The One And Only Dali
It's juxtapositions like this that make me agree with P. J. O'Rourke: The more violently someone vandalizes his appearance, the greater confirmation it is that there is nothing interesting about that person. Salvador Dali did survive into the rock era, but even then, posing with Alice Cooper & such, you could tell he was thinking, "Don't try to out-weird me, you clown. I get weirder things than you in my breakfast cereal."
Carl Van Vechten photo of Dali via Terry Teachout.
Post inspired by the constant sight of over-pierced, pink-haired tatterdemallions who drift from the exurbs into Little Five Points, and mistake each other for urban hipsters.
In a book called The Nake Ape (I think, but could be wrong), there is a discussion about people who tatoo themselves, pierce themselves silly, are essentially mutilating themselves in their own environment, essentially behaving like some crowded rats would. A study was done showing that crowded rats tend to mutilate themselves by picking at their own legs and back with their teeth. And in a convincing essay in the Nake Ape, the same is said for some people in a city or suburban environment. They try to change their appearance to stand out from others in a form of self-mutilation. I think there are some other points to my argument I am missing, but I am convinced of this and agree with you about "The more violently someone vandalizes his appearance, the greater confirmation it is that there is nothing interesting about that person."
ReplyDeleteIf someone has so little respect for his own god-given, one and only body, that he tattoos it until he looks like he was scraped off the bottom of an ashtray, how can I trust him to have any respect for, oh, my daughter, once she gets to be dating age?
ReplyDeleteWhich is to say, in case it wasn't clear, I agree.
ReplyDelete