Can it Cannibals

Words by Star Apura Art by Kristi Brooks

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Reports are coming in from cultural epicenters around the world that vampires have lost their status as the sexiest monster as they are replaced by something bloodier and better: cannibals. They are among us, hotter, more dangerous, and more mysterious than we’d expect. They sit in our lectures, shop in our grocery stores, scroll the same forums we do. All the while they are prowling for their next meal: Us.

Even with this sickening fact, we as a society still seem like we want to fuck them, but that’s just speculation. Yet, look at the new masses of Jeffrey Dahmer profile pictures littering Twitter. Dahmer is known for killing and eating 17 men: While this known fact stands, his Netflix show gained notoriety as the 12-hour porno-kill-buffet fest left its viewers wanting, even begging for more. People have always obsessed over him, many sending him love letters and even personal nudes while he rotted in his cell. As it seems, Jeffrey was not the only cannibal to leave our society insatiable.

Insiders a year ago must have suspected that the sexualization of craving human meat would become a sensation for American audiences. After all, Gen Z sex god, Timothee Chalamet, portrays a cannibalistic heartthrob in his newest movie Bones and All. Trend predictors knew that mixing carnage and coitus would result in horny viewers, and as it seems, there’s now a pattern emerging of casting sexy, alluring men of our generation as human eaters (i.e., Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dhamer or Sebastian Stan in Flesh). This idea of tantalizing men transcends the screen into real life: Chalamet’s past co-star of Call Me By Your Name, Armie Hammer, is currently hiding out after playing out his cannibalistic fantasies off-screen. He was last publicly heard via Instagram DM’s with the words, “I am 100 percent a cannibal. I want to eat you,” as he described his deepest, most innate sexual desires. Known for being a blonde lady killer, Hammer’s good looks have still gotten him some real-life pity from interested onlookers. He gets away with his abuse of these female victims, with the media and money on his side by painting his handsome face with innocence. Some people have gone even far enough to say he’s been framed, or that they would be willing to hide the possible criminal in their own homes.

The cycle rings clear. Evidently, our generation thinks good looks excuse gruesome acts.

Now, the question stands: Why are media consumers now consuming human consumption? America, the capitalist machine that it is, finds itself diving deeper and deeper into the lives of the murdered. It must consistently find something bloodier, something to make people truly shake after hearing their latest podcast. Researchers say that quite possibly, these true crimer listeners were the ones who brought the cannibal onto our screens. Their interest in slaughtering resulted in the need for the latest grossest criminal. Sure, some may say that they listen for education, some for interest in the psyche, and others for the thrill of it all. But all still play into the AI algorithm understanding that the people want the bloodlust, and then they want more Do we think there’s a way to stop this downward spiral? Before we find the new social obsession that could be even worse than humans eating humans? Until then, we have to find a way to stop this obsession with cannibals.

Unattainable beauty standards have existed since the beginning of time and the establishment of the patriarchy. Created not by society, but by a seemingly omniscient patriarchal authority, they are upheld through social media, entertainment media, visual art, etc. Men are unlikely to acknowledge this, but these benchmarks impact both men and women, instilling within them a sense of neverending unworthiness and determination. More often than not, humans are insecure beings, and whether that insecurity is physical or mental, it will always exist in a society with ever-changing standards for physical and mental beauty. The modeling industry is one place where these standards are the most prevalent. Victims of the beauty industry (celebrities, models and women in general) will do whatever it takes to feel as though their body is allowed to take up physical space.

This theme is discussed heavily in The Neon Demon, an arthouse horror film starring Elle Fanning (Jesse), Jenna Malone (Ruby) and Keanu Reeves (Hank). It chronicles the story of a newcomer to the modeling industry, 16-year-old Jesse, and the people around her who take advantage of her naivete and strangely alluring appearance. Ruby, Sarah (Abbey Lee) and Gigi (Bella Heathcote) are the film’s supporting female characters, who are growing unwanted in the industry because of Jesse’s emergence, so they befriend her to gain her trust.

While supporting male characters Hank, Dean (Karl Glusman) and Jack (Desmond Harrington) look to exploit her for fiscal and reputational gain,

Jesse’s ego is raised to insurmountable levels by their attention. They abandon her upon realizing what they’ve created, a move that gets Jesse murdered and cannibalized by her supposed “friends,” who hope to obtain the mysterious “it factor” she has. In the end, Ruby and Gigi die horrific deaths as “Jesse” tries to escape their bodies, while Sarah is able to stomach the guilt and maintain her newly gained ounce of relevance in the industry.

Although women are generally thought of as more trustworthy than men, The Neon Demon exhibits that, no matter the person, their animalistic opportunist nature will take over. The women in the film capitalize on Jesse’s blind, naive trust in their intentions: Ruby gains Jesse’s friendship, and after isolating her tries to assault Jesse, Gigi and Sarah earn sympathy from Jesse as they are being ousted from the industry, so they capitalize on that trust and murder her, and Roberta (Christina Hendricks) presents herself as a mother figure for Jesse when, in fact, all she wants is another client that she can monetize until they lose their spark. The men take advantage of her growing confidence and assumed maturity to appease a sense of male entitlement. Hank prostitutes her physical beauty because Jesse is not paying her rent at his motel, Dean utilizes her physical beauty as a way to break into the photography industry he believes he deserves and Jack exploits her physical beauty as a way to revitalize his brand. The film’s male characters spark Jesse’s downfall, but the female characters are the shovels that bury her.

A topic touched on in The Neon Demon is the question of whether or not women should get plastic surgery to obtain the “it factor” with which some, like Jesse, are born. In the film, that factor is not something that can be achieved through plastic surgery, which is seen as a cop-out or a temporary band-aid as their influence seeps through the sides. Gigi is mocked and publicly humiliated by a designer, Jack, whom she considered a friend. At dinner, Jack makes Gigi and Jesse stand next to one another and starts comparing the two, asking Jesse’s boyfriend, Dean, to choose who he thought was prettier. Jack then goes on to point out all the things wrong with Gigi, one of those things being her multiple plastic surgery procedures.

However, this notion is in opposition to the reality of societal expectations. Plastic surgery is a somewhat requirement for celebrities and the highest-paid models in the world. Perhaps the most influential figures in modern society, the Kardashians and Hadid sisters, all utilize their abundant wealth to create and maintain the “perfect” physical appearance through obviously physically altering procedures. Even though all of the world knows (some judgemental and some not) they have undergone these surgeries, all of them deny having gotten any work done. All this denial does is contribute to impossible female beauty standards: “If you just work out and eat healthy every day you can look like me too!” When, in reality, they look that way because they’ve paid for this “look.”

However, if plastic surgery is botched, the power shifts from the public figures to the public themselves. They are judged and ridiculed relentlessly by media and society e.g. Courtney Cox, Jennifer Gray, Melanie Griffith, and Pricilla Presley for nothing other than having had a procedure gone wrong. Plastic surgery, then, is a tool that has crafted some of the most beautiful women in the world, while simultaneously creating the exact opposite.

Another topic majorly discussed in The Neon Demon is the exploitation of young women and their inherently naive and trusting nature, as well as their desperation for success and acknowledgment by prominent figures in the modeling industry. The entertainment enterprise (modeling, movies, tv, music, etc.) will love-bomb young new talent in order to drain them of all the content and monetization they can before they throw them out for the freshest, newest look. The in-and-out nature of modeling encourages this acceptance, wherein you do whatever you can to survive and keep working. However, even after the trials and tribulations you are put through, once your spark has fizzled you are kicked out. Insanely famous artists like Lady Gaga, Evan Rachel Wood and Brendan Fraser have spoken out about their horrific experiences involving powerful people in their respective industries, but the stories that are not heard are those of the “regular” person who doesn’t have the influence or connections needed to be taken seriously.

In 2022, cosmetic surgeon Julian De Silva named Bella Hadid the most beautiful woman in the world. This declaration upheld the intensely unreachable standard of physical feminine beauty. Women are told they have to abide by a certain set of standards to be worthy of their place on their earth. If they are not the beauty standard, it is expected that they have plastic surgery, or find another area in which to be immensely talented. If they are the beauty standard, then their entire lives will be spent sprinting trying to keep up with the never-ending cycle of physical trends. The Neon Demon does a great job of depicting how far women with physical beauty are willing to go to maintain their worthiness, and how women without physical beauty will seek validation from those that are.