Film Analysis: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

A vegan is defined as a person who does not eat any food that comes from animals and who often also does not use animal products (Merriam-Webster). The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) use videos such as Paul McCartney’s Glass Walls and other forms of media to push their agenda onto the world. Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s transgressive exploitation of the human body through shocking, strange images that parallel with slaughterhouses to push the vegan agenda onto its audiences. Close – ups, montages, and real props overstimulate the viewer to the point where the film is just uncomfortable to watch – the harsh reality of the life of a slaughterhouse animal.
Towards the beginning of the film, the caravan of youths …show more content…
This transgressive, gory sequence acts as the segue into the dinner table scene and has a reality check for the viewer that these people are cannibals. It starts with a close up shot of the knife with the sausages. This close up reminds the viewer of the sausage the youths ate earlier in the film. However, this close – up only lasts a fraction of a second as the camera cuts to further away from the altercation to find that the hitch hiker has successfully removed Sally’s hand from its bounds whilst the camera slowly zooms into the grandfather; however, not enough to be considered a close – up. The camera cuts to a close up of Sally’s finger being cut and then stuck in the grandfather’s mouth. The camera zooms out just enough for the viewer to see that, despite being gray and corpse – like, the grandfather is still alive and is sucking the blood from Sally’s fingertips. This goes even further when the camera cuts back to a shot just far enough away that the viewer can see the grandfather dancing as he sucks on her fingers. The camera cuts to a close – up of Sally’s face, then cuts to the front view of the house and zooms outward, followed by fading into the moon. This much – needed edit takes place as a reality