Research Paper On Body Worlds
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Body Worlds is an interesting exhibit, and visiting it at Union Station was a unique experience.
My expectations for the exhibit were low. I expected something creepy and horrific. My first impression seemed to verify these concerns--the waiting area with rainbow-reflecting lights, the dim and maze-like rooms with the walls all black, the first room of pale fetuses floating in jars of liquid. That first display was eerie, and a little disturbing, as were all the other displays at the exhibit, but at the same time, it was fascinating.
When I saw the first full adult corpse--The Runner--I was still somewhat uncomfortable. It was a flayed and plasticized human body behind glass, with the muscles cut and sticking out. But at the same time, it was amazing to look at, to see all those different muscles and how they look in real life. And as I moved on to the other exhibits--The Baseball Player, The Singer, those amazingly thin cross-sections showing all the organs--I became more comfortable. The exhibits seemed like something we were not "supposed" to look at, but something I could not stop looking at. These corpses were creepy, but the discomfort faded in response to the pure fascination of seeing it.
At times, they seemed like some kind of dark and surreal art, or some kind of …show more content…
The proprietor informed us that it is his job to take care of the remains of people who donate their body “to science.” He described in great detail how the bodies are first preserved, then given to medical students, who might spend an entire summer working on the corpse before giving it to be burned. He ended the discussion by saying that people tend to think that their body will have some great purpose being donated “to science”, but you just end up in on a student’s dissection table. I would be uncomfortable with that happening to my body. Of course, some people have to donate their corpses, but I personally would
Body Worlds is an interesting exhibit, and visiting it at Union Station was a unique experience.
My expectations for the exhibit were low. I expected something creepy and horrific. My first impression seemed to verify these concerns--the waiting area with rainbow-reflecting lights, the dim and maze-like rooms with the walls all black, the first room of pale fetuses floating in jars of liquid. That first display was eerie, and a little disturbing, as were all the other displays at the exhibit, but at the same time, it was fascinating.
When I saw the first full adult corpse--The Runner--I was still somewhat uncomfortable. It was a flayed and plasticized human body behind glass, with the muscles cut and sticking out. But at the same time, it was amazing to look at, to see all those different muscles and how they look in real life. And as I moved on to the other exhibits--The Baseball Player, The Singer, those amazingly thin cross-sections showing all the organs--I became more comfortable. The exhibits seemed like something we were not "supposed" to look at, but something I could not stop looking at. These corpses were creepy, but the discomfort faded in response to the pure fascination of seeing it.
At times, they seemed like some kind of dark and surreal art, or some kind of …show more content…
The proprietor informed us that it is his job to take care of the remains of people who donate their body “to science.” He described in great detail how the bodies are first preserved, then given to medical students, who might spend an entire summer working on the corpse before giving it to be burned. He ended the discussion by saying that people tend to think that their body will have some great purpose being donated “to science”, but you just end up in on a student’s dissection table. I would be uncomfortable with that happening to my body. Of course, some people have to donate their corpses, but I personally would