Writing The Body

This journal will describe some forms of writing on the body and also the interpretation of the term of writing on the body. According to Certeau (1984, 134), writing is the concrete activity that consists in constructing, on its own, blank space-the page- a text that has power over the exteriority from which it has first been isolated. There are at least two interpretations when talking about writing on the human body. First, writing on the body can be understood as a real activity writing some texts on the surface of human’s bodies. The second, writing the body can also have a connotation meaning. It means that the body is marked or written of so many symbol and status that influenced by the socio cultural factors.

First of all, the body can be written of some text such through tattooing or piercing whether it is permanent or temporary thing. Some culture has this kind of habit of using the body as the media in writing some text. The text written can symbolize so many meaning. For example, in Yakuza organization in Japan, the tattoo in someone’s body can be the symbol of affiliation and the status of a particular person in the organization. Another example of using the body as the media for written text is in Dayak tribe culture in Borneo/Kalimantan, Indonesia. The tattoo in their body can be the symbol of the maturity and also the social status in the community.

Secondly, the connotation meaning of writing the body is that the body has been marked and labeled by the written law and the socio cultural factors in the society. In Islam, the human body is depicted as a clean white paper when s/he is born. The human body is written and coloured by the influence of the parent, the socio cultural, the experience and any kind of factors that has contact with the growing body. Soon after born the baby will labeled as male or female. Then race or ethnicity also will be marked to the baby. The next thing is religion and then when the baby is grown up s/he will have the social status in the society. When s/he is following the fashion or music trend in this globalise society, s/he will add some more text into their body such as a rock person, an R & B person, a Nike person, a Esprit person and so on. Even until the body is pass away, it still has some marks. For instance, the society will recognise the death body as a good or bad person when s/he was still alive. While the body ends the journey in the world, it will has so many text, symbol, mark and label all over the body.

The connotation meaning of writing the body sometimes is one of the biggest problems in the history of human being. People cannot release themselves from the text written in their body. People can be fallen into trouble only because they have some label in their body. The history prove this phenomenon that can be seen from what happens to Jewish in the past, the Palestinian, the Bosnian, the Moslem, the Aboriginal people and there are still a long list of what can be caused by the writing the body.

'Point of View' (sebuah pencerahan)

Secara tak terduga comment seorang temen di status facebook ku menghadirkan 'pencerahan' bagi otakku yang sedang terkena syndrom tidak masuk akal.

Fakta apapun terlihat tidak masuk akal buatku. Yang masuk akal hanya yg sesuai dgn sudut pandangku sendiri.

Seperti ketika aku masukin film pendek karyaku untuk sebuah festival yg diadakan kedubes negara tempat aku belajar dulu. Ketika filmku gak termasuk yang di screening di main theatre dan melihat nama2 di poster promosi festival yang tercantum cuma nama2 yg sudah terkenal, sudut pandangku mengatakan hal itu tdk masuk akal. Buat apa ngundang orang ikut festival kalau jauh hari sebelumnya sudah ditetapkan karya orang2 terkenal itu buat discreening di main theatre? Filmku cuma dipamerin di foyer room doang. Percuma...

Eh...pas kasih kabar (setengah curhat) ke cameraman yang bantuin bikin film pendekku bahwa film kami gak masuk screening di main theatre dan cuma di pamerin di foyer room...cameraman sekaligus kawanku di desa ini kasih comment pendek...'Bisa ikut dipamerin di festival itu aja aku udah bangga mas'...

'TengTong'...comment pendek itu serasa lonceng yg mengingatkanku akan dahsyatnya 'sudut pandang' yang bisa mempengaruhi kebahagiaan kita sekaligus mengajariku untuk selalu bersyukur atas segala yg dianugerahkan Allah SWT padaku.

Suwun Rek...makasih kawan...thanks buddy..