human sushi

anyone hungry?



(that's plastic)

while i'm sure the concept of human sushi has no doubt been explored in some kind of extreme asian horror film i haven't seen (remember dumpling ? i guess that's not sushi, but the sentiment is certainly there), i just think this idea of secret cannibalism is kind of cool. by "secret", i mean like texas chainsaw massacre kind of secret--like sweeney todd kind of secret--like a small group of people feeding a large group of (unwitting) people human flesh. the thing is, they always seen to really enjoy it, right? like, no one spits out human BBQ. i'm pretty sure it wins prizes in TCM II--or maybe that was chili. either way, it's a theme. a real theme.

the human-animal thing is certainly present, right? treating people "like animals", i think, is always coded as "horrific"--always always always. soylent green is people, y'all.

i wonder, though, why , beyond the obvious, being consumed is so abject. what's funny is that total consumption is what's worst, the most awful, etc--whereas partial consumption is (at least these days) coded as sexy--the mixing of ~fluids~, baby--that's right, VAMPIRES, are objects of lust, not carnage.

i guess it's easier to imagine having a little blood sucked than being chopped up and fed as an amuse-bouche to ignorant diners. the former is more like sex, the latter is more like, well, death--instead of a quick in and out, it's like the vagina is swallowing you whole, motherfucker. nom nom nom, indeed.

to be sure, the fear of being eaten is not just a dude thing, but i think the consuming vagina is a fitting image, since it represents both destruction and some kind of perverse re-birth, you know? you're not actually being born again, but you're returning to pre-life, to the womb, either way.

maybe that's why cannibals/cannibalism/being consumed remains so fresh in our cultural mind--but always scary, and not attractive, like vampires. it's like, dude, of course we all have a secret desire to be eaten--but that's just because we all have a secret desire to die, and that's precisely why seeing images of people-as-sausages, people-as-sushi etc etc is so totally terrifying--it's too close to what we really want! it's too damn close!

so really, guys, just admit to yourself you want to be eaten, and all of these scary movies will cease to be gross and scary.

hah. right. the flesh may be weak, but it's certainly hard to change its mind.
brb, going to write a screenplay about cannibals.


enjoy the sushi,

xx

eugenia