A house of mirrors or hall of mirrors is a traditional attraction at

funfair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

s (carnivals) and amusement parks. The basic concept behind a house of mirrors is to be a maze-like puzzle. In addition to the maze, participants are also given mirrors as obstacles, and glass panes to parts of the maze they cannot yet get to. Sometimes the mirrors may be distorted because of different curves,

convex Convex or convexity may refer to: Science and technology * Convex lens, in optics Mathematics * Convex set, containing the whole line segment that joins points ** Convex polygon, a polygon which encloses a convex set of points ** Convex polytop ...

, or

concave Concave or concavity may refer to: Science and technology * Concave lens * Concave mirror Mathematics * Concave function, the negative of a convex function * Concave polygon, a polygon which is not convex * Concave set * The concavity of a ...

in the glass to give the participants unusual and confusing reflections of themselves, some humorous and others frightening.

References in fiction

Literary

The first known literary example is in

Gaston Leroux Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux (6 May 186815 April 1927) was a French journalist and author of detective fiction. In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel '' The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, ...

's novel ''

The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...

'' (1911), in which Erik has built one for the Shah of Persia as a trap and later uses a similar trap house to protect his lair from his enemies. The concept has also been used in comics. In '' Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'', Batman is seen chasing the Joker through an amusement park and into a hall of mirrors. It was used to create suspense as Joker could not clearly decipher what was real and what was just an image.

Film

In Charlie Chaplin's 1928 movie '' The Circus'', Charlie Chaplin is chased into a mirror maze by a thief and the police. The climax of the 1948

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

film ''

The Lady from Shanghai ''The Lady from Shanghai'' is a 1947 American film noir directed by Orson Welles (uncredited) and starring Welles, his estranged wife Rita Hayworth, and Everett Sloane. It is based on the novel ''If I Die Before I Wake'' by Sherwood King. Altho ...

'' (1948) takes place in a maze of mirrors. In the finale of ''

Enter the Dragon ''Enter the Dragon'' ( zh, t=龍爭虎鬥) is a 1973 martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse and written by Michael Allin. The film stars Bruce Lee, John Saxon and Jim Kelly. It was Lee's final completed film appearance before his death o ...

'' (1973), Bruce Lee's character navigates a mirror maze by breaking through the mirrors.

Francisco Scaramanga Francisco Scaramanga is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists in the James Bond novel and film version of '' The Man with the Golden Gun''. Scaramanga is an assassin who kills with his signature weapon, a pistol made of solid gold ...

's "Fun House" in the 1974

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film '' The Man with the Golden Gun'' has a house of mirrors. In John Boorman's 1974 movie ''

Zardoz ''Zardoz'' is a 1974 science fantasy film written, produced, and directed by John Boorman and starring Sean Connery and Charlotte Rampling. It depicts a post-apocalyptic world (which Boorman says, in the audio commentary, may or may not be mat ...

'', character "Z" ( Sean Connery) battles against "The Vortex" in a mirror maze. The 1983

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

movie '' Something Wicked This Way Comes'' (an adaptation of

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

's novel of the same title) culminates in a house of mirrors confrontation. The 1984 movie '' Conan the Destroyer'' with Arnold Schwarzenegger contains a house of mirrors fight.

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

's movie ''

Manhattan Murder Mystery ''Manhattan Murder Mystery'' is a 1993 American black comedy mystery film directed by Woody Allen, which he wrote with Marshall Brickman, and starring Alan Alda, Allen, Anjelica Huston, and Diane Keaton. The film centers on a married couple's ...

'' (1993) makes reference to the house of mirrors sequence from ''The Lady from Shanghai''. In '' John Wick: Chapter 2'' (2017), John Wick ( Keanu Reeves) engages in a chase, gunfight, and climactic knife fight in a modern art museum exhibit called "Reflections of the Soul" made of halls, rooms, and stairways lined with mirrors. A house of mirrors features prominently in Jordan Peele's 2019 horror film Us.

Music

The Kraftwerk album '' Trans-Europe Express'' includes a song called "The Hall of Mirrors". Fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth also has a song called "House of Mirrors" of his ''

Hard Hat Area ''Hard Hat Area'' is the eighth studio album by guitarist Allan Holdsworth, released in 1993 through Polydor Records (Japan), JMS–Cream Records (Europe) and Fred Bloggs Music (United Kingdom), and in 1994 through Restless Records (United State ...

'' album. The Insane Clown Posse album '' The Ringmaster'' has a song called "House of Mirrors", representing it as one of the attractions of the Dark Carnival.

Television

In Season 3, Episode 7 of '' Stranger Things'', the character "Hopper" (

David Harbour David Kenneth Harbour (born April 10, 1975) is an American actor. He has played supporting roles in films such as '' Brokeback Mountain'' (2005), '' Quantum of Solace'' (2008), '' State of Play'' (2009), '' The Green Hornet'' (2011), ''End o ...

) leads a Russian assassin into a mirror maze. In an episode of the Twilight Zone, " In Praise of Pip", a bookie tries to tell his dying son how much he loves him while chasing him inside a house of mirrors. Other notable examples include the CBS soap opera '' Guiding Light'' which, in 1980, featured a now famous sequence that depicted heroine Rita Bauer ( Lenore Kasdorf) being pursued through a hall of mirrors by villain Roger Thorpe (

Michael Zaslow Michael Joel Zaslow (November 1, 1942 – December 6, 1998) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as villain Roger Thorpe on CBS's ''Guiding Light'', a role he played from 1971 to 1980 and again from 1989 to 1997. Life a ...

); the show ''

Macgyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot. In both p ...

'', where Jack Dalton is brainwashed and is forced to fire on Macgyver; and ''

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

'' episode "Betrayal". In "The Carnival Job", a fourth season episode of the show ''

Leverage Leverage or leveraged may refer to: *Leverage (mechanics), mechanical advantage achieved by using a lever * ''Leverage'' (album), a 2012 album by Lyriel *Leverage (dance), a type of dance connection *Leverage (finance), using given resources to ...

'', Elliot has a showdown with Molly's captors in a house of mirrors.

History

The origins of the house of mirrors stem from the hall of mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.

References

{{Reflist Amusement park attractions

Mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the im ...

Mirrors