My tattoo is from the movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Since I'm a theatre performance major, musicals play a huge part in my life. Not only is Hedwig my favorite musical, but the image is also from an animation series, drawn by Emily Hubley, for a song called "The Origin of Love."
The song is based on a story from Plato's "Symposium" and is taken from a speech given by Aristophanes. The gist of the speech is that, long ago, human beings were actually made up of two people stuck back-to-back: humans made up of two males came from the Sun, humans with two females came from the Earth, and humans with one male and one female came from the Moon. Evidently, the gods became very jealous of the humans and split them in half with lightning bolts, and this is why human beings are always trying to find their "other half" to complete themselves again. Supposedly, sex is the only way we can put the two halves back together again, and the desire to become one person again is what we call "love."
Ever since I first saw the movie in 8th grade, I knew that if I were to ever get a tattoo, it would be this. When I recently went through a bad break-up, I decided the timing was right. However, I did not get the tattoo to represent my broken heart. I got it to remind myself that I am still searching for my "other half," but that I don't need that person in my life in order to feel happy or complete in the meantime.
