On Flesh…
What I think of is things like Zombies and steaks and skin. Eventually my thoughts wander to blood. Now I know that connotations are probably popping up and that’s why I want to explore this. We all have blood in us,
On Flesh… What I think of is things like Zombies and steaks and skin. Eventually my thoughts wander to blood. Now I know that connotations are probably popping up and that’s why I want to explore this. Blood makes up about 7% of our body weight, and there are about 10 pints chillin in a humans veins at any time (think about how much ice cream that is). AND it is in every one of us—and animals. It is a very common thing, something that isn’t really all that unique. But it is special. It is a medical wonder. Not only does it carry oxygen, but it fights daily battles with germs. It keeps us alive. You can survive brain damage but if your heart goes you’re a goner. So we have this wondrous thing, this elixir of life, so why are people terrified of it? What makes us squeamish? I can understand it when someone is bleeding profusely, but I had an art teacher who couldn’t even bandage bleeding paper cuts. As someone who deals in the design of violence, blood is a constant conversation. Do we use it and then instantly distract the audience—because as soon is blood is on stage the audience is generally not only wondering how it go there, but are also distracted by it, mesmerized by it—or do we use symbolism and imagination? It’s a constant dialogue. The film industry doesn’t have to worry about it. It is easier to suspend disbelief when you have an entire world in front of you and thus aren’t really wondering—unless the movie is simply awful—about the effects. The line they have to tread is the discomfort they’re causing their viewers. How many mirror neurons can they fire off until people can’t handle watching it. While on stage or in real life, to an extent, I can cope pretty well with blood, but do something like cut off a finger or launch a thousand people onto the beaches of Normandy to be blown apart (as happens in Saving Private Ryan, a movie which I have started several times but have never gotten past the gore of the opening) and I cringe and look away. It’s a psychological effect that makes us feel the pain we’re watching, but is there more to it when it comes to blood? There has to be as we also use it as something representing allure and seduction. The legend of vampires thrives on both our fear and awe of blood. From Twilight to True Blood we’re caught up in the sin of what blood represents. It’s something we begin thinking about in our early childhood, though I doubt we consciously know it, as we are read stories like Little Red Riding Hood. So while blood is a pretty formulaic concoction, it holds complexity in the connotations associated with it and I am looking forward to getting to the heart of the matter.
And I know the risk I take and challenge I face in writing about this as I don’t want to cause the very reactions I am exploring, well I might but not to a point of revulsion. But I think that is what makes it even more interesting, the very evocation of reactions like that simply by thinking about it.
Bres
