Tattoos Desire and Violence

<p> Whether they graphically depict an individual's or a community's beliefs express the defiance of authority or brand marginalized groups tattoos are a means of interpersonal communication that dates back thousands of years. Evidence of the tattoo's place in today's popular culture is all around--in advertisements on the stereotypical outlaw character in films and television in supermarket machines that dispense children's wash-away tattoos and even in the production of a tattooed Barbie doll.</p><p> This book explores the tattoo's role primarily as an emblem of resistance and marginality in recent literature film and television. The association of tattoos with victims of the Holocaust slaves and colonized peoples; with gangs inmates and other marginalized groups; and the connection of the tattoo narrative to desire and violence are discussed at length.</p>