How Alienation has Increased the Popularity of Tattoos

So as discussed in our last blog Marx developed a theory of Alienation that was used to demonstrate what so many people in today’s society are getting tattoos even though it is seen as an intense body modification. As a recap Marx’s theory of alienation, states that an individual that has been alienated do not expand freely upon his bodily and psychological energy but instead modifies and mortifies his body and mind. Tattooing can be seen as one such embarrassment of the body. Additionally alienated people no more end up; worth through their occupations, tattooing might be seen as an inventive outlet used to build a feeling of character.

Although tattoos can still be seen as mutilating the body by some, other believe that getting tattoos and being alienated is a way of life. People make careers from being a tattoo artist, and ever becoming famous by the tattoos and cover ups they do. Social media has created an entirely new pop culture surrounding tattoos. Books are being published, TV shows are being aired and images are being circulated to help increase the popularity of tattoos and to help people better understand why so many individuals are getting tattoo when it could potentially alienate them from society.

Tattoos used to have emotional meaning to the clients and some tattoo artists even become emotional over the stories that their clients told them. However, now a days more and more tattoo artists are becoming alienated from their work,  just going through the motions of tattooing, and tattoo enthusiast are headed down  the same road, no longer caring how they modify their bodies. There was a recent article release in the Toronto Star about a Tattoo parlor in Toronto where the client buy and $80 token that they  then place into a gumball machine and . It spits out the tattoo that you are going to get… all by the “stroke of luck”.  It is completely by chance which in turn means there was no forethought.

The same goes for all the new TV shows that are on, having competitions to find out who can be the best tattoo artists by tattooing random “canvases” as they are called, who are giving their bodies over as a commodity, as if they has no attachment to it whatsoever. Ink master is one of the top rated TV shows about tattoos where there is only Alienation and a Fetishism of Commodities. No one cares or has any attachment to their finished product, or to the “canvases” they are indefinitely inking. There is also the TV show Tattoo Nightmares where the artists are covering up old tattoos with new ones instead of just telling them to go get it surgically removed, because social media has created a market for tattoo cover-ups. In this market of Fetishism of Commodities, the people or “canvases” are the products while the work and labour is the actually process of tattooing.

            The book “Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art” shed a lot of light on numerous aspects of the tattoo world. Michael Atkinson, the author, dives into the world of tattoo enthusiasts to better understand why so  many people are willing to Alienated themselves and their body from society and made themselves part of the commercial market. Atkinson went out into society to interview a total of 92 artists and clients to see what they thought about being Alienated and looked at as a delinquent. Most replied that they didn’t care or that people should stop judging others based on their appearance. Atkinson describes a “flesh journey”, in which tattoos were meant as a pursuit of meaningful forms of body expression rather than an alignment of one’s identity without right deviance. Basically what he is saying is that tattooing is mainly used as a form of emotional expression for that specific person and not for everyone around them.

Once you get a tattoo you receive numerous labels from those who do not have them or do not agree with the ideas of tattoos, but what those people do not understand is that by not want people they know to get tattoos, they are actually giving them a reason to get one. They are giving value to tattoos.  So called “rebels” are always wanting to deviate from the social norm, and purposely alienate themselves to find some else who actually understands them.

All in all, social media has created a bigger market for tattoo artists and enthusiasts, who want nothing more than to display their products to the world, and create more commodities and demands for tattoo artists. As the market increases and expands the does the Alienation, although people are less likely to care what others think or care that there is a stigma attached to them and what their tattoos represent.