Body Worlds - A COUPLE DAYS LATER

I've been chewing over Friday's trip to Body Works and rather than chosing between liking it and disliking it, I'll go for the paradox option.

On one hand I thought the following:
1. I think it's gross and morbid to convert cadavers into oversized plastic anatomical dolls. Dead folks need to be buried, cremated, or interred in a respectful manner.
2. The argument that this exhibit inspires future doctors is erroneous; people have opted to study and pratice medicine for centuries without seeing or imagining the likes of Body Works.
3. Some of the exhibits were over the top; converting cadavers into surreal sculptures (the Drawer Man, the Angel...) seemed way over the top.
4. I would never want my dead body to be striped of skin, plasticized, dissected, and placed behind glass to be gawked at by ticket-payers.


On the other hand, I liked it:
1. Nobody forced these people to donate their bodies to the exhibit (if I take the Body Works literature at its word), nor are people forced to pay to see it.
2. This really was a breath-taking, impeccably professional exhibit, constructed by magnificently creative people.
3. I learned bushels of information about the human body, and my appetite is whetted to learn more.
4. Strangely, I want to see it again. I missed a lot.