Tattoos are as prevalent in current society as they are not only because of the hundreds of people who used their skin to pioneer and parade tattoos, who forced society out of its comfort zone and compelled it to view tattoos as something more than a freakshow attraction.
Cinema.com, Fyeah Hollywood, dreamgirldiaries, IMDB, Google Images,
In the way that it does, TV and cinema have thrust an idea upon the general public and forced people to look upon their idols, and teenage idols adorned with artwork that adds to their character, makes them tougher, rougher round the edges. Gives them more believability and their performance more clout. The prevalence of tattooing in mass media has ingrained a feeling to a large percentage of people, not least my generation that tattooing is sexy. We're not entirely sure why we find it so attractive. Its not necessarily the fact that going through the pain of tattooing make you tough, different people's pain thresholds allow for different kinds of pain and some of the most delicate people I know have ink. It would not be absurd to suggest that the images in our minds of beautiful people displaying intricate and beautiful art on the perfectly toned bodies lay in the recess of our brains popping their tattooed selves our of our subconscious every time tattooing is mentioned.
These people are our own examples of how tattooing can be beautiful, spectacular and character building so I give you some of the best tattoos given to us by the big and small screen.
Brad Pitt as Mickey O'Neil in Snatch
Viggo Mortensen as Nikolai Luzhin in Eastern Promises
Russell Brand as Aldous Snow in Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Angelina Jolie as Fox in Wanted
Matthew McConaughey as Denton Van Zan in Reign of Fire
Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flannery as Connor and Murphy MacManus in the Boondock Saints
Eric Bana as Nero in Star Trek
