No, It’s Not About Overeating (Or Otherwise “Stuffing” Humans), But Still Fascinating
STUFFED is a documentary about the surprising world of taxidermy. Told through the eyes and hands of acclaimed artists across the world, the film explores this diverse subculture, where sculptors must also be scientists, seeing life where others only see death. From an all-woman studio in Los Angeles which has elevated taxidermy to the forefront of fashion and modern art, to fine artists in the Netherlands, these passionate experts push creative boundaries. The film highlights a diversity of perspectives including an anatomical sculptor in South Africa and a big-game taxidermist in Ohio. And, in an unexpected twist, STUFFED reveals the importance of preserving nature, using taxidermy as its unlikely vehicle, and the taxidermist as its driver. So says the IU Cinema’s blurb, but of course, as horror readers and writers, what we’re interested in is psycho taxidermists handling people as subjects.
Aren’t we? That is, I have at least one story on that subject making the rounds now, perhaps not so much about a psycho but about a group that considers human taxidermy not abnormal. But that’s not the point in watching the film anyway, it’s about what is in its own right a fascinating [image error]subject (including in movies — anyone remember the furry fish in the 2001 film BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF?*).
That aside, very little taxidermy today involves things like hunting trophies, as the film pointed out, but rather combines both science and art, especially the former in venues like natural history museums where context — environmental details of an animal’s habitat — can be as important as the main subject. But also there are artistic approaches, to tell a story perhaps in a scene with multiple subjects. And there are such concepts as “rogue taxidermy” — creating perhaps a mythical concept combining parts from different animals — or “novelty taxidermy,” a particular fad in Victorian times but coming back, an equivalent of pictures popular not that long ago of things like dogs playing poker (I seem to recall, though the film didn’t say, that frogs in human-like poses were prized in the 1900s), or even fashion, like feathers in women’s hats — but also perhaps an entire small bird. Also as to the animals themselves, most will have died from natural causes, often already in captivity (think zoos, for instance), or due to accidents as being hit by cars — indeed most taxidermists, having come to cherish life through their art, tend to be avid conservationists as well.
So actually, no, the movie did not discuss stuffing humans, nor did a post-film discussion including IU Biology Department Senior Director Susan Hengeveld and William R. Adams Zooarchaeology Laboratory Director and Anthropology Department Associate Professor Laura L. Schreiber. But it was still fascinating to watch.
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*In the film’s parlance, an example of rogue taxidermy.
