Consumed

Hmmm. I came home and was channel surfing, wound up watching most of a documentary about Armin Meiwes (aka Franky) and Mr Brandes (aka Cator). It was interesting to realise that my easy, if mild, admiration for him is not widely shared. I mean, it's not as if I share his fantasy in any way, but I admire such a precise and perfect enactment of one's dream (although some of the details of the event itself seem too badly thought-out to me. If one were to be committing the grand crime necessary to realise one's life dream, wouldn't one plan the crucial moments a little better?). But yes, I assume that, well, wouldn't it be natural to have some admiration for the well-mannered, intelligent, ethical, entirely honest cannibal? Apparently no. I almost hissed at the narrator and the talking-head experts, at their entire disregard for the fact that he was found guilty of no more than manslaughter. But anyway, that's not really the point.

The point is, when I was channel-surfing after the documentary finished, the very first thing I saw was an ad for Kit-Kat bites. The ad centres around the line "Because sometimes you want to eat a little" (with a picture of a lone swimmer, kicking legs, viewed from below- sharks eye view) "And sometimes you want to eat a lot" (picture of many swimmers, kicking legs, same perspective). Which I think is just the funniest thing ever. The Meiwes documentary ended with the talking-head experts warning about the possibility that the increased interest in fetishistic subcultures combined with the media coverage given to the Meiwes/Brandes case would result in many re-enactments of the event. And really, I think that Kit-Kat is promoting the idea! Human consumption as the ultimate worship of the other, as symbolised in the form of small squares of chocolate-covered wafer. Hmm. It's a thin theory, but I'm sticking with it.