Bodies exhibit - edutainment?

Despite all the valid moral objections, I went and saw the Bodies exhibit over the holiday break. What can I say? I was curious.

I was expecting to feel outrage, but it manifested in odd places.

The first thing you do after buying your tickets and entering the MTS Exhibition Hall is… pose for a photo. Wait, that should read PAY to pose for a photo ($5).

Just inside the lobby they had a green-screen set up that projected the image of the body-holding-a-basketball for you to pose with.

I thought it curious that this was at the beginning of the exhibit, rather than at the end when one might have gained a bit of reverence and knowledge about the displays. By having it at the beginning, attendees are unprepared and often regressed into disrespectful, fratboyish poses.

The evidence was right there, posted on the wall beside the screen. There were pictures of people trying to look like they had their arm on the body, or were licking it or giving it a kiss. This spoke volumes to me of the level of respect being shown to these bodies.

The rest of the exhibit was fairly respectful, though the writing was terrible. On each display there was a paragraph or two describing what was there, and those paragraphs were often ambiguous.

Were they translated from Chinese? I’m not sure. All I know is that a set of lungs on display were listed as being “blackened… to represent (the effects of long-term smoking).” That word “represent” made me think that the display was not genuine. Also, many of the exhibits were coloured artificially, so the anatomy lessons were lacking complete realism.

In the end, I enjoyed the exhibit. I did, and I’m not sorry for my curiosity. People have always been fascinated with the human body, and will continue to be. You have to decide for yourself whether the exhibit has medical or entertainment intents (though obviously it leans toward entertainment), and how abstention might benefit.

I felt a duty to at least see what the fuss was about.

No, I did not pose for a photo, and yes they gave me funny looks when I refused.