The Art of Tattooing

The art of tattooing has been dated back as long ago as 2160 BC. It was discovered when a group of archeologists came across a body of a female mummy who had been covered in some sort of stain consisting of lines and dots. I believe tattooing is a form of art because it requires skill and creativity.  Not anyone can take a needle and poke around on someone to make an image so beautiful and meaningful.  Tattoos are like mobile art, you can take them anywhere you go, and they don’t just sit up on a wall to be admired. Paintings in an art gallery aren’t as sentimental as tattoos and they don’t raise the same type of questions. Tattoos represent people, places, and moments that are special to someone.  I believe tattoos are the most obvious and bold form of expression there is.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

                The story of Snow White is an old European folktale that is dated back to the Middle Ages. It is known to originate in Germany and is known by the name Schneewittchen which surprisingly enough translates to the words snow and white. There are many things that are different between the fun, loving Disney movie that we all adore and all the older century versions that have been kept secret from us. And the Brothers Grimm translation easily points them out.

                In the original Snow White and many versions like it, the evil stepmother tries to kill Snow White three different times, but in the Disney version of the film they make you believe there was only one incident where the evil stepmother tried to kill Snow White. In the original story the evil stepmother ties Snow White up and leaves her to die, luckily the dwarfs get to her fast enough to save her life. She strikes again by combing Snow Whites hair with a poisonous comb, but again the dwarfs save the day. The final time she knocks on the door Snow White falls for the trick and eats a poisonous apple and the dwarfs were too late. In the Disney version however they only show Snow White eating the poisonous apple, I took this difference as maybe they wanted to make kids believe that healthy food like fruits and vegetables are bad for you. Or perhaps they just wanted a less gruesome story for kids, but it’s no fun looking at it that way.

                 The dwarfs also demanded that Snow White must work and cook for them in order to receive their protection. When first thinking about this is I saw it as just an innocent mean of pay, but the more I look at it and think about it, it seems like they were trying to take advantage of her. Maybe this taught a lesson to men and women in the older days that women must cook and clean while the men offer protection for the family. So perhaps some details of this story affected the way of life and wasn’t just a measly old folktale.

                In the original version of Snow White the dwarfs also make the evil stepmother dance for hours wearing a pair of heated iron shoes which eventually burn her to death, but in the Disney version the stepmother is killed less painfully and gruesome by the dwarfs. Also in the original story of Snow White, she is only 16 and in the Disney version she appears to be much older and more responsible which could change the way you look at the story.

                There have been many different interpretations of Snow White and one in particular that caught my eye was cannibalism. The stepmother sends a hunter to find Snow White in the forest and bring back her heart, liver, and lungs. The hunter realizes he cannot kill Snow White and instead he brings back the intestines of an animal. The stepmother then salts them down, cooks them, and then eats them. She eats the intestines because it is believed that one develops the powers of whatever one eats so then in return the stepmother would gain Snow White’s beauty.

                I interpret Snow White as that the older you get than the uglier you get on the inside and outside. You become mean and selfish just like the stepmother, but as a child you’re naïve and sweet just like Snow White. There are many different ways to take in the Story of Snow White, some more disturbing than others, but either way you look at it the story still ends with the same key point.