Heroes and the Cult of Celebrities

Heroes and The Cult of the Celebrity

Sambhav Khanal

HUMN240-E4WW (SU12)

Omar Alomari

10th June, 2012

The theory of heroes really seems a bit difficult to fit into the topic of tattooing and piercing that I have selected to analyze.  Heroes are those figures who do something good for the society and other people get influenced by them. Now, looking at the definition of heroes, it is really difficult to relate the art of tattooing and the work they do. There is actually no need to have a tattoo or piercing in your body if you want to benefit humanity.  To cite an example, those soldiers who fight against the terrorists and rebellions in the country can be termed as the heroes as they fight all day and night for the betterment of their countries. So, is tattoo necessary for them? Certainly not. Tattoo has nothing to do for them. So, theory of heroes does not seem to be applicable in the topic of tattooing and piercing.  Perhaps tattoo artists may somehow be qualified to enough to fit the title of heroes but to some content only as some people get influenced by looking on their tattoos and perhaps they also want to have one on their body.

            In contrast to the theory of heroes, the theory of cult of celebrity seems to be more reliable and applicable as well. This theory fits more handsomely as lots of celebrities have tattoos and piercing on their bodies. For instance, Kat Von D is really famous for her show LA Ink in TLC channel and there are many celebrities like Lady Gaga, Christina Perri who have actually gone to her and had a tattoo. 

            Another example to justify the theory of cult of celebrity would be David Beckham who had a tattoo in his forearm in Devanagari script which represents his wife Victoria’s name. Since then, I have seen a lot of people doing tattoos on their body and printing the name of his/her loved one in foreign language. Even I have a tattoo in my arm which represents my girlfriend’s name but it is in my own national language.

Actually I have never thought of connecting heroism and cult of celebrity with tattooing and piercing. But now trying to connect these theories what I can conclude more or less is that tattooing has become somewhat acceptable nowadays. Almost every celebrities of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) have visible tattoos on their bodies and many people get influenced by them and would prefer to have one as their favorite celebrities.

To sum up, what I find after analyzing these theories and relating them to tattoos and body piercing is that having a couple of tattoos never makes you a bad person or a good one as well. Tattoos have nothing to do with your behavior and character. If somebody with a tattoo saves you while you are drowning in the river and become a hero for you, then you consider him as a hero because of his act of saving you not because he had a tattoo on his body.