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Memento (2000) offers a less negative but still stereotypical view of tattoos. Due to a head injury acquired attempting to stop the rape and implied murder of his wife, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) has no short term memory. He is hunting for the killer, but cannot remember anything from the moment of his injury onward. To remind himself of clues he picks up along the way, Shelby tattoos his body. The ‘Facts’ of the murder, ‘Male’ and ‘First name John’ are tattooed on his arms. ‘Find him and kill him,’ ‘Consider the source,’ ‘She is dead,’ and ‘John G. raped and murdered my wife’ are tattooed across his arms, legs, and chest. All are literal tattoos and are monochromatic; some Shelby inks himself (with pen ink and cassette tape), others he has professionally done. Shelby considers his tattoos memory-enhancers, post-it notes for the body and reminders of the past. But despite Shelby’s functional acceptance of tattooing, he is himself clearly delusional, an outcast from society and considered by others in the film to be “freaky.” |