Cannibalism in popular culture

Cannibalism is a recurring theme in popular culture, especially within the horror genre.

In literature, film and television

As a cultural norm

In many popular culture works that depict cannibalism, the act has been the cultural norm for a tribe or people group, normally located in South America. Usually, the cannibalism has been used as an expression of a tribe's primitive savagery.

An early literary example is provided by Herman Melville's Typee, a semi-factual account of Melville's voyage to the Pacific Island of Nuku Hiva, where he spent several weeks living among the island's cannibal inhabitants before fleeing out of fear of being eaten.

The theme of cannibal tribes has been exploited by many horror films, known as cannibal films. A common premise of these films concerns the discovery of such tribes by documentary filmmakers or anthropologists. These films were especially popular through the work of Italian filmmakers in the 1970s and 1980s. The first major film of this type was Umberto Lenzi's 1972 film Il Paese del Sesso Selvaggio (The Man from the Deep River). This inspired other filmmakers to create cannibal films, with the genre reaching its peak in cannibal boom of 1977 to 1981. The most prolific of these films was Ruggero Deodato's controversial Cannibal Holocaust (1980), which influenced later cannibal movies, some of which adopted the moniker Cannibal Holocaust II in homage to Deodato's original. Other significant films from the 'cannibal boom' years include Ultimo mondo cannibale (1977) and Cannibal Ferox (1981).

Other later horror films have also included cannibal tribes or groups. A notable example is The Hills Have Eyes series of films, which features a clan of cannibalistic savages. Wrong Turn and its sequel features a cannibalistic group of mountain men.

The 1971 film Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês (How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman) by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, set in the sixteenth century, details the alleged cannibalistic practices of the indigenous Tupinamba warrior tribe against French and Portuguese colonizers.

A different example of cannibal culture in literature is found in the science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land (1981) by Robert A. Heinlein, where some human culture is transformed as a result of the Martians practice of eating one's dead friends as an act of great respect. This novel provided the inspiration for The Police song "Friends", which appeared as a B-side on the UK single "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and the US single of "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da".

In the Anne Rice novel, "Queen of the Damned", many references are made to an ancient culture who practiced necro-cannibalism, believing that the eating of their loved ones' remains was a more fitting funeral rite than burying or burning them.

As a means of survival

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The wreckage of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

Historically, cannibalism has sometimes been practised as a last resort by people suffering from famine, and this theme has been used in popular culture. Indeed, occasionally, true stories of such acts of cannibalism have been portrayed. One example is of the 1972 story of the survivors of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, who resorted to cannibalism in order to survive. The story of the survivors was chronicled in Piers Paul Read's 1974 book, Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors, in a 1993 film adaptation of the book, called simply Alive, and in a 2008 documentary: Stranded: I’ve Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains.

Two other similar stories that have provided inspiration for popular culture adaptations are the accounts of Alferd Packer and the Donner Party, both involving people eating human flesh in order to survive snowbound entrapment in the mountains. The 1999 film Ravenous combines elements of both stories. The tale of Packer is retold, with artistic liberty, in the 1980 film The Legend of Alfred Packer and in Trey Parker's black comedy Cannibal! The Musical.

A slightly different example is that of Survivor Type, a short story by Stephen King, which follows a shipwreck victim stranded on a remote island, who is driven to eating his own body parts in order to survive. This story can also be seen in the manga One Piece where ship's cook Zeff and protagonist Sanji are stranded on a barren cliff in the middle of the sea. Zeff cuts off one leg and eats it while Sanji keeps the food that they managed to salvage from the shipwreck they were sailing on before.

Post-apocalyptic narratives have also featured cannibalism as a means of survival. The 1991 French film Delicatessen is set in an apartment block led by a butcher who deals with the food crisis by luring new tenants to the apartment, killing them and serving them as meat to the other residents. In the 2006 post-apocalyptic zombie horror novel World War Z by Max Brooks, as many Americans head north into Canada to escape the undead, the under-prepared survivors are forced into cannibalizing the dead in order to survive the harsh winters. In Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road, some of the survivors in the post-apocalyptic United States practice cannibalism as nearly all other sources of food (animals, plant life), have been destroyed.

Unaware cannibals

Sometimes, those eating the flesh of other humans in popular culture depictions are unaware of their cannibalistic acts, having been served it as a meal by a murderous cannibal host.

An early example appears in William Shakespeare's late sixteenth century play Titus Andronicus, where the character Tamora is unknowingly served a pie made from the remains of her two sons. Another literary occurrence is in Fannie Flagg's novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, in which investigators are unknowingly fed the barbecued ribs of a man whose murder they are investigating.

Lu Xun's Diary of a Madman is premised on the notion that those who are eating flesh don't know it. Hence the Madman is mad only insofar as those who participate in cannibalism are unaware of it.

In cinema, the most notable example is in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green. In the movie, the Soylent Corporation produces rations of small green wafers in response to the food crisis. These wafers are advertised as being produced from "high-energy plankton", but are actually the processed remains of human corpses. This film was parodied in the third segment of The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror V" ("Nightmare Cafeteria"), in which the teachers at Springfield Elementary School begin to eat children in response to overcrowding in detention, serving the students' remains in the cafeteria.

This theme has also been used in parodies and black comedies, for its humorous value of dramatic irony. In the 1987 film Eat the Rich, a disgruntled waiter and his friends kill the management and arrogant clientele of a restaurant and feed the bodies to unsuspecting customers. The 1975 musical parody The Rocky Horror Picture Show also features this form of cannibalism, as Dr. Frank N. Furter kills the character Eddie and serves his flesh to his dinner guests.

In a the Series 7 Episode of the popular British sitcom "Red Dwarf", "Tikka to Ride", Dave Lister and The Cat unknowingly (at first) eat the corpse of a dead man who died, which was cooked for them by the robot Kryten. His excuse was that "if humans eat chickens, obviously they would eat their own species otherwise they would just be picking on the chickens".

The people in Sweeney Todd eat meat pies made of humans killed by Benjamin Barker (Sweeney Todd) with the aid of Mrs Lovett.

As an accompaniment to killing

Sometimes films are influenced by the morbid fascination surrounding real-life cases of cannibal murderers.

The Armin Meiwes cannibalism case in Germany provided the inspiration for many feature films. The 2007 film Rohtenburg recounts a story of an American criminal psychology student in Germany, who decides to study cannibal killer Oliver Hartwin for her thesis. Hartwin, who fulfils his dream of eating a willing victim found on the Internet, is modelled on Meiwes, causing the film to initially be banned in Germany when Meiwes complained that his personal rights were being violated. The 2006 film Cannibal, which reconstructed the event, was also banned in Germany. Other films based on the case include Rosa von Praunheim's Dein Herz in Meinem Hirn (Your Heart in My Brain) and Ulli Lommel's Diary of a Cannibal (2006). Brett Leonard's 2005 movie "Feed" references the Meiwes case in its opening scene.

Another murderer who influenced the creation of a fictional cannibal antagonist is Ed Gein, who served as the inspiration for the characters of Norman Bates in Psycho (1960 film), Ezra Cobb in Deranged and Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and its sequels. Although Gein was not actually a cannibal himself, he did make various items out of the remains of humans. Leatherface wears a mask fashioned from human flesh and lives with a family of cannibals.

Another notable cannibalistic serial killer is Hannibal Lecter, a fictional character created by author Thomas Harris. Lecter appears in the novels Red Dragon (1981), The Silence of the Lambs (1988), Hannibal (1999) and Hannibal Rising (2006). When the novel was first adapted to film, in Manhunter (1986), Lecter was not presented as a cannibal. In later film adaptations, such as The Silence of the Lambs (1991), where Lecter is portrayed by Sir Anthony Hopkins, his cannibalistic acts are made more specific.

In science fiction

In addition to the aforementioned uses, occasionally works of science fiction include elements of cannibalism that serve another purpose. For example, in The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, cannibalism and drugs are used to gain the memories of dead people. In the book Peeps by Scott Westerfeld, people become cannibals when they are infected by a parasite. The post-apocalyptic novel Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, features a band of survivors from a comet impact turning to cannibalism not only as a means of food, but also as a way of binding members to their group. Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury explores a human culture planted on a world whose biochemistry is toxic to humans. Cannibalism is an essential part of both social and religious life, as food is a precious commodity and the only significant source of meat is humans themselves.

In music

"Congo Man", a calypso song recorded in 1965 by Mighty Sparrow, features a "cannibal headhunter" who preys on white people. The singer envies the titular character, because "he eat until his belly upset," while "I never eat white meat yet."

In 1971, a Rupert Holmes-composed pop song named "Timothy" by The Buoys cryptically told the tale of two trapped miners who apparently resort to eating their companion. After being banned on many radio stations, "Timothy" rose to no. 17 on the Billboard charts. Later that year, Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane explored the concept of cannibalism in a tongue-in-cheek rock song named "Silver Spoon." The song appeared on Sunfighter, a non-group album issued by Slick and bandmate Paul Kantner.

"Mr. Green Genes" by Frank Zappa (from the Mothers of Invention album Uncle Meat) makes a humorous reference to cannibalism: "Eat the truck & driver / And his gloves / NUTRITIOUSNESS! DELICIOUSNESS! WORTHLESSNESS!"

Many heavy metal, especially death metal and grindcore, bands discuss cannibalism in their songs, or depict it on the cover art of their albums, because of the act's taboo nature. Sometimes bands are inspired by particular cases of cannibalism.

American death metal band Cannibal Corpse are one notable example. Their first album, according to the inlay, was dedicated to "the memory of Alfred Packer, the first American cannibal (R.I.P.)"; their third album, Tomb of the Mutilated, features quotations from serial killer and cannibal Albert Fish in the liner notes. Many of their songs make use of cannibalistic imagery, such as "Edible Autopsy". The band Pungent Stench have also frequently dealt with cannibalism, most extensively on their 1990 EP For God Your Soul...For Me Your Flesh.

The Armin Meiwes cannibalism case in Germany provided the inspiration for a number of metal bands. Rammstein's 2004 single "Mein Teil", which featured the refrain "you are what you eat," was based on the case. Vocalist Till Lindemann explained the fascination with the case that provoked the band to writing the song: "It's so sick that it becomes fascinating and there just has to be a song about it." Other songs influenced by Meiwes include "The Wüstenfeld Man Eater" by American death/thrash metal band Macabre, "Eaten" by Swedish death metal band Bloodbath, "Let me Taste your Flesh" by Spanish death metal band Avulsed, as well as "Cannibal Anthem" by German electro-industrial project :wumpscut:, "Cannibals of Rotenburg" by the dirge-country band Sons of Perdition, and "Menschenfresser [Eat Me]" by electro-industrial act Suicide Commando. "Human Consumption" by hip-hop artist Necro also makes reference to the incident, and the title of the 2007 Marilyn Manson album Eat Me, Drink Me was inspired by the case.

The song "A Little Piece of Heaven" by Avenged Sevenfold is about a man who kills and eats part of his girlfriend after she rejects him.

Rapper Brotha Lynch Hung has also written many songs concerning cannibalism, as exemplified by his 1994 album Season of da Siccness, on which he styles himself as "the Ripgut Cannibal".

The French industrial band Nox had a track titled "Cannibal Night" on their 1990 album Killin' Drive Power. It's about a man who kills his whole family and eats the best parts of every member; at last, he eats himself.

"Kiss Me, Hold Me and Eat Me" by Ballboy, an Edinburgh band, features a poignant love affair between two cannibals, who know that their first kiss could prove fatal.

Literature

Cannibalism in literature, a species of horror fiction, is represented by some significant works:

• Poppy Z. Brite. Exquisite Corpse. A horror novel about two cannibalistic serial killers in love.
• Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury, a science fiction novel in which cannibalism is an essential theme.
• The Republic of Wine: A Novel by Mo Yan, in which cannibalism is practiced by officials in modern China.
• In Bentley Little's short story "The Washingtonians", the protagonist discovers that George Washington was a murderer and a cannibal. This story was adapted for an episode of Masters of Horror in 2007.
• In Suddenly, Last Summer a play by Tennessee Williams, the cannibalizing of a family member is the secret at the heart of the story.
• In The Cannibal Within, by Mark Mirabello, "Ingestion is the ultimate act of domination.... The victim is absorbed by the eater--body and soul are absorbed--and all that remains is excrement."
• The Enemy by Charlie Higson, in which all adults are turned mad and start eating the children under fourteen.
• Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter series, in which the main villain, Hannibal Lecter, is a serial killer known for cannibalism.

In American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, Patrick Bateman eats many of his female victims after murdering them.

Film

Cannibalism is not just confined to the horror genre. Dark comedy has also featured it as a theme, in films such as Delicatessen (1991) or Eating Raoul (1982).

• The low-budget film Messiah of Evil (1971) has vampire-cannibalism as plot elements.
• In Wrong Turn (2003), Mountain Men practice cannibalism.
• The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, a 1989 film written and directed by Peter Greenaway
• Parents, a 1989 horror film directed by Bob Balaban about a disturbed young boy who suspects his parents are cooking more than just hamburgers on their backyard grill.
• The 1932 film Doctor X featured a cannibalistic killer.
• Dumplings by Fruit Chan, wherein foetuses are consumed.
• The films "Blood Feast" and "Blood Feast 2: All You Can Eat" by Herschell Gordon Lewis feature a cannibal caterer preparing a feast for the goddess Ishtar.
• The 2006 remake of the film Black Christmas depicts the two main antagonists, Billy and Agnes, engaging in acts of cannibalism such as eating raw flesh and eyes.
• In the 2001 French film, Trouble Every Day cannibalism is portrayed purely as a sexual act. Claire Denis explores the ability to love as a hunger, with characters seemingly having originated out of a "diseased culture".
• In the 2007 film, Welcome to the Jungle features tourists forced to sacred cannibal rituals by a native tribe in Papua New Guinea, released by Dimension Extreme Films.
• The Donner Party (2009) is based on the true story of the Donner Party American settlers, who turned to cannibalism during the harsh 1846–1847 winter.

Television

• The episode "Our Town" of The X-Files is based on several historical and popular myths about cannibalism. The protagonist FBI agents find that an entire community in Arkansas have been kidnapping outsiders and eating them for decades, in the belief that it lengthens their lifespans. They have been taught to do this by the town patriarch, Walter Chaco (a reference to Chaco Canyon), who lived among the Korowai tribe of Papua, New Guinea after being shot down in the Pacific during World War II.
• Nightmare Cafeteria, the third and final segment of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror V. To respond to the overwhelming number of students in detention, the teachers at Springfield Elementary School start to eat all the children. This was a parody of Soylent Green.
• The Doctor Who story Revelation of the Daleks a villain sells human flesh to famine victims. In The End Of Time, the Master's resurrection went wrong as he tries to survive by eating homeless people in scrapyards.
• In an episode of The Young Ones the cast decide to eat their least popular member (Neil) when they are trapped in their house, submerged in a flood.
• In Monty Python's Flying Circus, cannibalism is something of a recurring theme:
  • In the Undertaker's sketch, a dead woman is referred to as "an eater" by an undertaker, suggesting cremation or burial is too "nasty".
  • In the Lifeboat sketch, five sailors in a lifeboat bicker about the menu planning involving who should be eaten first. The skit is followed by the reading of a "protest letter" saying, "As a naval officer I abhor the implication that the Royal Navy is a haven for cannibalism. It is well known that we now have the problem relatively under control, and that it is the RAF who now suffer the largest casualties in this area. And what do you think the Argylls ate in Aden. Arabs? Yours etc. Captain B.J. Smethwick in a white wine sauce with shallots, mushrooms and garlic."
  • In the Expedition to Lake Pahoe sketch, Vice Admiral Sir John Cunningham addresses the audience with the non sequitur "and may I take this opportunity of emphasizing that there is no cannibalism in the British Navy. Absolutely none, and when I say none, I mean there is a certain amount, more than we are prepared to admit, but all new ratings are warned that if they wake up in the morning and find toothmarks at all anywhere on their bodies, they're to tell me immediately so that I can immediately take every measure to hush the whole thing up. And, finally, necrophilia is right out. Now, this expedition is primarily to investigate reports of cannibalism and necrophilia in ... this expedition is primarily to investigate reports of unusual marine life in the as yet uncharted Lake Pahoe." Later in the skit, Sir John has to block our view of a naval rating about to bite into a human leg.
  • In the Restaurant/Intermission sketch, two patrons of a "vegetarian restaurant" which serves "no animal flesh of any kind" are confronted by a semi-naked man in a large serving dish, who informs them, "I'm the special. Try me with some rice." The surprise here is somewhat lessened by the waiter having just asked the couple, "Would you care for a glass of blood? Oh what a giveaway."
• The 2001 episode of South Park called Scott Tenorman Must Die, is famous among fans of the Comedy Central show. Eric Cartman arranged the murders of the parents of his archnemesis, Scott Tenorman. He then collected the bodies, ground them up into meat, and fed them to Scott in a chili cookoff. This is not the first time cannibalism has been seen, in a previous episode, Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut, three characters fall victim to cannibalism during the brief period of time that a group of adults became trapped in a television studio during a blizzard.
• In the Torchwood episode "Countrycide" it is discovered that a whole village of cannibals kill and eat travellers every ten years as part of a "harvest".
• Some deaths in Celebrity Deathmatch lead to a celebrity eating another celebrity.
• The 2007 Masters of Horror episode "The Washingtonians" portrays George Washington as a cannibal in a fictional account of alternate history.
• In Bones, the group searched and caught the infamous cannibal they called, The Gormogon.

Video games

• Digital Devil Saga depicts demonic tribe members devouring each other should his or her opponent be defeated.
• In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, media tycoon Donald Love has Toni Cipriani kill Avery Carrington and bring him to his private jet in order to eat him on the trip.
• Jade Empire features cannibals as one of the game's enemies.
• Mr. Grimm, a main playable character in Twisted Metal Black, is a cannibal.
• In the Grand Theft Auto 2 mission "R. S. L. Bows!" the player is required to collect members of the public in a bus, before driving them to a meat-processing plant to be slaughtered for human consumption by soldiers of the Russian mafia.
• Paxton Fettel, the main enemy in the computer game F.E.A.R. eats his victims in order to absorb their memories.
• In Mortal Kombat the Tarkatan eat their victims after a fight (The only character that actually does that in game is Mileena).
• In World of Warcraft, players can choose a Horde race called the Forsaken, a faction of sentient undead with a racial ability called "Cannibalize". The player consumes the corpse of a Humanoid or Undead enemy to regain health. The female Trolls also have a voice emote that states: "If cannibalism is wrong, I don' wanna be right!"
• The Tribesmen from Tomb Raider 3 attempt to eat Lara. Fortunately her arsenal vanquished the tribe. They also attempt to eat a castaway pilot - who they are supposed to have eat for the dessert (as white flesh is said to be a delicacy in those parts) of a special feast, named: "The Feast of Spies". He only had one leg - as he awoke late one night to find "One of those little fuckers snacking on his leg". He wrapped it in bandages - hoping to survive up to the feast, in which he will be eaten alive.
• Cannibalism is a recurring theme in the game Fallout 3. An interesting game mechanic in which players can cannibalize corpses to regain health is featured. Heavily radiated wastelanders called feral ghouls also eat flesh to sustain themselves. Likewise, a small yet corrupt settlement of cannibals can be discovered.
• A 1998 canceled Playstation fighting game entitled Thrill Kill featured a murderous redneck cannibal from Kentucky named Cleetus. He was shown carrying a torn leg and used it as a blunt object in fighting. Cleetus could be seen also eating the leg during fighting, as well as has attacks where he bites the flesh of other fighters.

In other media

• Aboleths in the Dungeons & Dragons setting "Forgotten Realms" are said to consume their parents on birth & in doing so receiving their parents memories (as well as any other races they eat).
• Underground, a role playing game in which a popular restaurant chain called "Tastee Ghoul" serves food made from human flesh.
• Zhu Yu, a Chinese conceptual artist, became famous for his staging of many photographs of himself eating a cooked human foetus. Though he himself has claimed in interviews that the foetus was real, obtained from an abortion clinic, some reports indicate that it was likely duck meat mixed with parts from a baby doll. Yu briefly found himself the subject of a chain e-mail backlash that singled out Asian communities for allegedly taking their "unusual" cuisine tastes too far. The chain eventually reached the FBI and Scotland Yard, both of whom performed full investigations into the pictures.
• Long Pig, a fast food chain in the graphic novel known as Transmetropolitan, for which humans are cloned without brains—to be guiltlessly prepared as meals.
• Famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera claimed in his autobiography that during a period in 1904, he and his companions ate "nothing but cadavers" purchased from the local morgue. Rivera was fully aware of the shock value of this tale. Rivera claims that he thought cannibalism a way of the future, remarking "I believe that when man evolves a civilization higher than the mechanized but still primitive one he has now, the eating of human flesh will be sanctioned. For then man will have thrown off all of his superstitions and irrational taboos." Readers may be reminded of the savage satire of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal.
• Oswald de Andrade's Cannibal Manifesto was an influential work of Brazilian modernism, comparing literal cannibalism to the postcolonial reappropriation of European culture, art, and ideas.

In multiple media

• Patrick Bateman, a fictional character created by Bret Easton Ellis in the 1987 novel The Rules of Attraction, but most famously depicted in Ellis's American Psycho, released in 2000.
• Sweeney Todd, originally a penny dreadful, later a musical, about a barber who kills his customers and sells their flesh as food. This was made into motion pictures in 1936 (original story), 1982 (musical), 1997 (original story), and 2007 (musical).
• Sin City, a film by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez based upon a graphic novel of the same title, features a character named Kevin played by Elijah Wood who eats the bodies of prostitutes, as well as forcing them to watch as he eats their severed limbs.
• The Reavers are a group of cannibals in the television series Firefly and the movie Serenity.

See also

• Child cannibalism