My last post appears to have been in May… I’d best get off my hiney and keep this up-to-date if I want to make out like I’m working hard!
First of all I want to put in a mention for Tattoosday UK, and urge you to check it out. Without Mel Noir and her wonderful blog, the gap between myself and the Tattoo World would be that much bigger. It’s helped keep me up-to-date, even if my drawing skills aren’t!
Now to business: this is fairly old news, but I have only just gotten round to watching a documentary called Tattoos: A Scarred History, even though I’ve had the DVD since April. I thought I’d share my observations with you (but it’s mainly to prove to my tutors that I AM researching!)
With Tattoos: A Scarred History, I think one needs to keep in mind that if you’re already thrust quite deeply into the Body-Mod puddle, then you’re perhaps not going to learn anything new. I’m relatively new to Tattooing, and yet I understood most of the terms and practices.
HOWEVER, that is not necessarily a bad thing, as the film isn’t made in such a way as to tell you all the ins and outs of Tattooing. It instead follows the journey of a young woman called Sousila, who is trying to discover why Tattoos are so popular at the moment.
It’s a UK-based film which pops over to the US of A for one segment, and surprisingly is filmed in my own hometown of Wrexham, and surrounding areas such as Llandudno, which surprised me and left me feeling a bit proud.
At 97 minutes, the film is a fascinating romp through the mad world of Tattoos that kept me hooked, made me giggle and even had me cringing at some scenes. We meet an awesome (and very sweet) dude named Spikey Bob, get a good close-up look at some controversial “Tattooees”, including one really dodgy bum Tattoo. Keep an eye out for it and let me know if it really offended you… or if you laughed like I did! Also, watch out for “Puff the Magic Dragon”. Sousila has some gumption, that’s for sure!
One of my favourite segments included a visit to the Llandudno Tattoo Convention, of which I had never heard of before, but will now be looking at going to.
There is also a small section dedicated to the murder of Sophie Lancaster (check out the S.O.P.H.I.E. foundation), with a shocking tape recording of the night when she and her boyfriend were taken to Hospital. It was very respectfully edited into the film, and a poignant message considering the amount of stick Tattooed/Pierced people have to put up with.
But I did learn a thing or two. Firstly, the process of tongue-splitting, a practice which I am very attracted to. There’s a gory close-up, so be warned, but those of you who are pure of heart and of nerve will survive I’m sure. I also found out what scarificiation is… but I want to leave that to those of you who don’t know to find out for yourself. I would call it next-generation tattooing, but apparently it is derived from original forms of tattooing!
Finally, I can’t talk about the film without mentioning the Celebrity Survey. I assume it was made at a sci-fi convention of some sort, as Sousila manages to rope in some pretty impressive interviews, my favourites of which are the late David Carradine (Kill Bill), Warwick Davis (Willow), Billy Boyd (Lord of the Rings), and Ana Matronic or Scissor Sisters fame. There’s also a split-second interview with Gordon Ramsey that gave me a laugh, but you need to sit through the credits to watch it.
So there’s my two pence on the film itself, but what of its host Sousila?
Personally, I found her endearing and thoughtful. She’s just your average Josephine, not trying to be the next best presenter, and yet she was very insightful and knew how to get the interviews she wanted. By the end of the film I felt like we’d become friends. Perhaps because we’re both searching for the same answers regarding this huge subject… so kudos to her for keeping me entertained.
I think the only con that goes with these many pros is the camera work and the sound. As the cameraman is Sousila’s boyfriend, it’s pretty clear he’s not entirely sure what he’s doing sometimes, and there are occasional bouts of blurring which distracted me a bit. Also, the sound sometimes catches you off guard, jumping between echoing, loud and quiet. But these are small problems that are easily ignored.
So my summary is: if you love body modification, even if you think you know everything about it, watch this film. It’s funny, shocking, educational (I hear children scream) but most of all fascinating, and the culmination of a lot of hard work from it’s producers. And the cost of the DVD is a pittance. You can get it for £4.99 on Amazon. It was £7.99 when I bought it, and a portion of the profits go to children’s charity Angelwish, which you can find out more about in the bonus features, including deleted scenes, a trailer, music video by Leather Zoo (seriously, check out their song "Stranger", it’s awesome!), among other extras.
Overall, for the production values, I’d give the film a 7 out of 10. But for pure balls and value for money, I’ll give it a perfect 10.
Until next time, keep your hands dirty!
