Violence In Michael Taussig's Beauty And The Beast

Beauty and violence; words not typically associated with one another. In the stereotypical society, beauty is perceived with a positive connotation, while violence is viewed negatively. In other words, the terms are opposites, or incompatible. This was an idea that seemed to be understood. However, the book Beauty and the Beast contradicts what we know to be true. Michael Taussig, or the author, argues there is a relationship between the believed to be separate entities of beauty and violence. A flower can be used to exhibit the theory. The majority of individuals would prefer fresh flowers to plastic, or artificial, flowers. Why is this? Taussig believes this is for the reason that we like the inevitable decay and death, which creates

This notion can be witnessed in many countries, or areas, however, Taussig believes it is most widespread in Colombia. Beauty depends on this theory, as does violence. Colombian women often go to extremes to be beautiful in pursuance of men. Their hair extensions, as well as their breasts, are a symbol of depense. Where the hair used to be short and braided, it is now long and mostly false; this is too much, or wasteful. These extensions are costly, however the society continues to purchase the products with the little money they have earned. Unfortunately, the same is true for the female’s breasts. “All those narcos care about is how big your breasts are… if they want you the first thing they do is send you to their plastic surgeons to have silicon implants” (Taussig 71). The narcos, or

“Larger than life criminals are subject to cosmetic surgery” (Junge 10/30). They change their appearances in order to evade suspicion. Surgeries include, but are not limited to, liposuction, nose jobs, and finger print mutilation. Their goal is to create a new identity, and they are obsessed with having these surgeries performed. This can be seen in Chupeta’s case. He took cosmetic surgery way too far as he was barely recognizable. Chupeta took these drastic measures as a result of his partner and his right hand man being murdered. He received several surgeries to change his appearance; each time he pushed farther and farther then his original “model” look. In fact, he was only recognized through voice recognition. This is depense, and Chupeta was not the only one who took part in changing their appearance drastically. Riot gear may also be considered a form of depense. “…beauty of the night in black armor…”(Taussig 61). These men do destructive work in these beautiful uniforms further relating beauty and violence. One may argue areas such as the kneecaps and the codpiece on the uniform is for aesthetic rather than