SOS: ComAlt, Seminar Pre-Writing Week 8

7 March 2017

Word Count: 229

 

Passages:

“The desire to bite both materializes and minimizes bodily violence; it inflicts pain, but it appears to do so only at the precise and relatively small point where human mouth meets human flesh” (Tompkins 2012: 171).

“…industrialized nations began consuming more meat, notably chicken, but also beef and pork. This extended meat binge, coupled with advances in the conversion of soymeal into animal feed, caused demand for soy to shoot upward” (Newman 2013: 145).

 

News Media Context:

Why do we want to bite cute things?

“Cuteness often elicits a reaction that appears aggressive on its surface. It is expressed as clenched fists, bared teeth and the utterance of something like, ‘You’re so cute I could eat you up!’

Dr. Oriana Aragon, a psychologist at Clemson University, has studied this cute aggression: the desire to bite, squeeze, or eat something because it’s so cute.”

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/12/13/the-science-of-cute

 

Discussion:

While reading the latter half of Tompkins’ “What’s De Use Talking ‘Bout Dem ‘Mendments?” what struck me the most was her analysis of violence as it relates to biting. As previously discussed in her work, the mouth can be a trope for many different human phenomena – language, racial differences, sexual desire, and of course, eating and consumption. Amongst all of the various veins of thought my mind could have traveled, I couldn’t help but ponder the common urge many people have to bite things that we deem cute, such as puppies or babies.

Within the theme of navigating various symbolic and subconscious meanings associated with the mouth, while reading Newman I could not help but pause during the mention of the increase in meat consumption of industrialized nations. The image of this “meat binge” or orofacial carnage and consumption reminded me of the physiological response humans get when they are iron deficient – that need to chew or gnaw on something crunchy or textured.

As I dig deeper into my subconscious association with the mouth I am bombarded with a visual catalog of associates never previously made, from cartoon characters I have seen physically drool over attractive women, to the very disturbing cult classic film Teeth. Why do we have a desire to physically consume other living beings, whether they be human or animal? What is it that we crave?

 

Citations:

Newman, Kara. (2013). The Secret Financial Life of Food: From Commodities Markets to Supermarkets. New York: Columbia University Press.

Tompkins, Kyla Wazana. (2012). Racial Indigestion: Eating Bodies in the 19th Century. NewYork: New York University Press.

Bloom, Molly. (2016, December 13). Why do we want to bite cute things? Retrieved from https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/12/13/the-science-of-cute