If the cannibal systematically hunts down people on a regular basis so they can eat them, they'll be a Serial Killer as well.īecause cannibalism is such a heavy taboo in most cultures, someone who willingly engages in the practice will usually be treated as having crossed the Moral Event Horizon.Īs an interesting side note for tropers living in the United States of America, only 16 of the 50 states have laws that explicitly make eating other people illegal. It's actually more common for works to get this wrong than for them to get it right, possibly because Greek is no longer commonly taught and therefore "anthropophage" just doesn't have that same frisson of terror that "cannibal" does. To various degrees, anthropophagy note This term and related ones are technically more appropriate than "cannibalism" for a non-human species that eats humans. If an alien or monster race make a practice of eating their own (as well as or instead of humans), then we have a case of Monstrous Cannibalism. Likewise, humans treating other sapient species as food are rarely treated sympathetically (unless What Measure Is a Non-Human? is in effect). Any species that includes humans (or other humanoids) in its diet is usually portrayed as villainous, as is any species that routinely eats members of its own social group. In Speculative Fiction, cannibalism is generally extended to include eating any sapient creature, even if they aren't technically eating their own species. In some post-apocalyptic works, society is divided into cannibals and non-cannibals. Post-apocalyptic fiction may depict a bleak future in which starving survivors prey on each other for food. See Cannibal Film for the Exploitation subgenre based on this. You'll often have people eat something and not know what it is, and then discover the ghastly truth, such as in many an Inn of No Return.Ī mostly Discredited Trope is a variation that portrays members of non-European societies as cannibalistic, often attempting to cook visiting Europeans in a pot. Thus, it should be delicious, which is reflected both in Hannibal Lecter's gourmet tastes, and in the idea in Sweeney Todd that pies with this ingredient would sell like hotcakes. A robot designed to taste wine corroborates this idea. note It's also sometimes called "the other white meat", but it is, in fact, red, as all mammalian meat is. One idea which stands out is that human flesh is superficially similar to swine flesh, hence the nickname "long pig" and the phrase "eating the long pork". Quite the opposite, in fact.Ĭannibalism is considered one of the greatest taboos, so, naturally, it's become a trope. No, this trope is not about humanitarianism. If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sweeney Todd, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
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