On Monday, May 5th, about one-third of the Wayland student body, and plenty of the teachers, traveled to to view the Body Worlds exhibit hosted by the Milwaukee Public Museum. This display of real human bodies preserved by plastination, a process invented by Gunther von Hagens, was the first public display of its kind. According to the Body Worlds website, “Since its initial installation in Japan in 1995, nearly 25 million visitors in over 40 cities in Asia, Europe, and North America have seen what is considered the world’s most successful traveling exhibition.”
While on the bus to Milwaukee, I was finishing up some Advanced Placement Biology homework about the nutrition system of plants. The textbook's two-dimensional diagrams of chlorophyll-filled creatures would be in sharp contrast to the exhibit's corpses filled with plastic.
At the entrance to the Public Museum, we were told the agenda for the day: watch an IMAX movie about the human body, tour the museum, eat packed Wayland lunches and then return home in time for sports practices.
The movie showcased the life of an average family as they went throughout their day, but in an internal way that most of us never think about. For example, when you first wake up in the morning and see a bright light, the first layer of cells on your retina burn away. Furthermore, most of us have never seen what the heat leaving our body when we work out looks like or what happens to the food as soon as we swallow. The film showed pasta in a stomach; whether it was actual footage taken by an ingested camera pill or by computer animation, the glimpse into the belly was beautiful--if you like seeing chewed up food, that is. The movie also detailed parts of the internal body from sperm to neuron.
The movie concluded with the female protagonist giving birth, and then I departed the theater and ventured towards the museum. After a few moments of uncertainty as to where to go, we were herded up a flight of stairs and then an into an escalator to the second floor where the entrance to the Body World exhibit lay before us.
The curator at first became frazzled by the large extent of our group, but presently we entered an area featuring a huge poster explaining some details about the upcoming display; most students ignored the sign, and some opted to pay a few bucks for an audio tour while others went straight inside.
The first part of the drama that stunned me was that complete human bodies where open to the air and available to the touch. Only about half of the displays where enclosed in glass. Out of respect, or revulsion, visitors did not touch the bodies. Many did feel comfortable enough to point very closely to an aspect of 'their' insides that they found intriguing. It seemed that a major point of the tour was to compare your own mortal body with the human body before you. For instance, I found myself stretching my arms alongside the posed bodies to envision which muscles I was moving.
The subject of mortality and death was prevalent throughout the exhibit if one took the time to read posters inscribed with quotes from such \"immortal\" sources as the Bible, Nietzsche and Kant. One hallway was exempt from corpses but filled with pictures of cultures that treated death in a different manner than the modern man. There was a Rembrandt drawing of an anatomy lesson, a depiction of a public dissection and some pictures of catacombs.
The official website for the Institute for Plastination says that “the primary goal of Body Worlds is health education.” This mission was fully achieved by the exhibition. For example, an athlete's lungs were contrasted to a smoker's; beside this display was a box for spectators to dispose of their packs of cigarettes. Less muscular bodies, bones with less marrow than others, and cross-sections of obese bodies showed how some people took better care of their bodies than others. Brains infected with tumors and other deformations showed what exactly happens to the body when it is infected with tragic diseases.
One of the most poignant rooms offered a glimpse into the stages of growth of a baby. From actual embryos week-by-week to fetuses month-by-month, to a pregnant mother with a child spilling out of her womb, these examples of the stages of life affected the lives of the viewers.
Amongst the educational components of Body Worlds were some controversial aspects. For example, one has to wonder, “Were all the bodies donated here legitimately, and where did the embryos come from?” A large sign halfway through the exhibit invited visitors to sign up to donate their own bodies to be plastinated, suggesting a legitimate process of donation. Still, to this question I have no sure answers, so I urge you to explore these lines of thought for yourself through research.
Controversies aside, I implore everyone who has the opportunity to explore the miracle of life to attend a Body Worlds exhibit; your mind will thank you."
While on the bus to Milwaukee, I was finishing up some Advanced Placement Biology homework about the nutrition system of plants. The textbook's two-dimensional diagrams of chlorophyll-filled creatures would be in sharp contrast to the exhibit's corpses filled with plastic.
At the entrance to the Public Museum, we were told the agenda for the day: watch an IMAX movie about the human body, tour the museum, eat packed Wayland lunches and then return home in time for sports practices.
The movie showcased the life of an average family as they went throughout their day, but in an internal way that most of us never think about. For example, when you first wake up in the morning and see a bright light, the first layer of cells on your retina burn away. Furthermore, most of us have never seen what the heat leaving our body when we work out looks like or what happens to the food as soon as we swallow. The film showed pasta in a stomach; whether it was actual footage taken by an ingested camera pill or by computer animation, the glimpse into the belly was beautiful--if you like seeing chewed up food, that is. The movie also detailed parts of the internal body from sperm to neuron.
The movie concluded with the female protagonist giving birth, and then I departed the theater and ventured towards the museum. After a few moments of uncertainty as to where to go, we were herded up a flight of stairs and then an into an escalator to the second floor where the entrance to the Body World exhibit lay before us.
The curator at first became frazzled by the large extent of our group, but presently we entered an area featuring a huge poster explaining some details about the upcoming display; most students ignored the sign, and some opted to pay a few bucks for an audio tour while others went straight inside.
The first part of the drama that stunned me was that complete human bodies where open to the air and available to the touch. Only about half of the displays where enclosed in glass. Out of respect, or revulsion, visitors did not touch the bodies. Many did feel comfortable enough to point very closely to an aspect of 'their' insides that they found intriguing. It seemed that a major point of the tour was to compare your own mortal body with the human body before you. For instance, I found myself stretching my arms alongside the posed bodies to envision which muscles I was moving.
The subject of mortality and death was prevalent throughout the exhibit if one took the time to read posters inscribed with quotes from such \"immortal\" sources as the Bible, Nietzsche and Kant. One hallway was exempt from corpses but filled with pictures of cultures that treated death in a different manner than the modern man. There was a Rembrandt drawing of an anatomy lesson, a depiction of a public dissection and some pictures of catacombs.
The official website for the Institute for Plastination says that “the primary goal of Body Worlds is health education.” This mission was fully achieved by the exhibition. For example, an athlete's lungs were contrasted to a smoker's; beside this display was a box for spectators to dispose of their packs of cigarettes. Less muscular bodies, bones with less marrow than others, and cross-sections of obese bodies showed how some people took better care of their bodies than others. Brains infected with tumors and other deformations showed what exactly happens to the body when it is infected with tragic diseases.
One of the most poignant rooms offered a glimpse into the stages of growth of a baby. From actual embryos week-by-week to fetuses month-by-month, to a pregnant mother with a child spilling out of her womb, these examples of the stages of life affected the lives of the viewers.
Amongst the educational components of Body Worlds were some controversial aspects. For example, one has to wonder, “Were all the bodies donated here legitimately, and where did the embryos come from?” A large sign halfway through the exhibit invited visitors to sign up to donate their own bodies to be plastinated, suggesting a legitimate process of donation. Still, to this question I have no sure answers, so I urge you to explore these lines of thought for yourself through research.
Controversies aside, I implore everyone who has the opportunity to explore the miracle of life to attend a Body Worlds exhibit; your mind will thank you."
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