Like the book How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie, it is all about perform in a genuine manner to fulfill the other and benefit yourself. In part II talking about “Six Ways to Make People Like You”, it basically tells you to do what others will be interested, SINCERELY, and they’ll like you. When I read this two years ago, I totally don’t understand how this performance could be done in any way, I asked myself what if I don’t want to do that or I will lose my own self, does that make me impossible to get accepted by the others? How is it ever possible to fulfill others desire in an AUTHENTIC manner of all time? This raise up the question of the self, which face of me, is real and which is fake? Just like people having tattoo as a way to perform to get accepted in certain groups, (John Fanning would be an example trying to fit into a group), the whole performance of having a tattoo is totally authentic to me. It is what the person wanted, and it does catches others’ interest, therefore, this way of labeling ourselves as a “bad ass” or whatever character that the person intended to perform seems to be successfully work, no one lose in this case.
John Fanning does something(having tattoos) that makes the "tribe" to accept and like him, and he done this out of his own inclination. (perhaps, the more successful you perform the character/persona that you wanted to be, the more authentic that you will feel?) But simultaneously it creates a very confused contradiction between honest to the self as having the tattoo for your own and at the same time receiving acceptance from struggling to fit into a group that has no self. This also connects to the quote from Goffman, “When an individual appears before others, he knowingly and unwittingly projects a definition of the situation, of which a conception of himself is an important part” . Such as having the tattoo, as a way to perform on the "front" stage to the others, as projecting your own character/meaning in the society in the situation "unwittingly", people will receive a sense of importance from their performance/actions. As the way Goffman described "Dramatic Realization", how people "dramatize" their performance in the "presence of others", some characters faced the dilemma of whether they are performing to themselves or the others because actions are also "fundamentally social in nature".
I think this whole idea of people's every interaction is a performance, such as having tattoos or any other acts as the instance of cool not only creates a competition among the groups, it also challenges the person's consciousness whether they are really performing to themselves, or to a crowd of audience.As what John Fanning said when he gets older, the tattoos are really something for himself ultimately, and there's no way to avoid how others look at it anymore at that point of his life. It really seems tattoo as a way to perform, is just for the self ultimately. The way I see it, was that tattoo is a long term performance, especially is something that is hard to get rid of compared to fashionable clothes. But if there is a chance when the next generation sees it, maybe he is just no longer aware that he is still performing, but to the end of his life he is still performing despite the fact whether he is aware of it or not. He mentioned when he was in the bars, sometimes people gave him complements of his tattoo, and he said "after awhile, it gets bored". So ultimately, are all forms of being cool is just performing to your own self as a sense of importance in life and how others look at it does not matter?
Based on my own experience, I will say photography is some thing that is more complicated to keep it as a personal performance compared to tattoos. Tattoo performs an image of eternity, long term performance as I would described it. Compared to photography, when I get old, I think it is hard to keep the sense of important than having a tattoo because I might no longer be able to keep performing by taking pictures. But tattoo, simply having an art drew on your skin seems more permanence, and you do not have to perform through action but just through the appearance. But by realizing this, I do not think I will get a tattoo in any point of my life, because I am not a fan of tattoo art, and I don't see tattoo as a way to perform myself. Even though photography is not as permanence as tattoo, I think different ways of performing the self to the others also has to do with self satisfaction, and based on the choice of the individuals' life. Although I do seek for importance of my own existence, tattoo seems to be too extreme for me, at least.
There is no one self that makes who we are, is a mixed of faces that creates our identity. I personally think John Fanning is an excellence performer, and the way he labels his price tag is significantly appealing to me personally. He faced the chance of dying that caused him to have some Japanese characters like “courage”…etc., on his arm, and it does not only reflect his respect towards the love of tattoo art, it definitely means something bigger than just a tattoo on his arm. It’s not only with a sense of meaning and value; it seems as part of him that makes who he is as a wonderful performer of the face that he is performing. Looking at his case, I think having tattoos as one way to live cool is very appealing if someone can handle this face well in a way that others will buy such as the most tattooed woman. And of course, tattoo is not the only way to perform cool.
Most Tattooed Woman:
"her belief that no one is too old to be sexy, the world’s most tattooed woman is definitely like no other woman of her age, especially with almost 50 piercings in many places on her body. "
" It took her almost 11 years to literally get her whole body tattooed from head to toe. "
"The world’s most tattooed woman was actually surprised to see that the people at the convention belonged to all walks of life and were actually normal people with normal lifestyles. This is what prompted the worlds most tattooed woman to get her first tattoo. "
- History of Tattoos (I did not use this source at all, but is interesting to read about
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