The Human Centipede 2 or What happens when CGAA Unit 1 is spliced with Postmodernism...

A venn diagram illustrates shared attributes between different topics or groups.  Improbable though it may seem, the now-notorious sequel, The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence (2011) lurks in the intersection between CGAA Unit 1 Anatomy and CGAA Year 2's current Postmodernism unit.  I haven't seen the original The Human Centipede (Dir. Tom Six, 2009) - not yet, anyway - but I know enough about its good-taste baiting premise to slot its scatalogical shenanigans into the compartment marked 'body horror' and sub-genre 'torture porn'.  Of course, in a departure from the CGAA Anatomy project, these titular centipedes are not an inter-species hybrid created accidentally by teleportation like poor CGAA student, Andy McDowe, but rather luckless humans co-joined surgically by psychos.

As some of you will know, The Human Centipede 2, again directed by Tom Six, has achieved the sort of infamy no amount of marketing dollars can purchase by being banned outright by the British Board of Film Classification - a rare decision these days, but judging by the BBFC's report, which you can read in full here, a contrary argument in support of the 'merits' of the movie is difficult to formulate - except in simple 'no censorship' terms.  Scott Weinberg, writing on The Guardian's film blog describes the horror sequel as "an hour of sweaty boredom and then 30 minutes of grungy, filthy, visceral misery. A plotless, ugly, grating mess that exists for pure shock value and nothing else. It's a dreary slog through one man's frankly obnoxious obsession with our basest and messiest bodily functions." (Weinberg: 2011).

So, if The Human Centipede 2 is indeed reprehensible, sadistic dross, what possible value might it have to the CGAA Year 2 students as they get increasingly to grips with the conceptual manoeuvres associated with postmodernism?   Well, it appears that director Six has gone 'meta' for his sequel, which is the glib, media-savvy way of characterising any fiction that references itself, that is 'about' itself or its genre, that (and I'm afraid we're back to Ariadne's mise-en-abyme again) reflects upon itself and its own fictitiousness.  

The premise of The Human Centipede 2 sets up the idea that the sequel's lunatic protagonist, Martin, is obsessed with the DVD of the original film and is inspired by the fictitious events of the 2009 film to go one better (or twelve better - as it's Martin's desire to build a human centipede out of a dozen people...).  But the 'meta-effect' doesn't end there, as Gabe Toro reveals: "So reverential of that first film, Martin actually recruits a cast member from the first installment, Ashlynn Yennie, to play herself as an eager young starlet. And how does he entice her to be a part of his movie? By informing her agent that she’s auditioning for a Quentin Tarantino film." (Toro: 2011).

'Going Meta' is one way to innovate or rejuvenate an otherwise tired or overly formulaic set of conventions - which is why Wes Craven's Scream franchise (1996 - 2011) is, for the most part, highly-regarded by horror buffs and mainstream critics (and by me - though not Scream 3 (2000), so much!). 'Going Meta' is also a means by which story-tellers can prod slack-jawed audiences into a more 'conscious' relationship to the content on screen.  Perhaps Tom Six has loftier ambitions for his 'deplorable' sequel?  Perhaps he's made a film so revolting, so unadorned in its depiction of depravity that audiences cannot help but ask themselves 'why am I watching this?' Perhaps, in making a film about the supposed power of cinema violence to encourage copy-cat behaviour, Six is wagging his blood-stained finger in our direction?  Perhaps he's saying, 'well, you all watched the first one, didn't you?'  Perhaps Tom Six's The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence is as scathing and morally ambitious as Michael Hanake's Funny Games U.S. (2007)  - which we'll be enduring together soon enough.

Or perhaps The Human Centipede 2 is just dumb, depraved, with delusions of grandeur, and the whole 'meta' thing is an example of a trite postmodern pose? I would say we'd have to watch it to know, but rest assured it won't be comprising any part of any CGAA film programme any time soon...

Weinberg, S,  Human Centipede 2: the censors saved you from a shockingly boring film,  http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/sep/27/human-centipede-2-censors? newsfeed=true (Accessed 02/10/11)

Toro, G, Too Meta ‘Human Centipede Part 2’ Almost Reaches The All-Time Gross-Out Pantheon, The Playlist,http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/review_the_human_centipede_part_ii_is_a_feature-length_justification_for_pa/# (Accessed 02/10/11)