Happy Face = mask?

The April 2012 National Geographic includes a feature about masks of Africa and the African diaspora.  Follow the link to the article and the photos that accompany it.  Reading the article I was reminded of our conversations in earlier semesters about masquerade and performance of identity.  But since I read the article this semester, in the midst of our consideration of happiness, I began to wonder about the phrase, "put on a happy face."

It is a song lyric and you can find recordings of several singers performing it on you-tube. 

The Wall Street Journal has reported that following the advise contributes to job productivity.  The article side-bar gives suggestions for how get a happy face on your own face, not a mask.

In keeping with the photo of a person with a bucket painted with a happy face over her head (that is no longer) here, another take on the advise might wonder if putting on a happy face is an invitation to ignore what is going on around the smiler.  Thus putting on a happy face might be the equivalent of burying one's head in the sand rather than choosing to take a positive attitude and have one's facial muscles lead the way.