Comments on Bodies, Bodies Everywhere
If only Jeffrey Dahmer was alive to see this. He'd be thrilled!
I wonder if the Kidney that was stolen from the Bodies Exhibit was a political statement; we've been hearing for years about how organs are sold from the bodies of executed Chinese prisoners. Since rumor has it that the bodies used in the Exhibit were executed Chinese prisoners - and ironically, the reward of $10,000 is about the same as the price of a kidney on the black market, it's possible that the theif was trying to make a point about the commidification of human remains. Or maybe it's too subtle to be clever.
I just can't get over the body-origins issue as easily as you, Dan. And it is not an issue of chaining oneself to a door or not. I guess I just don't want to support an exhibit that has not made fully clear that they are not exhibiting executed political prisoners. I mean, if you are going to exhibit bodies this way that is the least we should expect, isn't it - that the bodies' former owners gave permission?
Post script: Not to mention the the ads. I agree with you there, there is just something distasteful. We had the same display on the tourist buses in NYC last fall, and I am glad the circus show has moved to the next town.
As Dina Martina pointed out in her Christmas show, it was very thoughtful of the producers to put the Bodies Exhibit right next door to the Cheesecake Factory...
I found about half of the exhibit to be ghastly and about half utterly fascinating. Some of the more technical dissections were spectacular, such as an entire nerve plexus or the entire vasculature of the heart.
The cheesy yoga girl and other "shocking" poses were ghastly, particularly given political prisoners most likely gave their lives for this show.
Read the blurb, kids. The bodies are donated by rational thinking people (ok, supposedly rational thinking) who basically donate themselves to science.
When this exhibit was in Denver I visited it several times. I found it fascinating and incredible, not at all disgusting. Mind you, I don't live IN Denver, so I didn't have to drive down the street looking at flayed bodies on the backs of buses...
ChillyMama, Denver had "Body Worlds", which is a different exhibit and does have informed consent from all of its exhibited donors.
"Bodies... The Exhibition", on display in Seattle, has not obtained for any of the bodies used (all of which are from China). They say that the bodies were unclaimed or unidentified, from various sources. Some people think that the bodies are those of political prisoners, such as Falun Gong members.
2nd paragraph should say "has not obtained *consent* for any of the bodies used".
Thanks #8,
Yes Body Worlds was the first to display these preserved bodies, Bodies is a knock-off. In interviews mostly on radio the Bodies people stutter when asked where their subjects come from. Creepy.
Other than the dubious origin of the corpses, what really creeps me out about "Bodies... The Exhibition" is the eyebrows. Why did the preservers feel compelled to chop the eyebrows out of the flayed hides of these people and tack them onto the finished product? It just looks bizarre.
i totally agree. crikes, they are even in the new bond movie, casino royal, with a slightly different exhibit name....
Me @ 8:
Thanks for setting me right! If indeed it is the case that this exhibition is using corpses of people who did not give their consent, then my reaction is, "Oh. My. God." That's disgusting and disgraceful!
I'm defintiely ready for this exhibit to go away. I am not offended by it, but I'm tired of being accosted by the full color marketing
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