"If murder consumes a life, a human, is it not a kind of cannibalism?" SO incredibly thought provoking, especially within the context of ongoing colonial and racial violence. The very fact that it is ongoing , never ceasing, proves even more that the hunger is insatiable. This is a great video, and one I will return to every once in awhile.
One of the books I referenced at the end, Tasting Difference by Gitanjali Shahani, really influenced the way I think about cannibalism and colonization. It's a bit pricey on Bookshop (academic books are so annoyingly expensive!!!) but if you want a splurge or can find it at a library, it's really worth a read!
"How cannibalism collapses the borders between one body and another." That really is awesome, will probably be stuck in my brain for a while. All of the examples probably will.
please please please do more videos like this, the book community needs so many more brilliant analysis vids like this and this was so interesting, you're such a great presenter/speaker 🥺
I'm really excited about making more videos like this, this is the first real literature & scholarship deep dive I've done! I honestly wasn't sure anyone was going to be interested haha but it's very satisfying and validating to see that my weird academic interests are shared by lots of other people.
oh brazil mentioned! i don’t know how familiar it is outside of brazil, if it was ever translated but modernist writer oswald de andrade wrote the “antropophagic manifesto”, something around 2-5 pages, in which he claims as a country we should devour others’ culture as inspiration to produce something new instead of dismissing the “millionaire contribution of all errors”. it really left an impression on me as a teenager when i read it
It never occurred to me that cannibalism would be such a common trope in early modern English lit. But I guess I think that every time cannibalism comes up. Also, it's fascinating how the climactic everyone-dies scene is so often set during a feast. A most delicious video.
Your section on Titus Adronicus reminds me of a paper I wrote on it in my first year of college. It was a while ago, but I think my argument was something along the lines of, though Temara was tricked into an act of literal cannibalism, Titus has been engaging in a 'consumption' of his own children since the very beginning of the play - he murders one of his sons for his disobedience, he mourns another and talks about displaying his body in a coffin (not a pastry coffin this time!) - acts that fundamentally serve to 'nourish' Titus in his role as a leader. Though he isn't physically consuming the bodies of his children, he is still using them as, as you said, 'ingredients' for sustenance. Also, haunting choice for the Globe production of Titus!! Must have been chilling!!
That’s a really interesting reading, it makes sense! If I remember right, Titus says that he initially had 20 sons, but almost all of them have now died…that’s a pretty high rate of his kids being consumed by war and ambition
Thank you so much for making this video, it certainly does provide "food for thought"! Call me morbid, but I found something very touching in Tamora attempting to consume as much of her sons as possible... Whereas disgust makes her body a coffin, this interpretation transforms it into a shelter.
I love the way you phrased that! And I really agree. Usually this play makes me feel viscerally upset, but there really is something poignant about the idea of Tamora wanting to return her children to the safety of her body. This staging also had every character carrying a lit candle throughout the performance, and then any violence against that character was done on the candle rather than the actor's body. So, a dismemberment = a piece of the candle cut off, and a death = the flame extinguished. I liked it a lot, it meant that all the gore wasn't too distracting or off-putting.
I'm Brazilian and when you're quoted the native Brazilians' text it was so touching for me cause, even tho we know that it's against law and isn't part of our society anymore, we have a different view of it, and we relate the cannibalism with 2 point of view, the first being eating as part of dominate, since, till nowadays, there are indigenous groups that eat the head of the group that lost a battle with them, and the second as grief and connection. Because of the Europeans, a lot of indigenous groups died and the ones who survived used to eat parts of the body of the dead to absorve all the pain and give a part to the Earth so the soil can absorb it and eat it too and the vitmn would became part of the land. It's really touching and I grew up with natives, so it was really importante to me that people understand the metaphor behind all of it😊❤
amazing vid! i'm brazilian and the cannibalism - sex parallel made me think about how in Brazil sometimes when a man wants to call a woman "hot", "sexy" (or just say she has a nice body) they say she is "filé" which translates to "steak", "fillet", literally a piece of meat
I have literally never commented on a RUclips video but I am now because I enjoyed this that much. Thank you so much for this funny and broadly erudite dive into early modern English drama. I hope to see more of your content in the future!
I am obsessed with this video! A couple years ago, I read the essay by bell hooks titled: "Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance" and it reminded me of the last half of this video. Absolutely brilliant!
miss glutenberg, i am obsessed with you. i just made my sister sit down with me and watch this whole thing. exactly the style of content i love to consume / yearn to create. well done!
This is so interesting! I’m a first year PhD student and my ears perked up when I heard you talk about the racialization of cannibalism and the creation of the “other.” I work primarily with black diasporic studies and I’m interested in looking at the definition of monsters at the beginning of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Spectacular video!
super interesting topic!!! As strange as this sounds, Titus Andronicus was my introduction to horror and arguably the reason why I fell in love with the genre. I've never watched a live production, but Titus (1999) starring Anthony Hopkins still lives rent free in my head
Thank you so much for this video. I find the topic interesting, specifically the references to comparing European civilization to others for "savagery." I would love to see more content on literary topics. Thanks again, and good luck with your writing project.
I haven't commented on your videos yet but I must thank you for this one! Very interesting, plus it's easy to see you have studied this topic a lot. I am a scholar of ancient Roman literature myself and the use of cannibalistic metaphors is something that pops up quite frequently even in texts written 2000 years ago.
Yeah some Roman lit is even referenced in early modern English cannibalism! Titus Andronicus alone has references to Seneca's Thyestes and Ovid's telling of the Tereus and Philomela myth. Thanks for watching, I'm glad you enjoyed!!
RUclips recommended this video to me and I'm so glad I watched it. This was a fascinating topic and you presented it in a clear and thought provoking manner. I also want to compliment the editing and your setup. Everything was very smooth, your lighting is perfect, and your backdrop is engaging. I also love your necklace (and your hair looks amazing).
well i am absolutely and completely obsessed with nbc hannibal so this is just for me . btw your remark on murder consuming a life and being some sort of cannibalism makes me see the whole series that is already about cannibalistic murders in a new light!
Another Hannibal fan! I totally agree about this making me see things about the show in a new light, idk if you saw it but the comment about titus using his sons to nourish his role as a leader made me rethink the way that Hannibal interacts with both his victims and the people around him, interesting stuff!
i just found your channel but wow please continue to make more videos like this! i’m an undergrad student majoring in design and minoring in art history and i’m writing my thesis research on andean societies (i’m peruvian, my grandmother is indigenous) and your point about cannibalism has truly opened my eyes to once again history being written through the eyes of the colonizer! will definitely be researching further and including it in my own thesis
This video is awesome and hugely inspirational to me as an English literature student! Maybe I’ll turn some of my research papers into video essays someday…!
One of brazilian literature's greatest Epic poem is about cannibalism. Actually, anthropophagy. It's called I-Juca-Pirama (it's tupi for The one that must die). It tells the story about a warrior that has to sing his war glories before he is killed and ritually eaten. It's a great exploration on the desire to become the one you admire, even if they are your enemies.
Currently in the midst of my final year in art school and I'm examining the provocative narratives of love and hunger, through metaphorical cannibalism. This was such a treat!
Loved this, will be heading down a rabbit hole on “‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore” for any Commedia dell’Art connections, but! Some of the things you touch on here made me think of the relatively common trope-borne out of certain historical periods-in Chinese literature and drama of volunteering oneself for cannibalism as an ultimate filially pious sacrifice. Always cool to find these parallels paths in drama.
This is my first youtube comment ever I think, but this is the first time I’ve found a video essay that itches my brain in the right way. You feel like I have one of my lecturers as my best friend and I’m being treated to the inside of your mind. (Also I was already loving this video but as soon as you turned around and revealed the bookshelf bourbon I immediately hit subscribe)
girl!!! ur video is just incredible!!! was so riveting engrossing compelling. one of the best videos I watched this year. was so nice to listen to someone who is rly knowledgeable about something and is able to keep you on the edge of your seat, not boring out of ur mind. ty for your work!
This is an incredible brief yet thorough and engaging video on cannibalism in early modern English drama. I legitimately took notes and plan to delve into this topic further. You presented such a variety of lens to view cannibalism through I am now going to think about every piece of media involving cannibalism (mainly Bones and all) through each different perspective and relish in my discoveries. Pls make more videos like this with other themes - obsessed with this brief overview format!
i stumbled across this video essay by accident, but it captivated me and i need to gather my thoughts, bc there's a lot of them, but wow, thank you for sharing your knowledge, this was so interesting
Such a fascinating topic! And all your puns were great and gave me a good laugh 😊 Also, congratulations on your recently obtained PhD! 🎉 I’ve been debating for years getting my Master’s in English Literature (maybe PhD), and you’re one of the RUclipsrs that’s inspired me to go for it. Thank you ❤
That's so nice, thank you!! I like to pass on the advice I got when I was applying to grad school: one of my undergrad professors told me, if you want to get a Master's degree, just apply for PhD programs. Master's degrees more often require you to pay tuition, whereas PhD programs get funding, and you can always drop out of the program after you've gotten the Master's degree if you don't want to keep going. I'd initially thought I might drop out after the point when I earned my MA, but then it turned out I wanted to keep going!
Absolutely loved this video and your vast knowledge on the topic. I can now easily see the metaphorical implications of cannibalism, extending to sex, hunger, and power, as well as the literal implications. When you talked about The Insatiate Countess luring her victims, it made me think of themes of vampirism, which is often found with male to female characters. However I thought of the movie Jennifer’s Body (a modern example) and how she literally lures her victims with sex appeal, rather than food like Isabella, to then eat them.
This was so interesting, and your subtle dry wit and sense of humor is the icing on the human meat cake. Thank you for burdening us with this awesome knowledge 👏
Hey, I'm also working on my literature PhD with an Early Modern focus! In fact I just re-read Titus Andronicus for my comps earlier this week, so seeing this video was perfect timing. This was a wonderful dissection of these works and a great resource for further scholarship--I'm really excited to dig through your sources!! I would love to see more videos like this if you're interested in making more!
this is a fantastic run through of this topic and genuinely resparked my passion for literature so much that it made me want to resume my paused degree in it 😭
It also seems interesting that cannibalism in these plays is such a public thing despite it being such a private and intense act. I feel like that could very well play into the idea of shame and not only shaming it as a horrific thing to do but the shame that comes of both that kind of othering and being othered.
I have been consuming (lol) a lot more cannibalism media recently than I intended to after seeing the new musical SWEPT AWAY, so this video cane out at the perfect time!!
Woah I hadn't heard of that musical but I just looked it up and, hello, Avett Brothers!!! Definitely going to check that out. If you're interested in consuming even more cannibalism content, you might be interested in the novel A Certain Hunger - I think the way that book talks about cannibalism as a form of intimacy probably influenced some of what I said in this video, it really worked its way into my brain!
Really enjoyed the video, thank you for this. The theme of cannibalism reminds me of Freud (clumsily) connecting all violence in modern society to the antropophagy of the vanquished, as the former's sort of retrogressive echo of the latter. At the same time in some of the works you talk about there's the other real face of cannibalism, ritual funerary antropophagy, the consummation of the loved ones' bodies, the influence of which is not merely relegated to the paleolithic but was practiced by some Indo-European peoples(thus clearly it's not an exclusive feature of non European 'primitive societies') well into recorded history.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this! I’m taking a class on Early Modern English drama this semster and we’re reading two of the plays you mentioned. Looking forward to more of your content!
When you got up and got the bookhelf bourbon I SCREAMED! I've seen you on tiktok because of it, had suspicions you were a genious but wow you are a genious. This video was so good and entertaining, hope to see more like it.
I did a paper on the iconology of the heart, specifically relating to 'Tis Pity, by comparing the scientific advancements in terms of vascularity, versus the link between the heart and the soul in aristotelian and galenist medical theorie, and their repercussion in theological and philosophical theories which shaped the literary landscape of the period. Fascinating subject!
"Today I'm going to make it your problem." Hahaha! Also, the puns are much appreciated. I agree with what others have said--I would love to see more lecture-style videos like this! Great info! Thank you for sharing your expertise!
A friend of mine sent this video for me and it's mindblowing. Never had I thought about this subject in my entire life. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, I'm gonna be reading those books for sure.
I'm glad you enjoyed!! I did link those to all these books on Bookshop, but the academic ones can be really expensive, which is annoying. But I think you can read some of them for free online through Archive.org !
I learnt so much through this video! I would realllly love it if you can make more such videos because I trust your research and I love who you explain things!
This video popped on my feed as I'm in the process of starting a new book on cannibalism aswell but in the 18th/19th century The The Delectable N*gro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism within U.S. Slave Culture.
You're the second person now who has mentioned this book to me, I don't usually read much American lit or history but I'm going to check it out! The Matt Williamson chapter I referenced at the end of this video comes from one of the books I linked in the reading list, "To Feast on Us as Their Prey," which in other chapters quotes from the narratives of formerly enslaved men who talk about being afraid that they would be eaten by their captors - it sounds like this book you're referencing is kind of the next chronological step in that.
I really enjoyed this video! I hope you make more! I just found your channel and can't wait to see it grow further! Best wishes on your novel too! I'm excited to read it one day! Thanks again!
Very interesting! Definitely checking out the reading list. Just wanted to share with you some recent books I read about eating/consuming/food, since your profile says you like books about food. Particularly Life Ceremony was very interesting to me. Sayaka Murata - Earthlings Sayaka Murata - Life Ceremony Asako Yuzuki - Butter
Absolutely loved this video and am so happy I’ve discovered your channel! Cannibalism led me to the thought of blood, and would love to hear your input and opinions on Vampirism in literature if you were ever willing to discuss that. P.S. I love your hair! 🩷
I've been thinking about vampires a lot lately! Partly just because I'm rewatching Buffy haha but also in connection with this video (cannibalistic hunger and sexual hunger - vampires so often are shown to feed in a sexual way) and with an upcoming video I'm making about hospitality (vampires needing invitation). But unfortunately I don't have a lot of informed thoughts on vampires in literature, since my literary specialty is focused on the 16th and 17th centuries and there aren't vampire narratives around then!
This was such a fantastic and enjoyable video. I learned a lot - you gave me some great ideas and insights to “chew” on. 😉 Excellent work and I am excited to watch more of you videos.
This wasn't the best video to watch along with my lunch it turns out 😂 but it was too captivating to switch to something else. Impeccably presented and very interesting
I don’t know if you know this but 8:25 reminded me of how Brazilian Indigenous people would practice cannibalism as a ritual. There were tribes that would battle against each other, they would capture the other tribe’s best warrior, feed and take good care of him, then kill him and eat his body to gain that warrior’s strength, power, intelligence or whatever they thought they could receive if they ate their body.
titus is my favourite shakespeare play/ play of all time that i studied for my diss and wow what u said about tamora wanting to consume her children so they return to her womb was amazing!!! never thought about it that way!!!
Took my first Shakespeare class this past semester and really fell in love with Titus Andronicus despite its gore wrote two papers on it lol thank you for making this video!
I have such a love/hate relationship with Titus! There’s parts of it that are so interesting, like the banquet or Aaron as a character, but the Lavinia plot is just…so upsetting. But I guess that’s just how it goes with a lot of Shakespeare haha you get some high highs but some very low lows as well.
i think another way cannibalism dehumanises people is not just by painting those who are committing it as barbaric and uncivilised, but also in the case of mummy: declaring those who are consumed as non human - yet another manifestation of racism
I watched the play Titus Andronicus twice and I did not think too much of it. I found it disgusting when the mother ate her two sons and Lavinia had her tongue and hands cut off. A few people who saw this play fainted or started breathing heavily.
Yes, it’s a really upsetting play - I almost had to leave a classroom once in grad school because watching a clip from a performance of it was making me so physically uncomfortable. The version I saw performed last year really minimized the visual violence: every character carried around a lit taper candle, and the violence was done to the candle instead of their bodies. So, Lavinia’s candle was cut into smaller pieces instead of having her hands severed, and any time a character died, they just had their candle blown out. It made it a lot easier to stomach. But still, I don’t plan to ever watch a performance of it again.
Could you make a series videos on cannibalism? Wonderful video, do you mind sharing your sources when you provide info? Like, which of the books talk about the murder of a man that was turned into food? I'm super interested in medical cannibalism and cannibalism in myths and folklore.
One of the best books I read this year was Maggie Kilgour's Communion to Cannibalism: An Anatomy of Metaphors of Incorporation. I never thought that a theoretical framework on the metaphors of consumption would change my views on so many things but it did. Cannibalism is a fascinating, deeply human subject. Also all the readings I did this on the subject year got me into my PhD 🤭 but I chose regional gothic for my thesis.
Wow, so interesting. I find people's views on cannibalism and the way it is viewed culturally so interesting. I agree that the though of irl cannibalism is horrific, but I cannot help but wonder what it is that separates the body of a human from non-human animals. Many people horrified by cannibalism are not horrified by the consumption of the flesh of other species. Thank you for the video, definitely goin to take a look at some of these books & plays :)
Your words on the othering of people of different cultures and races in order to dehumanise them, and the cannibalism of mummies is also very interesting. If we are able to think of others as non-human, it certainly goes a long way in allowing us to do terrible things to them. Sometimes I wonder if this would be different if 'being human' was not a qualifier for the empathy that we show to those that we consider to be our equals.
meshing together cannibalism and incest really adds to the unfair power dynamics in sibling/partners relationship (although we’re still seeing it as a consensual relationship and not abuser/victim dynamic)
i would love to see your interpretation of Ethel Cain's Album "Preacher's Daughter", it delves into cannibalism in many forms, as well as cannibalism and the accompanied implication of religion and need.
"If murder consumes a life, a human, is it not a kind of cannibalism?" SO incredibly thought provoking, especially within the context of ongoing colonial and racial violence. The very fact that it is ongoing , never ceasing, proves even more that the hunger is insatiable. This is a great video, and one I will return to every once in awhile.
One of the books I referenced at the end, Tasting Difference by Gitanjali Shahani, really influenced the way I think about cannibalism and colonization. It's a bit pricey on Bookshop (academic books are so annoyingly expensive!!!) but if you want a splurge or can find it at a library, it's really worth a read!
Newspeak.
"How cannibalism collapses the borders between one body and another." That really is awesome, will probably be stuck in my brain for a while. All of the examples probably will.
please please please do more videos like this, the book community needs so many more brilliant analysis vids like this and this was so interesting, you're such a great presenter/speaker 🥺
I'm really excited about making more videos like this, this is the first real literature & scholarship deep dive I've done! I honestly wasn't sure anyone was going to be interested haha but it's very satisfying and validating to see that my weird academic interests are shared by lots of other people.
the how to lose a guy in ten days analogy was superb
oh brazil mentioned! i don’t know how familiar it is outside of brazil, if it was ever translated but modernist writer oswald de andrade wrote the “antropophagic manifesto”, something around 2-5 pages, in which he claims as a country we should devour others’ culture as inspiration to produce something new instead of dismissing the “millionaire contribution of all errors”. it really left an impression on me as a teenager when i read it
It never occurred to me that cannibalism would be such a common trope in early modern English lit. But I guess I think that every time cannibalism comes up. Also, it's fascinating how the climactic everyone-dies scene is so often set during a feast. A most delicious video.
It wasn't a trope necessarily, it was a part of it, it was blended with the society and literature
Your section on Titus Adronicus reminds me of a paper I wrote on it in my first year of college. It was a while ago, but I think my argument was something along the lines of, though Temara was tricked into an act of literal cannibalism, Titus has been engaging in a 'consumption' of his own children since the very beginning of the play - he murders one of his sons for his disobedience, he mourns another and talks about displaying his body in a coffin (not a pastry coffin this time!) - acts that fundamentally serve to 'nourish' Titus in his role as a leader. Though he isn't physically consuming the bodies of his children, he is still using them as, as you said, 'ingredients' for sustenance.
Also, haunting choice for the Globe production of Titus!! Must have been chilling!!
That’s a really interesting reading, it makes sense! If I remember right, Titus says that he initially had 20 sons, but almost all of them have now died…that’s a pretty high rate of his kids being consumed by war and ambition
I LOVE this interpretation
Thank you so much for making this video, it certainly does provide "food for thought"!
Call me morbid, but I found something very touching in Tamora attempting to consume as much of her sons as possible... Whereas disgust makes her body a coffin, this interpretation transforms it into a shelter.
I love the way you phrased that! And I really agree. Usually this play makes me feel viscerally upset, but there really is something poignant about the idea of Tamora wanting to return her children to the safety of her body. This staging also had every character carrying a lit candle throughout the performance, and then any violence against that character was done on the candle rather than the actor's body. So, a dismemberment = a piece of the candle cut off, and a death = the flame extinguished. I liked it a lot, it meant that all the gore wasn't too distracting or off-putting.
I'm Brazilian and when you're quoted the native Brazilians' text it was so touching for me cause, even tho we know that it's against law and isn't part of our society anymore, we have a different view of it, and we relate the cannibalism with 2 point of view, the first being eating as part of dominate, since, till nowadays, there are indigenous groups that eat the head of the group that lost a battle with them, and the second as grief and connection. Because of the Europeans, a lot of indigenous groups died and the ones who survived used to eat parts of the body of the dead to absorve all the pain and give a part to the Earth so the soil can absorb it and eat it too and the vitmn would became part of the land.
It's really touching and I grew up with natives, so it was really importante to me that people understand the metaphor behind all of it😊❤
amazing vid! i'm brazilian and the cannibalism - sex parallel made me think about how in Brazil sometimes when a man wants to call a woman "hot", "sexy" (or just say she has a nice body) they say she is "filé" which translates to "steak", "fillet", literally a piece of meat
I have literally never commented on a RUclips video but I am now because I enjoyed this that much. Thank you so much for this funny and broadly erudite dive into early modern English drama. I hope to see more of your content in the future!
I am honored to be your first RUclips comment - thanks for watching!
I am obsessed with this video! A couple years ago, I read the essay by bell hooks titled: "Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance" and it reminded me of the last half of this video. Absolutely brilliant!
Yes yes yes such a great text!
miss glutenberg, i am obsessed with you. i just made my sister sit down with me and watch this whole thing. exactly the style of content i love to consume / yearn to create. well done!
This is so interesting! I’m a first year PhD student and my ears perked up when I heard you talk about the racialization of cannibalism and the creation of the “other.” I work primarily with black diasporic studies and I’m interested in looking at the definition of monsters at the beginning of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Spectacular video!
super interesting topic!!! As strange as this sounds, Titus Andronicus was my introduction to horror and arguably the reason why I fell in love with the genre. I've never watched a live production, but Titus (1999) starring Anthony Hopkins still lives rent free in my head
Thank you so much for this video. I find the topic interesting, specifically the references to comparing European civilization to others for "savagery." I would love to see more content on literary topics. Thanks again, and good luck with your writing project.
I haven't commented on your videos yet but I must thank you for this one! Very interesting, plus it's easy to see you have studied this topic a lot. I am a scholar of ancient Roman literature myself and the use of cannibalistic metaphors is something that pops up quite frequently even in texts written 2000 years ago.
Yeah some Roman lit is even referenced in early modern English cannibalism! Titus Andronicus alone has references to Seneca's Thyestes and Ovid's telling of the Tereus and Philomela myth. Thanks for watching, I'm glad you enjoyed!!
lol I saw this on Twitter with the caption being “the algorithm knows me” and I ran straight over
RUclips recommended this video to me and I'm so glad I watched it. This was a fascinating topic and you presented it in a clear and thought provoking manner. I also want to compliment the editing and your setup. Everything was very smooth, your lighting is perfect, and your backdrop is engaging. I also love your necklace (and your hair looks amazing).
well i am absolutely and completely obsessed with nbc hannibal so this is just for me . btw your remark on murder consuming a life and being some sort of cannibalism makes me see the whole series that is already about cannibalistic murders in a new light!
Another Hannibal fan! I totally agree about this making me see things about the show in a new light, idk if you saw it but the comment about titus using his sons to nourish his role as a leader made me rethink the way that Hannibal interacts with both his victims and the people around him, interesting stuff!
YES! please make more videos like this! theyre so needed, its like a public lecture!
i just found your channel but wow please continue to make more videos like this! i’m an undergrad student majoring in design and minoring in art history and i’m writing my thesis research on andean societies (i’m peruvian, my grandmother is indigenous) and your point about cannibalism has truly opened my eyes to once again history being written through the eyes of the colonizer! will definitely be researching further and including it in my own thesis
This video is awesome and hugely inspirational to me as an English literature student! Maybe I’ll turn some of my research papers into video essays someday…!
One of brazilian literature's greatest Epic poem is about cannibalism. Actually, anthropophagy. It's called I-Juca-Pirama (it's tupi for The one that must die). It tells the story about a warrior that has to sing his war glories before he is killed and ritually eaten. It's a great exploration on the desire to become the one you admire, even if they are your enemies.
Currently in the midst of my final year in art school and I'm examining the provocative narratives of love and hunger, through metaphorical cannibalism. This was such a treat!
Loved this, will be heading down a rabbit hole on “‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore” for any Commedia dell’Art connections, but! Some of the things you touch on here made me think of the relatively common trope-borne out of certain historical periods-in Chinese literature and drama of volunteering oneself for cannibalism as an ultimate filially pious sacrifice. Always cool to find these parallels paths in drama.
This is my first youtube comment ever I think, but this is the first time I’ve found a video essay that itches my brain in the right way. You feel like I have one of my lecturers as my best friend and I’m being treated to the inside of your mind.
(Also I was already loving this video but as soon as you turned around and revealed the bookshelf bourbon I immediately hit subscribe)
I literally just found you but I feel like I could listen to you talk forever! This video is so well done!
This video was so fascinating, I hope you do more of them!!
girl!!! ur video is just incredible!!! was so riveting engrossing compelling. one of the best videos I watched this year. was so nice to listen to someone who is rly knowledgeable about something and is able to keep you on the edge of your seat, not boring out of ur mind. ty for your work!
This is an incredible brief yet thorough and engaging video on cannibalism in early modern English drama. I legitimately took notes and plan to delve into this topic further. You presented such a variety of lens to view cannibalism through I am now going to think about every piece of media involving cannibalism (mainly Bones and all) through each different perspective and relish in my discoveries. Pls make more videos like this with other themes - obsessed with this brief overview format!
i stumbled across this video essay by accident, but it captivated me and i need to gather my thoughts, bc there's a lot of them, but wow, thank you for sharing your knowledge, this was so interesting
I hope you consider doing more of these lecture like videos! This was incredible
Such a fascinating topic! And all your puns were great and gave me a good laugh 😊
Also, congratulations on your recently obtained PhD! 🎉 I’ve been debating for years getting my Master’s in English Literature (maybe PhD), and you’re one of the RUclipsrs that’s inspired me to go for it. Thank you ❤
That's so nice, thank you!! I like to pass on the advice I got when I was applying to grad school: one of my undergrad professors told me, if you want to get a Master's degree, just apply for PhD programs. Master's degrees more often require you to pay tuition, whereas PhD programs get funding, and you can always drop out of the program after you've gotten the Master's degree if you don't want to keep going. I'd initially thought I might drop out after the point when I earned my MA, but then it turned out I wanted to keep going!
@@GlutenbergBible Thank you for the advice!! 😊
Absolutely loved this video and your vast knowledge on the topic. I can now easily see the metaphorical implications of cannibalism, extending to sex, hunger, and power, as well as the literal implications. When you talked about The Insatiate Countess luring her victims, it made me think of themes of vampirism, which is often found with male to female characters. However I thought of the movie Jennifer’s Body (a modern example) and how she literally lures her victims with sex appeal, rather than food like Isabella, to then eat them.
This was so interesting, and your subtle dry wit and sense of humor is the icing on the human meat cake. Thank you for burdening us with this awesome knowledge 👏
Hey, I'm also working on my literature PhD with an Early Modern focus! In fact I just re-read Titus Andronicus for my comps earlier this week, so seeing this video was perfect timing. This was a wonderful dissection of these works and a great resource for further scholarship--I'm really excited to dig through your sources!! I would love to see more videos like this if you're interested in making more!
this is a fantastic run through of this topic and genuinely resparked my passion for literature so much that it made me want to resume my paused degree in it 😭
It also seems interesting that cannibalism in these plays is such a public thing despite it being such a private and intense act. I feel like that could very well play into the idea of shame and not only shaming it as a horrific thing to do but the shame that comes of both that kind of othering and being othered.
I have been consuming (lol) a lot more cannibalism media recently than I intended to after seeing the new musical SWEPT AWAY, so this video cane out at the perfect time!!
Woah I hadn't heard of that musical but I just looked it up and, hello, Avett Brothers!!! Definitely going to check that out. If you're interested in consuming even more cannibalism content, you might be interested in the novel A Certain Hunger - I think the way that book talks about cannibalism as a form of intimacy probably influenced some of what I said in this video, it really worked its way into my brain!
Really enjoyed the video, thank you for this. The theme of cannibalism reminds me of Freud (clumsily) connecting all violence in modern society to the antropophagy of the vanquished, as the former's sort of retrogressive echo of the latter. At the same time in some of the works you talk about there's the other real face of cannibalism, ritual funerary antropophagy, the consummation of the loved ones' bodies, the influence of which is not merely relegated to the paleolithic but was practiced by some Indo-European peoples(thus clearly it's not an exclusive feature of non European 'primitive societies') well into recorded history.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this! I’m taking a class on Early Modern English drama this semster and we’re reading two of the plays you mentioned. Looking forward to more of your content!
When you got up and got the bookhelf bourbon I SCREAMED! I've seen you on tiktok because of it, had suspicions you were a genious but wow you are a genious. This video was so good and entertaining, hope to see more like it.
I did a paper on the iconology of the heart, specifically relating to 'Tis Pity, by comparing the scientific advancements in terms of vascularity, versus the link between the heart and the soul in aristotelian and galenist medical theorie, and their repercussion in theological and philosophical theories which shaped the literary landscape of the period. Fascinating subject!
"Today I'm going to make it your problem." Hahaha! Also, the puns are much appreciated. I agree with what others have said--I would love to see more lecture-style videos like this! Great info! Thank you for sharing your expertise!
I’m obseeesed with your analysis!!!! So glad I found your page
A friend of mine sent this video for me and it's mindblowing. Never had I thought about this subject in my entire life. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, I'm gonna be reading those books for sure.
I'm glad you enjoyed!! I did link those to all these books on Bookshop, but the academic ones can be really expensive, which is annoying. But I think you can read some of them for free online through Archive.org !
wow i got chills from the description of the titus adaptation, really powerful!
this is so wonderfully interesting. your interpretations are extremely well articulated and beautifully poetic. thank you so much for this video!
I learnt so much through this video! I would realllly love it if you can make more such videos because I trust your research and I love who you explain things!
i will b waiting for another vid
This video popped on my feed as I'm in the process of starting a new book on cannibalism aswell but in the 18th/19th century The The Delectable N*gro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism within U.S. Slave Culture.
You're the second person now who has mentioned this book to me, I don't usually read much American lit or history but I'm going to check it out! The Matt Williamson chapter I referenced at the end of this video comes from one of the books I linked in the reading list, "To Feast on Us as Their Prey," which in other chapters quotes from the narratives of formerly enslaved men who talk about being afraid that they would be eaten by their captors - it sounds like this book you're referencing is kind of the next chronological step in that.
such a great video omg, im obsessed with the way you lead the topics and link the plays and the books with eachother, soooo good!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Just found your channel through this video this is so wonderfully done! Would love to see any future topics in Early Modern English you cover
This is fascinating; I'm so glad this video was recommended to me. Subscribed.
I really enjoyed this video! I hope you make more! I just found your channel and can't wait to see it grow further! Best wishes on your novel too! I'm excited to read it one day! Thanks again!
Very interesting! Definitely checking out the reading list.
Just wanted to share with you some recent books I read about eating/consuming/food, since your profile says you like books about food. Particularly Life Ceremony was very interesting to me.
Sayaka Murata - Earthlings
Sayaka Murata - Life Ceremony
Asako Yuzuki - Butter
Absolutely loved this video and am so happy I’ve discovered your channel! Cannibalism led me to the thought of blood, and would love to hear your input and opinions on Vampirism in literature if you were ever willing to discuss that. P.S. I love your hair! 🩷
I've been thinking about vampires a lot lately! Partly just because I'm rewatching Buffy haha but also in connection with this video (cannibalistic hunger and sexual hunger - vampires so often are shown to feed in a sexual way) and with an upcoming video I'm making about hospitality (vampires needing invitation). But unfortunately I don't have a lot of informed thoughts on vampires in literature, since my literary specialty is focused on the 16th and 17th centuries and there aren't vampire narratives around then!
This was such a fantastic and enjoyable video. I learned a lot - you gave me some great ideas and insights to “chew” on. 😉 Excellent work and I am excited to watch more of you videos.
This wasn't the best video to watch along with my lunch it turns out 😂 but it was too captivating to switch to something else. Impeccably presented and very interesting
i don't remember how i got here but i'm glad i watched this video! So many interesting topics, thank you
i felt as though my body was levitating this entire video. excellent references and analyses.
finally. a video for me. haven't even watched it yet but I'm locked in.
i literally NEED more of this!!!
This is so fascinating and you are so good at breaking down complex concepts into digestible (haha) portions!!
Hahaa thank you for watching and thank you for the great pun!
I don’t know if you know this but 8:25 reminded me of how Brazilian Indigenous people would practice cannibalism as a ritual. There were tribes that would battle against each other, they would capture the other tribe’s best warrior, feed and take good care of him, then kill him and eat his body to gain that warrior’s strength, power, intelligence or whatever they thought they could receive if they ate their body.
this obviously happened before colonization, so anywhere before 1500
This was such a great video! Scratching my english major itch in a serious way
This is such a cool video, I’m so glad you came up on my feed! ❤
I lol’d at “hey Giovanni, what are you doing?? What’s that?” 😂
Oh this is fantastic! Thank you for making this research accessible!😊
titus is my favourite shakespeare play/ play of all time that i studied for my diss and wow what u said about tamora wanting to consume her children so they return to her womb was amazing!!! never thought about it that way!!!
Excellent video, I will be subscribing and watching every video on this channel!!
Changed my life 10/10
This is so fascinating! Thank you so much for sharing!
Super fascinating, thank you for sharing your knowledge of these dramas and your intriguing analyses.
Took my first Shakespeare class this past semester and really fell in love with Titus Andronicus despite its gore wrote two papers on it lol thank you for making this video!
I have such a love/hate relationship with Titus! There’s parts of it that are so interesting, like the banquet or Aaron as a character, but the Lavinia plot is just…so upsetting. But I guess that’s just how it goes with a lot of Shakespeare haha you get some high highs but some very low lows as well.
i think another way cannibalism dehumanises people is not just by painting those who are committing it as barbaric and uncivilised, but also in the case of mummy: declaring those who are consumed as non human - yet another manifestation of racism
Absolutely!!
Brilliant video!!! Would love to see more like it! (Not necessarily about cannibalism only 😅but analysing different themes in this way)
the video we've all been waiting for !!!
Pretty sure this was recommended to me by YT because of all the random NBC Hannibal and Bones and All analysis videos I watched! So interesting!
god bless you because this was beautiful
I watched the play Titus Andronicus twice and I did not think too much of it. I found it disgusting when the mother ate her two sons and Lavinia had her tongue and hands cut off. A few people who saw this play fainted or started breathing heavily.
Yes, it’s a really upsetting play - I almost had to leave a classroom once in grad school because watching a clip from a performance of it was making me so physically uncomfortable. The version I saw performed last year really minimized the visual violence: every character carried around a lit taper candle, and the violence was done to the candle instead of their bodies. So, Lavinia’s candle was cut into smaller pieces instead of having her hands severed, and any time a character died, they just had their candle blown out. It made it a lot easier to stomach. But still, I don’t plan to ever watch a performance of it again.
you have found a new fan with this video essay
this video is perfect for my brain, thank you
Could you make a series videos on cannibalism? Wonderful video, do you mind sharing your sources when you provide info? Like, which of the books talk about the murder of a man that was turned into food? I'm super interested in medical cannibalism and cannibalism in myths and folklore.
One of the best books I read this year was Maggie Kilgour's Communion to Cannibalism: An Anatomy of Metaphors of Incorporation. I never thought that a theoretical framework on the metaphors of consumption would change my views on so many things but it did. Cannibalism is a fascinating, deeply human subject.
Also all the readings I did this on the subject year got me into my PhD 🤭 but I chose regional gothic for my thesis.
this was an amazing video i was so locked in
i'm so thankful youtube recommended this to me. i seen some of your tiktoks but had no idea about your youtube.
Horrifyingly fascinating. Thank you for this overview. We need a pun counter. 😉
I couldn’t resist the puns! I just hope they weren’t… in bad taste 🫢
@@GlutenbergBible not at all. The topic required a bit of levity.
brasil mentioned 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷 lol
great video! i want to read everything you recommended
Came here after seeing your TikTok video! So fascinating
Wow, so interesting. I find people's views on cannibalism and the way it is viewed culturally so interesting. I agree that the though of irl cannibalism is horrific, but I cannot help but wonder what it is that separates the body of a human from non-human animals. Many people horrified by cannibalism are not horrified by the consumption of the flesh of other species. Thank you for the video, definitely goin to take a look at some of these books & plays :)
Your words on the othering of people of different cultures and races in order to dehumanise them, and the cannibalism of mummies is also very interesting. If we are able to think of others as non-human, it certainly goes a long way in allowing us to do terrible things to them. Sometimes I wonder if this would be different if 'being human' was not a qualifier for the empathy that we show to those that we consider to be our equals.
In Brazil cannibalism is used as a metaphor for absorption of foreign culture
Thank you for this brief overview. I will use the info to ponder Catholicism / the act of eating the body of Christ .
meshing together cannibalism and incest really adds to the unfair power dynamics in sibling/partners relationship (although we’re still seeing it as a consensual relationship and not abuser/victim dynamic)
wonderful video! I shared this with my friends
This needs to be a Ted Talk. Fascinating!
Pleeeease make more videos like this, super interesting!!
Great video! I also went to see a shakespeare play at the globe on my birthday last year hahah
What a great way to grow my TBR 👍🏻
i would love to see your interpretation of Ethel Cain's Album "Preacher's Daughter", it delves into cannibalism in many forms, as well as cannibalism and the accompanied implication of religion and need.