Grotesque Realism and the Carnivalesque in Tom Six’s The Human Centipede (First Sequence) and The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)

Abstract

Argues that Tom Six's controversial, excessive first two Human Centipede films offer a critical grotesque realism that can be traced to the Bakhtinian carnivalesque. In Freeman's analysis, The Human Centipede, First Sequence (2009) and Full Sequence (2011), are savvy reflections of spectatorial desire and horror's attractions-style presentation.

Keywords

• cinema of attractions
• carnival
• carnivalesque
• Mikhail Bakhtin
• Tom Six
• The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
• The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)
• grotesque realism
• Francois Rabelais
• The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel