Tasting is knowing: the aesthetics and politics of disgust in John Layman’s and Rob Guillory’s Chew

ABSTRACT

Chew, written by John Layman and drawn by Rob Guillory, is a disgusting comic. Yet that is precisely its appeal. This article begins with the paradox of aversion, a question drawn from the realm of aesthetic theory, to ask why readers made a bestseller of this comic about a cannibal cop. A close textual analysis of Chew shows how Layman and Guillory use the possibilities and constraints of the medium of comics, along with a substantial infusion of humour, to skilfully deploy the simultaneous attraction and repulsion inherent in disgust. The article then argues that the comic effectively challenges the functions of moral disgust. Chew implicitly undermines the racist discourses associated with Asians and food in the West, and it suggests that cannibalism can serve as an acceptable manner of gaining information and of communing with the dead. Chew’s balance between the visceral repulsion and fascination of the disgusting, its humorous play at the borders of cultural transgression, and the narrative necessity of disgusting actions results in a meaningful and highly entertaining engagement with the aesthetics and politics of disgust that redraws the boundaries of what is fit for human consumption.

KEYWORDS:

• Chew
• disgust
• aesthetics
• food taboos
• cannibalism
• Asians in US comics
• John Layman and Rob Guillory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In this article I will be referencing the trade paperback volumes of the series rather than single issues.

2. See Hague (2014) for an analysis of comics as a multisensory medium rather than a solely visual one. While I find the argument for comics as a multisensory medium largely persuasive, the medium still cannot fully express the visceral nature of the disgusting.

3. While chicken feet and bowls of tripe are indeed available at some Chinese restaurants, ‘cat gizzard stew’ is an entirely racist concoction that symbolises the attribution of disgusting taste to Asians. This ‘dish’ was made famous in a racist caricature by editorial cartoonist Pat Oliphant and referenced in Yang (2006).

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Notes on contributors

Jeanette Roan

Jeanette Roan is an Associate Professor in the Visual Studies Program and the Graduate Program in Visual and Critical Studies at California College of the Arts. She is the author of Envisioning Asia: On Location, Travel, and the Cinematic Geography of US Orientalism (University of Michigan Press, 2010).