'A kiss is the beginning of cannibalism'

摘要

In this article, I will put Julia Ducournau’s 2016 coming-of-age horror filmRaw in dialogue with Georges Bataille’s general economic theory oftransgression. The Bataillean saying ‘a kiss is the beginning of cannibalism’is taken literally by Raw’s protagonist Justine, as she explores her sexualitywhile simultaneously acquiring a taste for human flesh. I will begin bymapping the interplay between the transgressions of Raw and Bataille’sgeneral economy, moving forward to Raw’s treatment of transgression asit both converges and diverges with Bataille’s notion of sacrifice. While thefilm ultimately displays the pitfalls of transgression, I will conclude byevaluating how the role of eroticism in Raw illustrates the enduringimportance of transgression for Bataille; as an immediate, sacred momentof inner experience in which the self luxuriates in its own death.