everyone is very upset, especially Cher. She feels like it’s not fair to date the classically attractive girl, because if she could see, she presumably wouldn’t be dating him.
But Dern and Stoltz’s romance persists. She asks him if she can feel his face to see what he looks like. He lets her, thrilled that he’s finally found someone who isn’t horrified by his physicality.
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