Current iTunes track: TV Party from the album “Damaged” by Black Flag

Ecto, the program I use to upload the entries here, has a nice little feature where you can automatically insert your current iTunes track into an entry. I wouldn’t normally bother, but TV Party is just so fucking great, how could I help but share with you?

Anyway, I’m not here to sing the praises of Henry Rollins & company. I’m here to write my brief impression of Modify: The Movie which I got in the mail and watched the other night. Modify takes a look at different forms of body modification, including the commonplace (tanning, waxing, tattooing, piercing, and plastic surgery) and the not-so-commonplace (tongue bifurcation and non-surgical implants). Presenting body modification as something that we all do, Modify looks at how we all change ourselves on the outside, and why some forms of modification are acceptable while others are taboo. Using interviews with a variety of people active in various facets of body modification, the documentary presents a wide variety of practices and practitioners, and in so doing, it examines body modification in a cultural and social perspective.

In addition to interviews, the film contains footage of all different kinds of modification procedures, some of which are worth seeing (e.g. some of the suspensions) and others which are pretty fucking gross (e.g. liposuction). What I like about the film, though, is the overall sum of the parts of the documentary. In explaining why people bother to modify their bodies, and how modifying one’s body is often a question of personal freedom and identity, Modify presents a portrait of modification as the norm in human culture rather than the exception.

If you’re interested in body modification of any stripe, I highly recommend this film. It is definitely worth the price of the DVD, and if you order direct from the production company, you get a nice little poster too.