Maren: I don’t want to hurt anybody.
Lee: Famous last words.
Cannibalism has been a recurring, albeit controversial, theme in film and television, becoming one of the most notorious subgenres in the horror scene. It’s gruesome and gory, as on par with the horror genre, but also psychologically thrilling with desire and compulsion at the heart of the cannibal’s motives. The intimate grotesqueness of the cannibal is what has drawn writers to intertwine cannibalism with the horror, with films such as The Naked Prey (1965), Slave of the Cannibal God (1972), and Cannibal Holocaust (1980) first popularising the genre. Yet, these original films around the cannibal were inherently problematic; often centered around the white man being hunted by the ‘Oriental’ cannibalistic tribe, depicting people of colour as merely primitive, an idea rooted in racist depictions of the ‘Other’. Modern takes on the cannibal have subverted these stereotypes, becoming less of a subgenre and more of a motif within other genres. Luca Guadagnino’s 2022 adaption of Camille DeAngelis’s 2015 novel Bones and All is a groundbreaking example of this, blending horror with romance in a way so delicate you almost forget the violence of the cannibal.
Set in 1980s Midwestern America, the film primarily follows Maren (Taylor Russell) who is abandoned by her father following her uncomfortable need to feed on human flesh re-emerging when she has a violent encounter with a classmate (unbeknownst to her knowledge of her apparent primal instincts). Maren, freshly eighteen, is left to fend for herself and embarks on a journey to find her mother who left her as a small child. It is on this journey where she meets a number of people like her, including Lee (Timothée Chalamet) who joins her in this coming of age.
The film is about cannibalism at its core, but it exists in layers beyond the uncomfortable gore; cannibalism is depicted as a metaphor, serving as a vehicle to explore the film’s deeper meanings, including themes of love, queerness, marginalisation, trauma and addiction. This essay will consequently explore the ways in which cannibalism is depicted in Bones and All. Potential spoiler warnings ahead.
Cannibalism as a metaphor for love
Maren: You protected the people that you love.
Lee: You don’t think I’m a bad person?
Maren: All I think is that I love you.
The all-consuming essence of love cannot be better represented – both figuratively and literally – by cannibalism, where love transcends the self and the other to become one whole. Maren and Lee slowly fall in love, despite its seemingly forbidden nature, connected by their adolescent yearning for belonging and family hardships. Their literal journey across America to find Maren’s mother and escape their hometowns is symbolic of their emotional journey; attempting to overcome their traumatic pasts and build a life together, something which is bizarrely innocent in the context of their compulsions.
The end of the film portrays this most clearly where (spoilers) Maren eats Lee after they murder Sully (Mark Rylance) together and Lee gets fatally injured. It is an intimate act, with Lee repeating “I want you to eat me, bones and all”, but also a brutal act; desire becomes all-consuming and intimacy leads to destruction, where the addictive and desperate side of love is reflected in the intensity of the intentional act of consumption. Lee pleading with Maren to consume him transcends the conventional understanding of love and instead symbolises the depth of their connection and extent of their acceptance of one another – their ultimate desire.
It is the violent yet romantic absurdity of the cannibalism which draws audiences to the film, with many not expecting to emotionally resonate with the characters as much as they did. In an interview with The Face, Guadagnino reflected on what he wanted people to experience from the film: “I want them to fall for these characters and I want them to be moved by them. I want them to go out and say to their friends: do not think of this movie as a cannibal movie but think of this movie as a touching love story.”
Cannibalism as a metaphor for otherness
The idea of ‘otherness’ is portrayed through cannibalism in a number of ways in Bones and All. The notion of an unnatural desire reflects narratives around queer identities, with Maren and Lee’s constant need for acceptance acting as a parallel to the queer experience in a world full of heteronormative standards and norms. Guadagnino’s decision to make Lee eat both men and women complicates this further; cannibalism is a metaphor for sexual desire, but it is also associated with the shame of the long forbidden queer love. This is especially true given the context of 1980s America under the Reagan administration (as depicted in Figure 1 where Maren and Lee are in the back of a truck which has a REAGAN/BUSH ‘84 bumper sticker), a time where queerness was stigmatised and widely seen as ‘revolting’.
Figure 1
The film’s ability to provide social commentary on ‘otherness’ through the use of the cannibalism metaphor goes beyond identity politics; it is also about poverty, homelessness and addiction. The way they endure their hardships is by eating people, and they must consume human meat to satiate their desires and ultimately survive. It is ruthless, and a sense of shame emerges here again; when Maren cannot contain her urges any longer, Lee seduces and murders a man at a carnival to fulfill their needs, but they soon find out that the man was married with a young child. As a result, Maren is overcome with guilt, clearly distressed whilst attempting to comprehend the extent of her actions. Each character grapples with their addiction differently, with Lee justifying it through claiming he only eats ‘bad people’ and Sully maintaining that he only feeds on people who are already dead. Maren is outraged to learn that an ‘eater’ they meet on their roadtrip voluntarily chooses to participate in cannibalism when to her, it’s merely a method of survival. In fact, the cannibals are unable to control their desires and impulses, seeking connections with other ‘survivors’.
Cannibalism as a metaphor for generational trauma
At the core of the film is the theme of family and their relatable shared anger at their inherited trauma, mental illness and abuse. In an interview with Indulge Magazine, Chalamet shares his take on the cannibalism metaphor, noting “I felt that the cannibalism, their eating condition, was a strong metaphor for either childhood trauma or addiction, or just carrying something you can’t quite make sense of, or something you carry shame with.” Maren’s overwhelming need to find her mother after her father abandons her is the subplot of the film. When she visits her mother in a psychiatric ward she learns that her mother shares the same cannibalistic tendencies as her, and in order to protect her, she abandoned Maren as a child. Maren becomes obsessed with trying to break the generational trauma constructively, unlike her mother who has chewed her arms off and reverted to insanity.
Lee’s character also embodies this generational trauma, with him later revealing that he has an abusive (and potentially cannibalistic) father, often taking the burden of his abuse in order to protect his sister leading to him ultimately killing and eating his father. Lee often has nightmares, acting as flashbacks to past traumas, suggesting that the memory of his father haunts his every move. Sully’s character is not exempt from this either; he made a point of breaking the cycle by not hurting other eaters to win Maren’s friendship, but ultimately does when push comes to shove. None of the characters are able to escape their collective generational trauma, and despite attempting to resist the urge and challenge one another, they ultimately succumb to their abusive desires. No matter how much you try to run, you can never manage to escape.
In conclusion, there are many potential metaphors for cannibalism, all of which are intertwined with one another. In the context of the opioid and mental health crisis in America, metaphors of abuse and addiction stand out, and the insatiable need to connect and associate (both physically and emotionally) with other humans is what makes audiences resonate with the characters. Cannibalism media has been used to portray a variety of important and universally relatable themes, ranging from Yellowjackets (2021–) to Fresh (2022), but Bones and All is simply a cut above the rest.
References
Bradshaw, Peter (2022) “Bones and All review – cannibal romance is a heartbreaking banquet of brilliance” The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/sep/02/bones-and-all-review-luca-guadagnino-timothee-chalamet-venice-film-festival
Indulge Magazine (2022) “Interview: Timothée Chalamet Talks Cannibalism as a Metaphor in “Bones and All.”” https://indulgemagazine.com/2022/11/24/interview-timothee-chalamet-talks-cannibalism-as-a-metaphor-in-bones-and-all/#:~:text=TIMOTHEE:%20I%20felt%20that%20the,what%20he%20sees%20is%20terrifying.
McLean, Craig (2022) “Bones and All: the cannibal love story we didn’t know we needed” The Face https://theface.com/culture/bones-and-all-the-cannibal-love-story-luca-guadagnino-interview-film
Page, Katherine (2023) “The History of Cannibalism in the Horror Genre” The Liberator Magazine https://theliberatormagazine.com/2023/03/02/the-history-of-cannibalism-in-the-horror-genre/
Robinson, Chauncey (2022) “‘Bones and All’ review: Morbidly beautiful exploration of alienation, identity, and love” People’s World https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/bones-and-all-review-morbidly-beautiful-exploration-of-alienation-identity-and-love/
shynnawrites (2025) “Cannibalism as a Metaphor for Love:” Medium https://medium.com/@sesbrenoshynna/cannibalism-as-a-metaphor-for-love-55080e99ee6f
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