Martinez- Cannibalism the Musical

To understand Sweeney Todd’s want for revenge one must understand his life before he was “Sweeney Todd.” He was previously known as Benjamin Barker and had a loving family with a wife and daughter, but this happy life of his is snatched away by Judge Turpin and he never sees his family again. After 15 years, he finds out from Mrs. Lovett that his wife poisoned herself (which in the end we find out was all a lie) and now he feels like there is nothing left for him in the world other than to seek revenge against Judge Turpin. At first, the only person he cares about killing is Judge Turpin, but this changes as Perelli discovers his true identity and he kills Perelli because he fears being exposed. This quickly turns into a slippery slope of serial homicides when Mrs. Lovett gives him the idea of killing several people and using them to benefit her meat pie business, as they will use humans as her meat. The element of cannibalism in this film is to turn the metaphorical phrase of “man devouring man” into a more literal form, but still with the same metaphoric meaning. The cannibalism is a representation of the harsh and cruel life going on at this time. At this time, the economic system was all about mass production and the booming of business. There was no regard for the individual or the people working behind these businesses. In a sense, there was a loss of the importance of uniqueness and identity and society at this time. There was a strong emphasis on mass production, consumption and profit at this time and because of this there was no care for the individual, essentially everyone was looking out for their own self to survive. This is where the metaphoric meaning of “man devouring man” comes in. The meat pies in the film make this meaning literal when Sweeney Todd kills all of his customers and Mrs. Lovett uses them in her pies and other people eat them. She uses his multiple homicides to benefit her business and she and Sweeney do not care for the life that those people have. In the article, it discusses how this film is criticizing the “exploitative structures of capitalism itself.” Through the use of cannibalism in this film, the audience understands the economic corruption that was going on at this time and how mass production and profits were more important than the well being of the individual and how this time in economic history can be characterized as “man devouring man.”