From
the five websites that I came across to analyze for this project ( I had mentioned in the introduction), I chose
these ones because they had information that others did not have in their
website. I am going to discuss about the pictures that are on these websites
(or if they have any), the angles of those pictures, the layout of the website
itself, and the specific texts and color schemes to contributes to my argument-
the practice of tatau in Samoa is
gendered.
IMAGES:
Four out of the five websites have various pictures and they are all pictures of either Samoan tatau designs or tribal designs. Two pictures in http://www.freetattoodesigns.org/polynesian-tattoos.html that will be closely looked at are a fist tattoo and Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock. When one is on this particular site, they may not think that this page is much about Samoan tatau because above the texts, there is a banner of a dragon in vibrant colors containing green, yellow, orange, and some red, and there is a sparrow, while a black and white drawing of a skull with flowers in the eye sockets. On the left side of the banner there is a Caucasian female’s upper back exposed with a lizard or some kind of reptile tattoo in the middle of her back. Also, there is a few modern tribal designs in the right hand upper corner and a bright pink symbol that may look like a Chinese symbol; because of this banner it certainly throws off one’s attention and may not want to be interested in reading this short article. When scrolling down, there is this wide shot focusing on a male’s fists together with Polynesian tribal tattoos. His fists are the main focus to show that tattoos can be done on anywhere. Also, this picture could signify power because of the way how the man is holding out his fists. The out of focus background are his arms that are also tattooed with Polynesian tribal designs. The second picture of The Rock is on the very bottom of this site. His pose is a more natural one. The Rock is looking down while it looks like he is rubbing or scratching his right elbow. It is common for the public to see him in a more action pose with a more fierce or strong facial expression. But in this photo, his is more in a calm position and his face is very relaxed. His attire in this photo is a black tank top and exposing his half sleeve “Marquesan tattoo on his left shoulder” (freetattoodesigns.org).
On the next website, http://www.pbs.org/skinstories/culture/index.html, the two pictures that will be analyzed are two males, again. The first one is a Polynesian male who is part of the title, Skin Stories: The Art and Culture of Polynesian Tattoo. His pose is a natural with him looking over on his right shoulder. The reader is able to notice his tattoos on his back and on his face. With the sepia touch, it certainly makes the photo have an old touch to it. The second photo on this website is a male whose whole back, back of his head buttocks, and partial of his left leg is exposed. In this photo, it really does look like it could be from the early 19th century because of the light sepia tone – resembling that the practice of Samoan tatau has been around for a very long time, which it certainly has been. The emphasis of the pe’a means a lot to the Samoan culture because of the process of it is not taken casually. When the pe’a is finished, it is very beautiful to see because of the lines, intricate designs and the pain that is endured during the whole process – makes it more beautiful; the malu is also beautiful and although it does not get as much recognition that the pe’a does, this is why the practice of Samoan tatau is gendered. In the first photo of the man looking over his right shoulder, as a reader, it is hard to see the details of his tatau and it can go for the same as the second photo also. One could see the lines of the pe’a and also the boat or va’a that is on the start of the pe’a. The va’a is a long block of shading on the top of the lower half of the back, in person or in better clearer photos, it is much noticeable than this example in this website.
The next group of pictures that are going to be discussed are from http://www.samoa.co.uk/tattoos.html. There is a picture of two tools that are used for tapping, the other three pictures are the stages of tattooing, and the last picture is a diagram of motifs that are used in the Samoan tatau. I think this website is one of the most important out of the five that I have chosen because it shows the stages, which none of the other websites does and it also the description of where it goes and the Samoan names of different patterns that are on the pe’a. The pictures of the tools, the two are wide combs. Also, the other websites that I chose to examine did not have a picture of what the tools. The shot of the tools are somewhat of an extreme close up because the reader can easily see the details of the combs. One can come to a conclusion that the tools are made out of natural resources. The editing on this photo seems to make it a more natural feel also because of the oval like shape frame around the tools and the background of the frame has a grainy touch. The lighting of the photo also adds a native impression. The stages of tattooing diagrams are plainly black and white and they focus one certain parts of the lower half of the male’s body. The first diagram is the lower half of the back, next is the abdomen and the back of the leg, and the last one shows the front of the body where it is on the inner and outer thighs and the knees. In the final picture, it shows thirteen different motifs that are found in the Samoan tatau. The motifs consists of lines, dots, and one of the designs are of shading.
In a United Kingdom article, the http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/26/clyde-cowley-displays-traditional-samoan-pea-tattoo-pictures_n_1915371.html strictly displays the pe’a. Clyde Cowley is known because of the pe’a and has also done many photo shoots. In this article, Sandra Mu is the professional photographer who has taken Clyde Cowley’s photos. The first photo of Cowley is of his back, legs and partial of buttocks. The viewer can see most of the details of the pe’a. The black and white edit gives the feel of a classical photo and also it emphasizes the shading of the pe’a. Scrolling further down, there are more photos in an album of the process of the pe’a and also a malu, but predominately the pe’a. When the viewer clicks on any of the album’s photos, background darkens into a gray to draw more focus onto the album, while the foreground of the album becomes the center of attention to the viewer. In the album, the first six photos are of Clyde Cowley exposing his pe’a. He is portrayed like his is on the top of a mountain because of the rocks and because of the angles. Due to these angles and the black and white editing, it does portray Cowley as if he is a powerful well-respected man, yet at the same time he is humble and calm. In these photos, there is a couple of photos him looking out with his back facing the viewer. He has other tattoos that are of Asian influence. On the seventh and eighth photos, these are the only ones that show the process of the malu. Then after these two photos, they are primarly looking at the pe’a. The fifteenth and sixteenth photos are extreme close ups on the tools that are doing the pe’a. I think these two photos are just as important as Cowley showing his pe’a because the tools themselves have their own significance in making certain patterns. The main focus goes straight to the comb with the ink. One can clearly see the black ink that is used. The tool itself still looks like it is of original material. The hands in these photos serve a purpose where there are at least three individuals, most likely males that have gotten their pe’a or will get theirs soon, are to stretch the individual’s skin. They are using gloves because due to safety issues because the male that is undergoing the process will have blood constantly ooze out. They also are there to wipe the ink for the tufuga (tattooist).
The last website, http://pasefika.com/culture/Article/16 has no pictures. The way I took this website is that it is up to the viewer to explore more deeper into what the Samoan tatau is about, in a way it is a mystery because the traditions are passed down orally and the only living knowledge are with the Su’a Peter Suluape and his father, Su’a Suluape Petelo Alaiva’a.
WEBSITE LAYOUT AND COLOR SCHEMES:
In freetattoodesigns.org, the website layout is simple with a white layout and sections of descriptions of what Polynesian tattoos are and what they may symbolize and examples of what tribal tattoos look like. Although it may be not quite descriptive as the other websites that I have chosen, it does cover a light gist of Polynesian tattoos in general. On the right side of the website there is a directory like of other traditional tattoos that maybe helpful to other viewers if they are curious in other traditions or ethnic groups. The white layout of this whole site gives the impression that there are more to what is put on here, meaning that one would have to continue their search in gaining the knowledge of Samoan and other Polynesian tatau. Also, this website does not portray to a specific gender.
As for the PBS.org, they go into more depth compared to what freetattoodesigns.org presents. The layout of PBS is somewhat similar to my website with different navigations on the left side like links leading to a gallery, tattoo stories, glossary terms, etc. There are also links above the text that lead to the different tattoos throughout the Polynesian triangle. On the specific page that I am on starts off a brief explanation of the common elements that the Polynesian culture with looking highly on tattoos, common motifs and techniques. The Samoan tatau is on the first page on the ‘Role of Tattoo’ link. This section discusses the pe’a and malu and surprising that this is the only site that has a picture of only the malu, whereas the other websites they have pictures of the pe’a. The color scheme of this website gives off a native impression – the dark orange-red background is dirt while the foreground can represent the fine mats that the tatau are done on. These color schemes leave an impression of how long the practice of Samoan tatau has been around for centuries and that it is built within the Samoan culture and very much part of it.
In the samoa.co.uk website, a United Kingdom site, there are advertisements above the informational text. There is also a user sign in that only can view certain information. Also, there in an interactive link where the viewer can e-mail the authors of the page and can even enter a chat room. The layout is simple because one can just scroll down to read more information. The order of the tools used, stages of the tattoo along with the song that is customarily sung by the women while a man is getting his pe’a, and ending with the motifs used in the Samoan tatau has a flow to it. The color scheme of this website is a light beige background, while the font color is a darker beige, a color name that I am clearly unfamiliar with. Interesting enough, these colors still can represent a traditional feeling. The banner at the top of the website is quite interesting because of the design the background. It is not clear what it is yet, because of the colors and the way the lines are gives the reader a reason to accept that this is an authentic website, even due to the layout of the website because of how depth they go into with the process of the pe’a.
Another United Kingdom website, the huffingtonpost.co.uk is just as informational as the previous one but in a different way by using an actual human body and professional photography to speak for itself. The layout for this is more of an article layout due to the link bar underneath the title, The Huffington Post, there are navigations that lead to the front page news, politics, world news, sports, entertainment, etc. This site seems very interactive because a reader or a subscriber to this online newspaper can “Like” this article and it will show on one’s Facebook profile, or even tweet the article to one’s Twitter account. On top of being an interactive site, one can “Follow” The Huffington Post on Twitter so instead of coming to the website itself, one can just read on their Twitter feed to get the news. The background color of this online newspaper is white which can mean that the authors associated with this company are able to post their articles. It is a blank canvas for them to fill with worth information to the readers. There is a teal color on the navigation links and also on the “Follow” section underneath the various social networks that the reader are able to follow. This teal color can represent the homeland because the land is filled with grass and grass is green. If one clicks on the navigation link above, the color scheme changes. For an example, when one clicks on “World”, the navigation link changes to a blue.
Lastly, the pasefika.com site has one of the most links, besides the huffingtonpost.co.uk article. This site even has social networks associated with it like Facebook and Twitter and one can even bookmark the website (which I actually had to do because it was quite hard to find this section in the website). On the left hand module, there are links that lead to the “Pasefika Culture” of Samoa like fine mats, Samoan language, rank, Tatau Samoa Intro, Tatau Samoa History 1-3, and Meaning of Tatau 1-3. This site is by far has the most interesting choice of colors because it has neon green. The background is black and the foreground is a dark turquoise color; they could represent the depth of the ocean at the bottom and as reaching closer to the surface, there is a scheme of turquoise and then blue. The frames are to separate the left hand module, the brief descriptions and the navigation at the top of the page. As for the neon green headers, their purpose is to also separate different sections within the brief descriptions. In the Tatau Samoa History and Meaning of Tatau sections, there is more than one link to them because in each link, they have different topic(s) that they each address, which to me is quite confusing because the author of this website can put it into one long, lengthy article, but he chose not to and have his website set up in this particular fashion. For this way, I think the author did not want to bore the reader and be overwhelmed with information like other websites tend to do.
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, throughout the images that were discussed, they tended to focus on more of the male’s pe’a rather than giving much acknowledgement to the women’s malu; although the PBS.org did only show a malu photo in the Samoan tatau section. It is clear that the pe’a gains much more attention, therefore the men get the attention. Due to the color schemes of the websites discussed, they do not gravitate to a particular audience because the main purpose is to still give that ambiance of old traditional ways and a sense of “native-ness” of the website. Although it can still be argue that the color schemes can only grab a certain gender just because of the dark and “manly” colors. Through the analysis, these website do support my argument that the practice of tatau in Samoa is gendered.
IMAGES:
Four out of the five websites have various pictures and they are all pictures of either Samoan tatau designs or tribal designs. Two pictures in http://www.freetattoodesigns.org/polynesian-tattoos.html that will be closely looked at are a fist tattoo and Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock. When one is on this particular site, they may not think that this page is much about Samoan tatau because above the texts, there is a banner of a dragon in vibrant colors containing green, yellow, orange, and some red, and there is a sparrow, while a black and white drawing of a skull with flowers in the eye sockets. On the left side of the banner there is a Caucasian female’s upper back exposed with a lizard or some kind of reptile tattoo in the middle of her back. Also, there is a few modern tribal designs in the right hand upper corner and a bright pink symbol that may look like a Chinese symbol; because of this banner it certainly throws off one’s attention and may not want to be interested in reading this short article. When scrolling down, there is this wide shot focusing on a male’s fists together with Polynesian tribal tattoos. His fists are the main focus to show that tattoos can be done on anywhere. Also, this picture could signify power because of the way how the man is holding out his fists. The out of focus background are his arms that are also tattooed with Polynesian tribal designs. The second picture of The Rock is on the very bottom of this site. His pose is a more natural one. The Rock is looking down while it looks like he is rubbing or scratching his right elbow. It is common for the public to see him in a more action pose with a more fierce or strong facial expression. But in this photo, his is more in a calm position and his face is very relaxed. His attire in this photo is a black tank top and exposing his half sleeve “Marquesan tattoo on his left shoulder” (freetattoodesigns.org).
On the next website, http://www.pbs.org/skinstories/culture/index.html, the two pictures that will be analyzed are two males, again. The first one is a Polynesian male who is part of the title, Skin Stories: The Art and Culture of Polynesian Tattoo. His pose is a natural with him looking over on his right shoulder. The reader is able to notice his tattoos on his back and on his face. With the sepia touch, it certainly makes the photo have an old touch to it. The second photo on this website is a male whose whole back, back of his head buttocks, and partial of his left leg is exposed. In this photo, it really does look like it could be from the early 19th century because of the light sepia tone – resembling that the practice of Samoan tatau has been around for a very long time, which it certainly has been. The emphasis of the pe’a means a lot to the Samoan culture because of the process of it is not taken casually. When the pe’a is finished, it is very beautiful to see because of the lines, intricate designs and the pain that is endured during the whole process – makes it more beautiful; the malu is also beautiful and although it does not get as much recognition that the pe’a does, this is why the practice of Samoan tatau is gendered. In the first photo of the man looking over his right shoulder, as a reader, it is hard to see the details of his tatau and it can go for the same as the second photo also. One could see the lines of the pe’a and also the boat or va’a that is on the start of the pe’a. The va’a is a long block of shading on the top of the lower half of the back, in person or in better clearer photos, it is much noticeable than this example in this website.
The next group of pictures that are going to be discussed are from http://www.samoa.co.uk/tattoos.html. There is a picture of two tools that are used for tapping, the other three pictures are the stages of tattooing, and the last picture is a diagram of motifs that are used in the Samoan tatau. I think this website is one of the most important out of the five that I have chosen because it shows the stages, which none of the other websites does and it also the description of where it goes and the Samoan names of different patterns that are on the pe’a. The pictures of the tools, the two are wide combs. Also, the other websites that I chose to examine did not have a picture of what the tools. The shot of the tools are somewhat of an extreme close up because the reader can easily see the details of the combs. One can come to a conclusion that the tools are made out of natural resources. The editing on this photo seems to make it a more natural feel also because of the oval like shape frame around the tools and the background of the frame has a grainy touch. The lighting of the photo also adds a native impression. The stages of tattooing diagrams are plainly black and white and they focus one certain parts of the lower half of the male’s body. The first diagram is the lower half of the back, next is the abdomen and the back of the leg, and the last one shows the front of the body where it is on the inner and outer thighs and the knees. In the final picture, it shows thirteen different motifs that are found in the Samoan tatau. The motifs consists of lines, dots, and one of the designs are of shading.
In a United Kingdom article, the http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/26/clyde-cowley-displays-traditional-samoan-pea-tattoo-pictures_n_1915371.html strictly displays the pe’a. Clyde Cowley is known because of the pe’a and has also done many photo shoots. In this article, Sandra Mu is the professional photographer who has taken Clyde Cowley’s photos. The first photo of Cowley is of his back, legs and partial of buttocks. The viewer can see most of the details of the pe’a. The black and white edit gives the feel of a classical photo and also it emphasizes the shading of the pe’a. Scrolling further down, there are more photos in an album of the process of the pe’a and also a malu, but predominately the pe’a. When the viewer clicks on any of the album’s photos, background darkens into a gray to draw more focus onto the album, while the foreground of the album becomes the center of attention to the viewer. In the album, the first six photos are of Clyde Cowley exposing his pe’a. He is portrayed like his is on the top of a mountain because of the rocks and because of the angles. Due to these angles and the black and white editing, it does portray Cowley as if he is a powerful well-respected man, yet at the same time he is humble and calm. In these photos, there is a couple of photos him looking out with his back facing the viewer. He has other tattoos that are of Asian influence. On the seventh and eighth photos, these are the only ones that show the process of the malu. Then after these two photos, they are primarly looking at the pe’a. The fifteenth and sixteenth photos are extreme close ups on the tools that are doing the pe’a. I think these two photos are just as important as Cowley showing his pe’a because the tools themselves have their own significance in making certain patterns. The main focus goes straight to the comb with the ink. One can clearly see the black ink that is used. The tool itself still looks like it is of original material. The hands in these photos serve a purpose where there are at least three individuals, most likely males that have gotten their pe’a or will get theirs soon, are to stretch the individual’s skin. They are using gloves because due to safety issues because the male that is undergoing the process will have blood constantly ooze out. They also are there to wipe the ink for the tufuga (tattooist).
The last website, http://pasefika.com/culture/Article/16 has no pictures. The way I took this website is that it is up to the viewer to explore more deeper into what the Samoan tatau is about, in a way it is a mystery because the traditions are passed down orally and the only living knowledge are with the Su’a Peter Suluape and his father, Su’a Suluape Petelo Alaiva’a.
WEBSITE LAYOUT AND COLOR SCHEMES:
In freetattoodesigns.org, the website layout is simple with a white layout and sections of descriptions of what Polynesian tattoos are and what they may symbolize and examples of what tribal tattoos look like. Although it may be not quite descriptive as the other websites that I have chosen, it does cover a light gist of Polynesian tattoos in general. On the right side of the website there is a directory like of other traditional tattoos that maybe helpful to other viewers if they are curious in other traditions or ethnic groups. The white layout of this whole site gives the impression that there are more to what is put on here, meaning that one would have to continue their search in gaining the knowledge of Samoan and other Polynesian tatau. Also, this website does not portray to a specific gender.
As for the PBS.org, they go into more depth compared to what freetattoodesigns.org presents. The layout of PBS is somewhat similar to my website with different navigations on the left side like links leading to a gallery, tattoo stories, glossary terms, etc. There are also links above the text that lead to the different tattoos throughout the Polynesian triangle. On the specific page that I am on starts off a brief explanation of the common elements that the Polynesian culture with looking highly on tattoos, common motifs and techniques. The Samoan tatau is on the first page on the ‘Role of Tattoo’ link. This section discusses the pe’a and malu and surprising that this is the only site that has a picture of only the malu, whereas the other websites they have pictures of the pe’a. The color scheme of this website gives off a native impression – the dark orange-red background is dirt while the foreground can represent the fine mats that the tatau are done on. These color schemes leave an impression of how long the practice of Samoan tatau has been around for centuries and that it is built within the Samoan culture and very much part of it.
In the samoa.co.uk website, a United Kingdom site, there are advertisements above the informational text. There is also a user sign in that only can view certain information. Also, there in an interactive link where the viewer can e-mail the authors of the page and can even enter a chat room. The layout is simple because one can just scroll down to read more information. The order of the tools used, stages of the tattoo along with the song that is customarily sung by the women while a man is getting his pe’a, and ending with the motifs used in the Samoan tatau has a flow to it. The color scheme of this website is a light beige background, while the font color is a darker beige, a color name that I am clearly unfamiliar with. Interesting enough, these colors still can represent a traditional feeling. The banner at the top of the website is quite interesting because of the design the background. It is not clear what it is yet, because of the colors and the way the lines are gives the reader a reason to accept that this is an authentic website, even due to the layout of the website because of how depth they go into with the process of the pe’a.
Another United Kingdom website, the huffingtonpost.co.uk is just as informational as the previous one but in a different way by using an actual human body and professional photography to speak for itself. The layout for this is more of an article layout due to the link bar underneath the title, The Huffington Post, there are navigations that lead to the front page news, politics, world news, sports, entertainment, etc. This site seems very interactive because a reader or a subscriber to this online newspaper can “Like” this article and it will show on one’s Facebook profile, or even tweet the article to one’s Twitter account. On top of being an interactive site, one can “Follow” The Huffington Post on Twitter so instead of coming to the website itself, one can just read on their Twitter feed to get the news. The background color of this online newspaper is white which can mean that the authors associated with this company are able to post their articles. It is a blank canvas for them to fill with worth information to the readers. There is a teal color on the navigation links and also on the “Follow” section underneath the various social networks that the reader are able to follow. This teal color can represent the homeland because the land is filled with grass and grass is green. If one clicks on the navigation link above, the color scheme changes. For an example, when one clicks on “World”, the navigation link changes to a blue.
Lastly, the pasefika.com site has one of the most links, besides the huffingtonpost.co.uk article. This site even has social networks associated with it like Facebook and Twitter and one can even bookmark the website (which I actually had to do because it was quite hard to find this section in the website). On the left hand module, there are links that lead to the “Pasefika Culture” of Samoa like fine mats, Samoan language, rank, Tatau Samoa Intro, Tatau Samoa History 1-3, and Meaning of Tatau 1-3. This site is by far has the most interesting choice of colors because it has neon green. The background is black and the foreground is a dark turquoise color; they could represent the depth of the ocean at the bottom and as reaching closer to the surface, there is a scheme of turquoise and then blue. The frames are to separate the left hand module, the brief descriptions and the navigation at the top of the page. As for the neon green headers, their purpose is to also separate different sections within the brief descriptions. In the Tatau Samoa History and Meaning of Tatau sections, there is more than one link to them because in each link, they have different topic(s) that they each address, which to me is quite confusing because the author of this website can put it into one long, lengthy article, but he chose not to and have his website set up in this particular fashion. For this way, I think the author did not want to bore the reader and be overwhelmed with information like other websites tend to do.
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, throughout the images that were discussed, they tended to focus on more of the male’s pe’a rather than giving much acknowledgement to the women’s malu; although the PBS.org did only show a malu photo in the Samoan tatau section. It is clear that the pe’a gains much more attention, therefore the men get the attention. Due to the color schemes of the websites discussed, they do not gravitate to a particular audience because the main purpose is to still give that ambiance of old traditional ways and a sense of “native-ness” of the website. Although it can still be argue that the color schemes can only grab a certain gender just because of the dark and “manly” colors. Through the analysis, these website do support my argument that the practice of tatau in Samoa is gendered.