Food is dead. Food remains dead. And we have killed it. It is time to talk about the philosophical depth of busty buns, horrified honey mustard, teasing tacos, and the sacrifice of murdered baby carrots. It is time to talk about Sausage Party.
The 2016 animated movie with, among others, Seth Rogen (and James Franco and Nick Kroll and Edward Norton and Salma Hayek) answers the question ‘what if our food had its own conscious world?’ As one can assume, shenanigans follow. But we are not here today to talk about innuendo inspiring images. Nor vile vexatious violence. Or overwhelming offensive obscenities.
Today is the day that we can finally talk about my (grand)daddy of existentialistic philosophy. My own personal favorite, out-of-grown-moustache wearing guy. My one and only. Friedrich. Wilhelm. Nietzsche.
Most of us have encountered his expression “God is dead” at least to some extent. The phrase adopted the interpretation of the death of the Christian God. This, however, is not necessarily what Nietzsche meant.
Nietzsche wrote about a madman. Nietzsche wrote about a madman running through the streets. Nietzsche wrote about a madman running through the streets, because the madman was brave. Nietzsche wrote about a brave madman taking the time to question his reality. A brave man screaming “God is dead”, because rational, non-society taught, thinking led him to this conclusion.
Our own contemporary brave man is a jar of honey mustard.
The food in Sausage Party lives in an illusion where humans are gods. In an illusion where if the food gets bought, they will be taken to the Great Beyond. In an illusion where baby carrots are awfully slaughtered and swallowed alive.
In this illusion the brave man screaming down the streets remains mad. Honey mustard is shattered with the disillusion of disbelief. But his sacrifice awakens the rational of one sceptic sausage. And his own quest of bravery begins.
As it turns out the non-perishable food have created the illusion of the Great Beyond, because the truth is too dark and too daunting and too devastating to live with. The truth that is, that the universe is a cold and uncaring and cannibalistic place. And completely indifferent to anything that lives within it.
Does that sound familiar?
Nietzsche grieved when he realized that God was dead. The philosopher feared that society would slip in a nihilistic, dark, narcotic depression. How shall society comfort itself now? Where shall society wipe this blood off? It must become its own god with enough power to grand meaning to their meaningless lives.
The food in Sausage Party murders their gods. But they do not slip in depressive nihilism. They celebrate instead. They create images of violent obscenities. They have become their own merciless, murderous, maleficent gods in the end.
In this the movie fails its existentialistic ancestry.
Nietzsche never promoted a Dionysian madness for living a life. There must be an Apollonian balance. Überfood should rise above the death of God, the crippling nihilism, and be the creator of new values.
But these values cannot be vanity and anarchy as Sausage Party proposes.
Eventually Sausage Party seems to be sharp enough to haunt a god. But is lacking the emotional strength to take one down. Such a shame. The movie ends up in the philosophical garbage bin.
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