Concealment of identity - is it possible?

I have been observing the faces of different people in the media spotlight and came to the conclusion of an interesting range of ways they depict their identities.
While most Celebrities like to be open, perhaps too open, about their personal lives, many will seek solitude in some way or another.

You could argue that some well known faces are just masks for who they really are; you never really understand the character underneath. Whether this is done on purpose or not depends on the person, but I feel it is important that someone under the spotlight should be able to have some form of privacy. Interestingly enough most people will depict a persons identity through the characters portrayed through an actors work, or how a musician provokes his audience through their work.

I have found however a minority of artists who choose to keep themselves discreet for the camera, not allowing people to catch a glimpse of the person on the inside. The mask is shrouded over them to protect their identity and push out their message further.

The one act that really stands out to me is a band named Slipknot. All of the members of this band are reformed into somewhat scary, illusive characters by the addition of wearing masks.


http://folk.uio.no/perbenn/Slipknot%20Masks.JPG

This arouses a strong statement of how they just want their music to be heard, they want to shock, to provide some form of power through fear, how they will not be commercialised via their personal identity. In many respects they are trying to say they are your every day average person who passes you on the street, you arent suppost to know of their true identities. The question is though, this alter ego they elaborate on - does it show something deeper about themselves as individuals?

I think its somewhat retorical to ask, there is no direct answer, its down to opinion, which makes these characters very interesting indeed.