Masters Thesis

Who can be eaten? consuming animals and humans in the cannibal horror film

This thesis examines the cannibal-horror film: A curious assortment of films largely produced in Italy, with its peak production between 1 977-1981, some key features of the genre include a clash between the "civilized" and the "savage"; exploitative use of nudity, sex, and sexual violence; gruesome scenes of mutilation and evisceration, often using real animal entrails for gore effects; and the filming of real animal slaughter and consumption, including monkeys, caimans, turtles, lizards, and pigs. It is this last trope that I will explore here: What purpose does filming the slaughter of an animal serve in this genre? What is the connection between the real slaughter and consumption of animal bodies and the faked slaughter and cannibalistic consumption of human bodies? In the cannibal film, human bodies vicariously suffer the same fate as animal bodies do in real life. They trouble—violently and horrifically—what is normally taken for granted: the animal can be eaten while the human must not be. By showcasing real animal death, evisceration, and consumption alongside faked human death, evisceration, and consumption, the cannibal films have much to tell us about cultural anxieties over the constructed nature of "the human," the condition of "savagery," food taboos, and our close but fraught relationship with our animal kin.

Relationships

In Collection:

Items in ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.