Disney, Cannibal Holocaust, and a German Computer Technician

I'm not quite sure how much these posts are supposed to reflect just our thoughts on the readings, so I thought I'd post some of the more tangential things that the readings on cannibalism made me think about - operating under the assumption that we'll talk about the readings more particularly during class.

While I've always been intrigued by metaphors of cannibalism, I think it's most salient within particular industries. In the interview we had to read, Svenkmajer mentions Disney and its practice of creating art for children. Cannibalism seems to be fairly representative of Disney's relationship to the fairy tales it re-presents/re-creates. The stories are broken down to their basic elements, appropriated by Disney, digested, and re-presented to the world to continue the tradition of folk tales - now devoid of some of their intrigue, uniqueness, and nutritional value. I think the metaphor is even clearer in film - especially when dealing a bit more explicitly with cannibalism.

In Ruggero Deodato’s 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust, a group of American academics and researchers travel to South America to study and film a savage tribe. They are motivated by a fascination with the Other, and the desire to reduce them to objects of knowledge, as many of us are today. Indeed, they succeed in filming the cannibals, creating a product ready for consumption and study. However, their metaphorical cannibalism is no match for the tribe, which captures the Americans and kills them in a variety of horrifically gory ways. The film problematizes cannibalism and humanity, making an argument for retributive justice as revenge against the colonialists and their unjust dehumanization.

This seems to reflect the words of C. Richard King, who says, "[Cannibalism] deals with human difference in the most direct way, not merely by doing away with it, but by taking it in completely, metabolizing it, transforming it into shit, and eliminating it. In myriad domains, consumption absorbs difference, simultaneously appropriating and nullifying it. While this may be most visible in the worlds where tourists and ex-primitives encounter one another or in the contexts in which consumers endeavor to inject meaning, pleasure, or interconnection into their lives.”

Cannibal Holocaust is particularly interesting in its portrayal of cannibalism when reflected in this light, as the film's narrative structure mirrors the theme, beginning with the discovery of the film by another American team. Knowing what it probably contains, they still watch the film, along with we the viewers—both groups situated as cannibals. Perhaps not surprisingly, this narrative technique was cannibalized 20 years later by American filmmakers and used to generate unprecedented profits in The Blair Witch Project.

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As an aside, I think it's really interesting that while we mostly think of cannibalism as pure metaphor, there are cases of its literal occurrence in modern, Western society. Armin Meiwes, for example, was a German computer technician who placed an Internet ad seeking “a well-built male ready to be slaughtered and consumed.” In March 2001, 44-year-old Bernt-Jurgen Brandes answered it. Later that month, in Meiwes' home, Meiwes amputated Brandes' penis and sautéed it with salt, pepper and garlic. Brandes tried to eat his share of his own penis rare, but he couldn't eat it because it was too tough and, as he put it, "chewy". A video of Meiwes’ subsequent killing of Brandes exists, which was so disturbing that the detectives working on the case needed counseling after viewing it. Meiwes was arrested in December 2002; his second trial for manslaughter—since Germany has no law against cannibalism—is currently in process (or was last time I checked).

The real question for the metaphor of cannibalism, then, would seem to be, "So, when do we get to see the movie version of the Armin Meiwes story?" Well, a German film about him called Your Heart in My Head premiered at the Montreal Film Festival in 2005. Meanwhile, Meiwes is suing the producers of another film, called Butterfly, which he claims plagiarizes his life. In a statement, Meiwes' lawyer called the film a “slavish re-enactment” of the real-life events and says his client did not give permission to producer Atlantic Streamline to fictionalize his story. In a BBC News article about the suit, Meiwes aptly comments, "I feel used.” One can hardly blame him.

~Charlie