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Abstract
Although cannibal films may exist on the fringes of the “food film” genre, foodways methodology offers a productive lens through which to analyze how these films negotiate issues of class and power. A foodways analysis of key films in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series reveals how issues of class and power are linked to food behaviors. More specifically, a food studies approach illuminates how the image of the American cannibal changes throughout these films. The cannibal begins as a starving member of the working class who eats humans only to survive. In later films, the cannibal transforms into a member of the middle class, and cannibalism becomes an expression and endorsement of unfettered capitalism. The cannibal eventually comes to embody a class warrior as the last film in the series implies that one must be a cannibal to be a good soldier.
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Mark Bernard
Mark Bernard is an instructor in the Department of Theatre and Film at Bowling Green State University. His research interests include the horror film, political economy, film industry studies, home video, superhero films, and national security cinema. His work has appeared in Contemporary Literary Criticism, The Projector: Film and Media Journal and Scope: An Online Journal of Film & TV Studies. 308 South Hall, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA ([email protected]).