Cannibalism in literature - Essay Example

Part The scene 08:45 13:32 represents a point in time when the Frenchman is planning for an escape but his “wife”appears unexpectedly and turns the moment into a rehearsal. The scene is worth of discussion because it shows an articulate use of foreshadowing future event in the movie perhaps to avoid violent scenes later on. The scene starts with a close shot of the Frenchman talking with his wife at the bush. The music mix of melody and chirping sounds represents the two worlds of modernism representing the Frenchman and his apparent wife.

The camera then zooms out to show the rock platform and the wide sea ahead. The place where they rehearse how the Frenchman will be eaten depicts the prison like nature of the actual place where he will be beheaded. Ironically, both actors appear calm and even exchange light moments. Indeed, this scene is articulately used to strengthen the theme of cannibalism in the movie by introducing the viewer to the ultimate cannibal ritual. The lighting throughout the scene indicates an evening setting when the sun is almost setting.

This is perhaps a depiction that the movie is almost ending and the time for the Frenchman is up. This scene ends with both actors rolling together on the stone and disappears from camera’s view depicting a significant end. This scene enables the producer to avoid violent beheading scenes then after. In fact, we only see the natives eating the Frenchman.Part 2 It can be argued that the film indeed cannibalizes its colonial archive in that it is full of anticolonial message in its story line.

Whereas the author of the film perhaps intended to exemplify the historical ways of life of the natives, it ended up just achieving the exact opposite, the film shows revenge against the colonialists. At the onset of the film, the natives are said to be “barbarous savages” different from the whites and without any religion or simply “beasts with human faces.” However, as the film develops the story line, the Portuguese kill their one of their own by throwing him into the water without giving him time to redeem himself.

When the “frenchman” is caught, both French and Portuguese side fight over who should own him but he ends up at the native’s camp where he finds a fellow French, an old man who betrays him by not telling the savages that the new slave is indeed a French. Later on at scene 0:46:24, the “frenchman” kills the fellow old man after a tussle over the discovered jewelry. Indeed, what can actually be seen are other cultures coming to bring their fights and differences into the savage native community.

For instance, at scene 0:26:25, the two white men are fighting whilst the native is passing by peacefully. This shows that the whites came to interfere with the peaceful lives of the natives. At 0:50:44, the natives express their anger at the whites and actually plan to kill more Portuguese. It therefore does not come by surprise that the suppressed natives cannibalize the whites as a form of revenge. ReferenceComo Era Gostoso o meu Francês (1971). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=MVoP4IxV10w&feature=youtu.be