Cannibalism in popular culture

Cannibalism is a recurring theme in popular culture.

In multiple media

Hannibal Lecter is a fictional character created by author Thomas Harris, and is the most widely referenced person in popular culture who has practiced cannibalism. Lecter appears in the 1983 novel Red Dragon, as well as Harris's 1988 The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal. The character and his cannibalistic acts were made famous when adapted to film, portrayed by Sir Anthony Hopkins, though the original Red Dragon adaptation, Manhunter, never states or implies Lecter's cannibalism.
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, a play about a barber who kills his customers and sells their flesh as food. This play was made into motion pictures in 1936 and 1982.
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.

Literature

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

William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, in which Tamora is unknowingly served a pie made from the remains of her two sons.
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, after which he fled the island fearing to be eaten.
H. G. Wells's The Time Machine, an 1896 science fiction novel features cannibalism by the more technically-advanced species, the Morlocks on the non-technical esthetes, the Eloi, as a means of survival.
Poppy Z. Brite. Exquisite Corpse. A horror novel about two cannibalistic serial killers in love.
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. Among (non-human) Martians, eating one's dead friends is an act of great respect. Some humans adopt the practice.
Survivor Type, a short story in Stephen King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew. The story follows a shipwreck victim stranded on a remote island, driven to eat his own body parts to survive.
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.
A Madman's Diary by Lu Xun, a story in which a madman gradually became convinced that the history of Chinese civilization could be summarized in two words, "eat people", and that his friends and relatives all intend to eat him.
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.
Haunted, a novel by American Author Chuck Palahniuk contains several incidences of cannibalism.
The Water Margin, a classical Chinese novel in which the cannibalism theme occurs on occasion. In one episode a hero named Wu Song uncovers an inn that drugs and kills its travellers to sell them as meat.
The Lake of Souls by Darren Shan features a cannabilistic ex-pirate named Spits.
In the book Kappa by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, the Kappa (mythical creature) impart to the narrator that when Kappas lose their jobs, instead of living in poverty, they are consumed by other Kappas.
In the 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, a disease is sweeping the planet, causing most of its victims to become cannibals.
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 the Secret Texts by Holly Lisle, the heroes go to an island, where in the center reside man-eating ghosts. However, when Kait came across one, she simply told Kait that she was a vegetarian.
In Suddenly, Last Summer a play by Tennessee Williams, the cannibalizing of a family member is the secret at the heart of the story.
The novel The Lord of the Flies by William Golding - has at least two instances of cannibalism among a group of young boys who are the sole survivors of a plane crash.

Film

Cannibalism in cinema, a species of the horror film, is represented by several important movies:

In the movie Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, there is a scene where in a flashback where it explains how the prison bully came to prison. The reason for her being jailed was for killing her husband and father-in-law. Then cooking and eating their body parts.
The Hills Have Eyes series of films features a clan of cannibalistic savages (mutants in the remake series) who are portrayed as eating people's innards raw.
The 1917 horror film The Enchanted Kiss depicts acts of cannibalism.
Jean-Luc Godard's epochal 1967 film, Week End, about a restless bourgeois French couple who are waylaid by Maoist revolutionaries in the countryside while on their way to collect an inheritance. The film ends with the wife (Mireille Darc) finally joining the revolutionaries and cannibalizing the remains of her husband (Jean Yanne).
Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francêsin (How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman), Brazilian film from 1971 by Nelson Pereira dos Santos. The film takes place in the sixteenth century and details the alleged cannibalistic practices of the (now extinct) indigenous Tupinamba warrior tribe against the French and Portuguese colonizers of the Brazilian littoral. The film is something of a black comedy about European colonialism—one that makes satirical use of the Brazilian modernist trope of Antropófagia ("cultural cannibalism"), recently revived by the Tropicalismo movement of the 1960s—as well as a bitter commentary on the historical genocide of the indigenous tribes in Latin America and the gradual destruction of their civilization.
In Soylent Green, a 1973 science fiction film starring Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, and Joseph Cotten, Soylent Green is the processed remains of corpses rendered into small green crackers.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and its sequels fictionalize the accounts of Ed Gein, turning the cannibal-murderer into an entire family of psychopaths.
Cannibal films are a collection of horror films depicting cannibalism, created from the late 1970s through the early 1990s by Italian moviemakers. The most popular movie in this category is without doubt Cannibal Holocaust (1979).
Eat the Rich, a 1987 black comedy in which a disgruntled waiter and his friends kill the management and arrogant clientele and then fed the bodies to unsuspecting customers.
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, a 1989 film written and directed by Peter Greenaway
Delicatessen, a 1991 black comedy film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro
Eating Raoul, a 1982 black comedy by Paul Bartel
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.
Ravenous, a 1999 black comedy written by Ted Griffen and directed by Antonia Bird. Based loosely on the Donner Party true story.
Alive: The Miracle of the Andes, a 1993 U.S. film about the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 disaster.
The 1932 film Doctor X featured a cannibalistic killer.
Cannibal! The Musical, a fictionalized account of Alferd Packer's cannibalism written and directed by Trey Parker of South Park fame, which itself also depicts cannibalism in its episode Scott Tenorman Must Die.
Dumplings by Fruit Chan, wherein foetuses are consumed.
Motel Hell (1980), a black comedy written by Robert and Steven-Charles Jaffe and directed by Kevin Conner, in which a farmer captures and fattens people and later converts them into his popular brand of sausages.
Andre Baptiste Jr. in the 2005 film Lord of War was suggested to be a cannibal.
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.
Willy Wonka in the 2005 Tim Burton version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory says: "Everything in this room is eatible, even I'm eatible. But that, dear children, is called cannibalism and is frowned upon in most societies."
In Hot Shots!, a 1991 comedy spoof, Jim 'Wash Out' Pfaffenbach is revealed to be the son of the hunter that killed Lt. Kent Gregory's Dad. After this is revealed, Jim comments "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't have seconds."
The film Delicatessen, a 1993 black comedy film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, explored topic of cannibalism.
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.

Television

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.
Secrets, a 1973 TV comedy play by Michael Palin and Terry Jones in which some chocolate factory workers fall into a mixing vat and become part of the confectionery
The Doctor Who story The Two Doctors features a gourmet cannibal named Shockeye. In Relevation of the Daleks a villain sells human flesh to famine victims.
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, grounded them up into meat, and fed them to Scott in a chili cookoff.
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 has 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.

Popular music

"Stranded In The Jungle" by the Cadets (1956): A Top 20 novelty song whose protagonist, at one point, is captured by a tribe of cannibals who try to cook him for dinner. Fortunately, he manages to escape.^[1]
"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!"^[2]
"Timothy" by the Buoys (1971): Written by Rupert Holmes (later to become an accomplished musician in his own right), this is a ballad of three miners trapped by a cave-in with no food. By the time they're rescued, only two of them remain, and they show no sign of hunger. The lyrics don't explicitly reveal the fate of the missing man (the titular character Timothy), but the conclusion to be drawn was so obvious, and controversial, that the song was banned by many U.S. radio stations. In spite of this, "Timothy" managed to crack Billboard's Top 20 and made the Buoys one of the most unlikely one-hit wonders in rock & roll history.^[3]
"Mein Teil" by Rammstein (2004): Based upon the Armin Meiwes cannibalism case in Germany.
Many metal and grindcore bands talk about cannibalism. One of the more famous band is "Cannibal Corpse".
The Upstate New York punk band AAHHHH has written and recorded ten songs on to the topic of cannibalism, including "Cannibal Song #10" and "I Ate a Bulimic."
Reel Big Fish has a song entitled Cannibal.
Death metal band Bloodbath has a song entitled "Eaten" which tells of the desire of the narrator to be eaten.
The 2007 Marilyn Manson album Eat Me, Drink Me was said by Manson himself to have been inspired by the "Armin Meiwes" cannibal case from Germany. In an interview he stated that he thought the act was "Romantic" but also showed concern that others would not understand his views.
Most of Brotha Lynch Hung's songs are about cannibalism. One good example is "The Corpse Came To Dinner".

Video games

In the game The Elder Scrolls video games the wood elf race are said to care so much for the trees and the forests that they practice cannibalism, rather than harm and plant.
In the LucasArts video game The Secret of Monkey Island, there's a tribe of cannibals...who happen to be vegetarians.
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.
Yoshi in the Mario games eats other reptiles as well (though not as food but to turn them into projectile eggs).
Mr. Grimm, a main playable character in Twisted Metal Black, is a cannibal.
Paxton Fettel, the main enemy in the computer game F.E.A.R. eats his victims in order to absorb their memories.
Stubbs the Zombie, in which the player, playing as a zombie, eats brains, was accused of cannibalism. Wideload (the company which made the game) responded by saying "He does not help FBI agents track down serial killers. He has not written a cookbook. He is not named Jeffrey Dahmer..." (see article for full response)
In Mortal Kombat the Tarkatan eat their victims after a fight (The only character that actually does that in game is Mileena).
In the popular Capcom Resident Evil series, the zomies are seen exhibiting cannibalistic behaviour.
In World of Warcraft, players can choose a Horde race called "Forsakens (also known as Undeads)" who has the racial ability called "Cannibalize". The player consumes the corpse of Humanoids or Undeads to regain health.

In other media

Aboleths in the Dungeons & Dragons setting the 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).
Austen Smith, a notorious cannibal, was caught eating people in Ohio before he fled to Las Vegas. His location is not known.
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.