A week ago I was eating lunch at Pasta House with Miscellaneous Numbered Friends. (Nee the Heartless Cows.) Caroline picked up the advertisement for Body Worlds 3, an exhibition of anatomy at the Science Center.
Caroline expressed her appreciation for the good taste the designers showed for "not showing the FLAYED BODY on the advertisement as they usually do." (Flayed body! Click here!) Still, the words "Body Worlds 3" almost put her off her feed just from the association the have with flayed bodies.
I am allllll about the flayed bodies. I went to the Body Worlds exhibit, and I dragged Gary. And I pinned his chest to the ground with my knee to keep him from running screaming into the distance.
Body Worlds 3, if you don't know, is an exhibition of plastinated bodies. Human bodies. Specifically, men's bodies and women's bodies (see critiques below). These bodies are posed in their plastinated forms in various graceful positions. And then often sliced up. For your viewing pleasure. There were also some farmyard animal bodies, and that would be why you don't want to bring the kids. That chicken and that lamb did not sign a consent form.
(The exhibit makes a great point of showing that the bodies were all donated to the plastination people. I noted this since the neurologist joked he might take the kids to show them what happens to you when you die in a Chinese prison.)
I loved the exhibit, of course, and wanted to make off with many plastinated people for my own bathroom anatomy exhibit. However, I found one thing troubling, and that was how hideous male sex organs look when they've been flayed and plastinated in a permanently flaccid state. I wondered for a moment why all these men were circumcised; then I realized they had no foreskin because they had, as Hot Mom says, no "aftskin."
In addition, I never realized how much women rely on blood to make breasts and nipples look attractive. All the breasts were doughy lumps topped with extra dollops of lard.
Here's what Gary found most disturbing: eyebrows. The plastinators, after skinning the models, re-applied the eyebrows. Thankfully. Otherwise I might have been creeped out.
Kewl.
Posted by: Zayrina | November 20, 2007 at 01:03 AM
I was most suprised by the tattoos. I saw one guy in Dallas that must have had something "offensive" because you could see where one of the tattoos was removed. Was the pregnant woman at your exhibit? It was pretty disturbing for me and I've never been pregnant. The friend I went with has a child and barely made it through that part. I didn't get to see a sheep but I did see a horse. Oh my.
Posted by: jessica fantastica | November 20, 2007 at 01:54 AM
Three words:
Ewww. Ewww. Ewww.
Posted by: Becs | November 20, 2007 at 05:37 AM
And again, I can envision every flayed ad I've seen just by reading this. At least I'm not eating this time. Now that you've seen it, can it please go away? Or at least can the advertising go away?
Posted by: Caroline | November 20, 2007 at 11:41 AM
Sorry, but I stopped reading this in the first paragraph. That exhibit just freaks me out.
My wife wants to go see it, but she'll have to go without me. My OCD can't handle it.
Posted by: ajooja | November 20, 2007 at 11:51 AM
I wanted to go see this when we were in NYC last April, but my husband refused. Maybe I can talk him into going to see it in STL.
Posted by: Sherry | November 20, 2007 at 04:11 PM
I can't handle that Body Worlds mess. Blood, no problem. Insides-PROBLEM!!! Gross.
Posted by: Autumn | November 20, 2007 at 10:30 PM
You know, you're pretty amusing.
Posted by: judith | November 20, 2007 at 11:35 PM
Zayrina - It IS kewl.
Jessica! fantastica! (hi!) - We only missed one room - the one with the reproduction (and maybe the horse). Gary was all upset because in the video Mr. von Whozits was wearing a felt hat while the bodies were being plasticized. He felt that was unsanitary.
Becs - Lookit! Lookit! Lookit!
Caroline - I specifically buried the images in links just for you!
Ajooja - Think happy thoughts. It's a limited run.
Sherry - Do it! Or go with Mrs Ajooja.
Autumn - It's beyooooo-ti-ful!
Judith - If by amusing you mean gross, I agree with you.
Posted by: TheQueen | November 20, 2007 at 11:54 PM
I have taken copious amounts of photos at each of the two Body Worlds exhibits when they were in L.A. (Thank you, media press pass!) I find the exhibit and the practice absolutely fascinating. I'll have to send you some or post them in my Flickr account sometime soon. (And yes - they include photos of the pregnant woman, the rider and horse, and the figure skaters.)
Posted by: Catherine | November 21, 2007 at 02:11 AM
My mom made a point of telling me this is something she would NOT be asking me to go see with her. I'm with Gary on the eyebrows. I find it disturbing that they've been reapplied. Although, I've not seen them without brows; maybe it's more disturbing that way.
Posted by: Amy in StL | November 21, 2007 at 02:01 PM
Aww, I feel the luuuuuv.
Posted by: Caroline | November 21, 2007 at 02:07 PM
Catherine - Did you take a photo of The Lovers? I found the spot at the corner of the case where you could stand and see the plastic pudenda.
Amy in StL - Wouldn't it be funny if one of the plasticizers put the eyebrows on comically? Frowny eyebrows or puzzled eyebrows. Of course, they must be sewn on. But it would be cool if they were like Colorforms and just stuck on.
Caroline - I used "flayed" again in Wednesdays post. I thought of you.
Posted by: TheQueen | November 21, 2007 at 11:03 PM