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Why Cannibal? Representation and Defense in the Meiwes “German Cannibal” Case
Author(s) -
Zaman Bashiran,
Soldz Stephen
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international journal of applied psychoanalytic studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.314
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1556-9187
pISSN - 1742-3341
DOI - 10.1002/aps.1492
Subject(s) - human sexuality , dismemberment , consumption (sociology) , intellectualization , representation (politics) , psychology , anxiety , social psychology , criminology , history , media consumption , sociology , gender studies , psychoanalysis , aesthetics , political science , art , law , psychiatry , politics
Abstract We examined the construction of media reporting on the Meiwes “cannibal” case where two consensual adults gratified fantasies resulting in the death, dismemberment and partial consumption of one. We found the media imposed a traditional but ill‐fitting predator–prey frame, contributing to omissions relating to sexuality and death, the utilization of cultural “Othering” and the presence of the defenses of intellectualization and humor; thus distracting us against anxiety from our own mortality. This study suggests the relationship between the British media and public in crime reporting is not passive but reciprocal: the media creates but also responds to public fantasies/desires.