MovieChat Forums > Naked (1994) Discussion > tattoo question

tattoo question

posted 16 years ago by theoxfordfarmreport
3 replies | jump to latest

somebody mentioned this in an earlier post, and it's entirely possible that it's been discussed here before, but i don't really want to have to go through all the pages.

i've been wondering about the tattoo scene - where johnny kinda flips out at the older woman's tattoo (was it a skull? i can't really remember). the reaction is certainly important, but i'm not entirely sure why. the first and most obvious answer would be that it's some obscure marker for an STD/Disease/Etc, but this film isn't usually that literal... any thoughts? am i just way behind on underground english culture?

thanks.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Thetomatogod 16 years ago

Johnny is terrified of dying, as he mentions elsewhere. He is an intellectual and sensitive man trapped in a cold, moronic, and brutal world. He is constantly trying to figure Everything out but can't. The scene toward the end where he mistakes Jeremy for Death demonstrates this. The tattoo is of a skull, I believe, and it startles him because he sees it as an omen. Look back to the scene where he talks about the apocalypse and you will understand his fears.

[–] One_Madd_Hatter 15 years ago

My thought about the tattoo was a little more simple than some deep stigmatism johny has about death.
I was thinking more on the lines of the skull being the mark of death-HIV-given to her by a former pimp; her "you don't have to hurt me" line suggested to me she was a former prostitute.
Unlike 99% of other women who would scream when some stranger is pulling her hair viciously, this woman was more numb to the feeling, as if she were a former now virus infected old prostitute.
so for getting the virus-she has been branned by the skull tattoo as a sign for anyone who comes close; in other words becoming an untouchable-something she obviously expresses once johny walks into her pplace.