Cannibalism & It's Representation in Film and Television

Definition: Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh or internal organs of other human beings. A person who practices cannibalism is called a cannibal. The expression cannibalism has been extended into zoology to mean one individual of a species consuming all or part of another individual of the same species as food.

The word derives from the people of the Island Carib who acquired a long-standing reputation as cannibals following the recording of their legends in the 17th century. Cannibalism was widespread in the past among humans in many parts of the world, continuing into the 19th century in some isolated South Pacific cultures, and to the present day in parts of tropical Africa. Cannibalism has been said to test the bounds of cultural relativism as it challenges anthropologists "to define what is or is not beyond the pale of acceptable human behaviour." (Salisbury, 2001)

Modern Day Examples

Rudy Eugene was killed by a city police officer after refusing to back away from Ronald Poppo, who was left fighting for his life in a hospital after suffering critical injuries. A police officer approached the man after being flagged down by a passer-by and then ordered him to move away from the man whose face he was eating. After he refused to acknowledge the officer's warning he opened fire, with witnesses reporting at least six shots fired. Describing the scene after the police officer issued his warning, he added:,"The guy just stood, his head up like that, with pieces of flesh in his mouth. And he growled."

Katherine Mary Knight is the first Australian woman to be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. She was convicted of the murder of her partner, John Price, in October 2001. Several hours after Price had died, Knight skinned him and hung the skin from a meat hook on the architrave of a door to the lounge room. She then decapitated him and cooked parts of his body, serving up the meat with baked potato, pumpkin, zucchini, cabbage, yellow squash and gravy in two settings at the dinner table, along with notes beside each plate, each having the name of one of Price's children on it; she was preparing to serve his body parts to his children.

Brothers identified only as 28-year-old Timur and 23-year-old Marat admitted to killing their older brother Rafis and then eating him in the central Russian city of Perm. The two cannibals had been feasting on the remains of their brother for six months in an effort to hide his murder. Police grew suspicious when the brothers reported Rafis missing but were vague about giving details of their brother. After raiding the house of the brothers, police discovered the skeleton of Rafis, which the brothers had stripped bare and buried in the garden. Timur said that he ate his brother because he couldn't face going back to prison, where he had served ten years for murdering his next door neighbour.

These real-life cases show how far the human race can be pushed or how much a mind can be manipulated (for whatever psychological reason) to commit such horrific crimes. In these instances, there is no clear cause for their decisions to kill. It can only be presumed it was some sort of psychosis, mental disorder or breakdown. However, the definition above suggests that in some cases it can be the last resort in a world with no other option. With a combination of the heavy influence of horror and an apocalyptic world, it would make sense how Claudia would develop a taste for human flesh. 

Cannibalism in Film & TV

Wrong Turn is a series of horror films which began production in 2003. In the movie, six characters find themselves trapped in the wood in West Virginia, hunted by a group of cannibals. The Wrong Turn film series has featured various different cannibals. They are always hostile towards any humans they come across and show no remorse for their victims. The cannibals are shown to lack the ability to utter any words, but can still easily communicate with each other and operate vehicles. The Cannibals also tend to stay in groups with other mutants and breed together to form families.

Cannibal Holocaust was made in 1980. The film tells the story of a missing documentary film crew who had gone to the Amazon to film cannibal tribes. A rescue mission, led by the New York University anthropologist Harold Monroe, recovers the film crew's lost cans of film, which an American television station wishes to broadcast. Cannibal Holocaust achieved notoriety as its graphic violence aroused a great deal of controversy. After its premiere in Italy, it was ordered to be seized by a local magistrate, and the director was arrested on obscenity charges. He was later charged with making a snuff film due to rumours that claimed some actors were killed on camera.

Hannibal is an American psychological thriller–horror television series developed by Bryan Fuller for NBC. The series is based on characters and elements appearing in Thomas Harris' novel Red Dragon, and focuses on the relationship between FBI special investigator Will Graham and Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Throughout the first series, Will is hot on Hannibal's trial following each individual and horrifically gruesome murders. From a human cello to a man cutting off his own face, this show explores the extremities of control and cannibalism.


The Walking Dead explores a cannibalism storyline. Terminus is hinted to be the

home of a cannibalistic cult. It is seen in the episode that Mary is always cooking an unknown meat product at all her appearances. As the group is running from gunfire, human remains could be spotted in a courtyard for a brief period, muffled cries for help can be heard from nearby railway containers, which raises even more questions, and finally the desire to keep humans captive may mean that they are keeping them as a food supply for basic survival. It is later confirmed that Terminus is a cannibalistic group, where they kill then carve up any new arrivals to Terminus that refuse to join them or prove to be a threat. Rick and the group are taken to the slaughter house, ready to be bled out.

Each of these modern day examples demonstrates a creative take of the human extremity of cannibalism. Some have created new versions of humans that commit these atrocities and others are extremely clever people who have gone slightly mad with their intelligence. I want to go down the route of Claudia looking like a 'normal' girl with this hidden agenda, much liked Dr. Lecter or the cannibals in the Walking Dead. I will have some sort of tell-tale sign as part of the makeup design (a scar or injury) to signal to the audience her dark character, however, I don't want to make her a variation of humanity or anything unrealistic. The Walking Dead television series is an extension of human kind in an apocalyptic world so I do not want to remove my characters from this. It also fits in well that the previous cannibals in the series are also other humans trying to survive, however, Claudia is an isolated threat with great power over one person - which hopefully is an interesting twist!

References:

• David F. Salisbury. (2001). Brief History of Cannibal Controversies. [24^th March] Available: http://exploration.vanderbilt.edu/news/news_cannibalism_pt2.htm.
• Grace Murano. (2014). 10 Most Chilling Stories of Modern Day Cannibalism. [24^th March] Available: http://www.oddee.com/item_98622.aspx. 
• Savage Cinema. (2005). Cannibal Holocaust. [24^th March] Available: http://www.savagecinema.com/cannibalholocaust.html