Weekly Analysis 5-1

Weekly Analysis
This week for my analysis of popular culture I am going to write about the popularity of tattoos. I have always wondered what the fascination with tattoos was. Well a week ago I went with my sister in law while she got a new tattoo, and I learned a little bit about the fascination with tattoos.
For me personally, tattoos are something that I thought I would never do. The very thought of having a needle stick me over and over again isn’t appealing at all. I realize that this is a way for people to express themselves, but I still couldn’t understand why anyone would want to this. So when my sister in law decided to get her third tattoo, I wanted to go and see what I could find out, and see for myself the process.
In February of this year my sister in laws brother died, suddenly and very unexpectedly. He was a junior firefighter, and so she decide to get a tattoo of his helmet with his numbers, name, his birthday, and the day he died on it. Now, I know she got this tattoo because she wanted to honor him, and always have a part of him near her, but I still wasn’t very sure this was the way to go about it. So we went to the tattoo shop, and they got started. I was amazed by what I saw. They had pictures every where of tattoos that they had done, and pictures of tattoos that they could do. I was shocked at the details and time that these artists spend on designing a tattoo.
I started asking people that were there some questions. I started with what is the most common tattoo you do, and wasn’t surprised that it was a butterfly on the lower back. I was then told this is known as a tramp stamp, which is an awful name, and that I shouldn’t get one there if I ever decide to bet a tattoo. So then I asked them why they had so many tattoos, and the most common response was that each tattoo represented something special and it was there preferred way to express there feelings. I did learn that this is an art, and it takes something really special to be able to create tattoos.
Over all, what I learned about the fascination with tattoos is that it is a way to express ones self. I do know that tattoos used to be something that was considered dirty, and only bad people got them. Well now today, with so many musicians, actors, and pubic figures having them, they are accepted without question. I think that this is why so many people are now getting them.

Picture

gallerytattoos.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archiv...