All-Consuming Desires: Feminist and Queer Usages of Cannibalism in Twenty-First Century Texts

Abstract

Consumers of popular culture have a taste for cannibalism. American writers have produced stories about cannibalism for hundreds of years, but only within the last generation, I argue, have cannibal narratives — many of which are created by women — adopted stronger themes of gender and sexuality.

This thesis focuses on the female cannibal as a figure whose monstrosity is tied to women’s sexuality. The first half of my project explores works that employ cannibalistic horrors to critique the racialized, gendered, and sexualized configurations of human consumption under capitalism, such as Chelsea G. Summers’ novel A Certain Hunger (2020), Mimi Cave’s film Fresh (2022), Monika Kim’s novel The Eyes Are the Best Part (2024), and Jordan Peele’s film Get Out (2017). The second half of my project explores works in which cannibalism allegorizes the all-consuming nature of lesbian desire, awakening, and existence in a heteronormative world, such as Karyn Kusama’s film Jennifer’s Body (2009), Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson’s streaming series Yellowjackets (2021–), and Luca Guadagnino’s film Bones and All (2022). By analyzing these feminist and queer cannibal narratives, I show how cannibalism functions as both a form of resistance and a model of oppression in twenty-first century American literature, film, and television.