There’s nothing quite like a trend to sell merchandise, as it’s one of things that you can count on with people that are enamored of just about anything and can convince others is worth the price. With the coronavirus it’s not hard to think that masks were bound to become popularized since the idea of everyone wearing the same type of medical mask for practical reasons wasn’t going to fly for long, if at all, since a lot of people have that ‘just gotta be me’ attitude no matter if there’s a pandemic on or if they just feel the need to do something wild and out there because it’s how they roll. As Mike Jones of Screenrant puts it though the Bane mask from The Dark Knight Rises has actually sold so well that supplies have run low and the adult masks are already sold out, while there are apparently still those in child sizes left. Of all the masks to idolize this one isn’t too surprising since it was introduced in a way that made it very popular, given that Tom Hardy’s character was one of the toughest villains to ever come along in the Nolan trilogy, and because, well, people love to follow trends since it’s the in thing to do.
It’s very likely there are plenty of masks out there with Bane’s likeness or that are designed to look like the movie version while still being medically sound, but the latex version is what a lot of people really got into since it does cover your entire lower face for the most part. It’s not medically sound unfortunately as you might have guessed, but is more of a costume accessory, the type that people buy at conventions or for Halloween, and as a result it’s not bound to do anything but offer the smallest bit of comfort possible for those that are wanting people to wear masks when they go out. Right now a good part of the country is hoping that things will start going back to normal soon and that they’ll be able to move around as they normally did as counties and even states start opening up a bit more. But really, seeing an army of Bane masks might be cause to laugh at this point since the idea of this many people blindly following a trend simply because they like a character is kind of peculiar. Ben Cost of the New York Post had more to add to the subject. It’s normal really, as people do this kind of thing all the time, but for those of us that don’t always follow trends it’s kind of like watching a flock of sheep make their way from one point to another, picking up one trend at a time as they go along.
Bane is an awesome character to be certain and he was portrayed in an interesting manner by Tom Hardy, but emulating the guy by wearing his mask is kind of odd when really there’s no point to it since it’s not offering any sort of protection. In fact there’s still an argument whether a lot of people even need to wear a mask at this point. Right now it appears to give people peace of mind more than anything as the presence of the mask is what really matters while the idea of whether it’s helping or not doesn’t really matter as much. Most masks are paper thin and could barely hold in a sneeze, so thinking that any of them are going to keep out that many germs is kind of hard to fathom even when they’re explained to the average person in terms of how many layers there really are and how the filters in them work. That kind of implies that each and every mask is going to be airtight, and believing that this is the case is a huge practice in finding out how truly naive a person can be. It’s true that some masks do filter out a lot of stuff and keep a person fairly safe when they’re worn correctly, but keep that in mind that a person has to wear a mask CORRECTLY. That means there’s no shifting the mask, and no keeping integrity of it once it’s removed to eat, drink, or do anything else. Too many people put too much face in a cotton or paper mask and don’t have the common sense to think that they might need to carry a backup or two just in case the mask is somehow compromised. With the Bane mask, carrying one or two would be kind of a pain in the backside unless one had a big enough pack.
Seriously, as a trend there have been worse things that have been practiced in human history, but this one is still fairly strange. It’s anyone’s guess how long it will last.
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