MyNewBike

The first thing we come to understand about this film is otherness. This is a huge topic and the setting is of the utmost importance when you consider why this is significant. The film is set in Nebraska during the 1980s, and during the 80s we saw a huge cultural shift where technology, consumerism and capitalism skyrocketed. The mellow, down-to-earth browns and beiges from the 70s were swapped out for neon... probably something to do with new fabrics and colours becoming more readily available to the masses. This time frame sets up this really big topic of the American Dream, but that's not to say that the American Dream kicked off in the 80s. No, it has shape-shifted throughout the State's history. These cultural changes shaped a new society, one that was more focused on the mainstream, what was 'in' and what was 'out'. Our two cannibalistic protagonists, Maren and Lee, are detached from the mainstream. I mean, how often does one come across a cannibal? But this essentially leaves them on the outskirts of society, and if we can ignore the good reason as to why this is their condition, we can understand how this reflects the real world, and then we gain this great epiphany on art; art imitates life and vice versa as if it is a mirror.

To understand art of any sort is to recognise that in most cases, it mirrors our world.

On that reoccurring theme of otherness, there is a line that resonates: Lee says to Maren, "Let's be people for a while", referring to the idea of getting jobs and integrating themselves into society. And they actually do exactly that, they move to a small town and work and pay rent etc -- they're normal for a while. However, this does not work out in the end. It's as if those rendered to the outskirts of society will never fully be integrated into society. We come to understand that by the end of the film. They knew this in the back of their minds as blood poured out into the little apartment they had cozied themselves into. In many ways, the graphic gore distracts us from what lies behind the screen in the same way the dreamy sunset scapes distract us from the horrors of loneliness and the condition of a true outcast.

I think all of this speaks to what it means to be an individual. What does it mean to be young and have no one to guide you? What does it mean to be you, truly you? How do you become you? In the film, we see Lee (and Maren) wear the clothing of their victims, not as a souvenir or a trophy, but as a means of creating an identity. Perhaps this is their way of consuming what we all consume from the mainstream. We take so much from mainstream trends as well as those around us and make it our own, whether we're bold enough to admit it or not. For these two, it is their way of trying to find themselves in a world where no one wants to know them.

Films as such are integral and looking at them through different lens help us to view our world in a way that we hadn't imagined. We bury ourselves in our biases, and discomforting movies break down our walls to allow us to see things we had not yet conceived.