Part 3

Jess Cassidy

Dr Ellis

Post Colonial Lit.

9 November 2010

The people that exhibit tattoos in celebrity culture are a lot like the aristocrats in the earlier centuries. Both of them have a lot of privilege, and in a way the tattoos them show off are a reminder to the people that are not a part of that section in society. While the middle class is the majority within our time periods, we all to some degree have an infatuation with money and power. This is linked back to the tattoo because many people, if asked would not identify celebrities with tattoos if asked “Who do you think of when you think of tattoos today?” They would, instead identify it with people of a lower class, ghetto kids, or people within lower parts of society as opposed to people with money
People such as Elizabeth Wurtzel who did not grow up in today’s world with tattoos got one later in life, and has taken on a view that many who get them at a later age do; that they are signs of someone who is classless and comes from a bad home. The celebrities who have them tend to, in the research I have done get them to dignify something special. Aguilera with her husband and Jolie with her children are examples of special meanings to them alone. The irony of Aguilera’s divorce is that, I tend ot wonder if she will end up getting it totally removed like Jolie. The other aspect of Jolie’s tattoo removal is that many people within the middle class cannot afford to keep running to a doctor to get it removed because it is too expensive. I have known a few people that have gotten them ‘doctored’ or altered in some way, but never totally removed. This again signals a monetary division among people of immense wealth and people who do not have a money tree in the back yard. I also find it very ironic that the aristocracy started getting tattoos before the middle class to signify that they had wealth, and now they are a thing that everyone can have if they choose to. What is even more interesting is the change tattoos have taken within society as a negative thing in the US, as opposed to the people in Samoa who view it as something sacred and honorific to have.