To put it as simply as possible, Angeline Jolie is one of the most famous people on Earth. It doesn’t matter where you go from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, people recognize the actress/philanthropist. There is an entire media ecosystem awaiting ever single one of her moves, eager to speculate as to her motivations at 300 word, SEO-optimized intervals. While we here at Inked like to picture ourselves as lofty idealists outside of the tabloid fray, hearing that Jolie added some tattoos to her collection is just too much to resist.
Yesterday, Mr. K, one of the go-to artists for the Hollywood set, posted a photo of the fresh tattoos and a bit of an explanation as to what they represent.
Normally artists don’t feel the need to explicitly explain their art. A picture is supposed to be worth a thousands words and whatnot. But in this case Mr. K felt obligated to explain how the two tattoos are a minimalistic abstract depiction of a pair daggers. Why did he feel the need to do so? Let’s look at his original post and remember the aforementioned universe of tabloid media eager to post about anything and everything related to Jolie.
Clearly to some, but not all, this was a ploy by Mr. K to fire up a whirlwind of speculation as to what the tattoos could be. As a social media tactic it worked, perhaps too well. Fans of Jolie were immediately speculating that the tattoo had something to do with Jolie’s contentious divorce from Brad Pitt. The comment section on the post quickly became a cesspool and every blog and tabloid ran with the story. Inked Magazine, on the other hand, is a pillar of integrity. We abstained from the discourse, sacrificing guaranteed clicks.
Now, please don’t think this is because we’re above wading through the muck. We love some good tea as much as the next publication. It’s that we’re never going to report on a tattoo without actually seeing the tattoo. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be to write an article called “Check Out Margot Robbie’s Epic New Ink!” without ever seeing the tattoo, only to learn weeks later that it was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles temporary tattoo she was paid to wear for some guerrilla advertising? We could never show our faces again. You’ll never see a story about a celebrity getting tattooed without pictures of the actual tattoo from us. That’s an Inked Magazine Guarantee™.
In summation, Angelina Jolie got a pretty cool pair of tattoos from Mr. K. They represent daggers and only daggers. Enjoy.
