WARNING: this article contains an absurd amount of bad food buns.

What do you get when you sandwich “Toy Story”’s animation style and general narrative and the crude humor of Seth Rogen together? If you haven’t already seen the red band trailer for “Sausage Party,” I know what you’re thinking: “What? That’s ridiculous!”. It is. And it’s coming to theaters August 12, 2016. “Sausage Party”, the raunchy animated adult-comedy written by Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir stars an all A-list cast who play, like in “Toy Story”, human-worshiping anthropomorphic objects on a quest to return “home” in hopes of obtaining human affection. Although, instead of toys trying to find their way back to their owner to be played with, this time our characters are foods trying to find their way back to their aisle in hopes of being chosen by the gods (a.k.a. humans) to be brought to the “Great Beyond” (their version of heaven).

I’m sure there are some people screaming to themselves, “Is nothing sacred anymore? Not even children’s movies?!”, others who think the idea is so ridiculous it’s hysterical, and possibly some other weirdos like me who wonder if there’s potential for insightful social commentary. Regardless, one thing is for certain: “Sausage Party” is bacon the limits of animation, raisin some eyebrows, and definitely not a movie for olive the family. Before reading the rest of this article, I recommend you watch the uncensored trailer below:

So, am I stretching it when I say that “Sausage Party” could really be something more profound than a bunch of cursing food running around making dirty jokes and being flayed, chopped and boiled alive? Maybe, but it’s still fun to think about! In my opinion, this film looks like it has potential to be a promising and biting Marxist critique of consumerism, false consciousness and religious complacency.

The first two title cards read "all food wants is to go home with us". A bag of Irish potatoes exclaims "yes! We're chosen!". A package of sausages and a package of buns rejoice that they have also been chosen and that they’re grateful the gods have put their packages together. However, the next title cards alert the viewer that “food will finally learn the truth”, followed by the grotesque scene of a potato being skinned alive:

In a nutshell, the rest of the trailer is essentially the characters discovering more about the fallacy of the “Great Beyond” and attempting to escape their fates and expose the awful truth to the others. Through a Marxist lens, the movie follows a proletariat group of foods who decide to revolt against the bourgeoisie humans who literally and metaphorically consume them in a Cronus-like fashion.

In fact, in psychology, the “Cronus Complex” is described by Rachel Bowlby as a metaphorical “destructive ingestive process which hinders the child’s capacity to exist separately and autonomously from the parent. In consuming his child, Cronus does not only aim to annihilate him but does so by making him part of himself”. When applied on a social scale, it’s evident that in the binary world of capitalism (and “Sausage Party”), without an oppressed proletariat, there are no privileged bourgeoisie. The upper class need to exploit the lower class in order to prosper. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the lower class (food) are aware of this dynamic. Quite the contrary, actually. A “father” (or bourgeoisie/human) suffering from Cronus complex prevents his children from surpassing his own capacity or even doubting his authority and ideology by swallowing their aspirations and agency and feeding the proletariat various ideology. In doing so, the bourgeoisie keep them ignorant, unable to be exposed to anyone or anything that could reveal their efforts or lead to rebellion. Ironically, this usually starts with the children.

Naturally, this type of ignorance leads to a proletariat false consciousness, or when members of a subordinate class hold a mistaken portrayal of the actual class relations present in their society. These ideologies systematically shroud the truths of subordination it generates. This often manifests as religious justification for complacency. The foods refer to humans as the “gods”, idolizing them and crediting every event in their lives to the “will of the gods”. Marx dubbed religion the “opiate of the masses,” and while I’m not suggesting that all interpretations of religion are oppressive by any means, like any other institution, it certainly is susceptible to being used as a tool for instilling false consciousness, as he suggests. In “Sausage Party,” religion sedates the devout foods, keeping them satisfied with their circumstances no matter what happens, in belief their suffering will be compensated in the “Great Beyond.” It also prevents them from seeing the true nature of reality, just as many people in societies around the world are prevented from seeing.

I could go on about how this has delicious potential to subvert animated film cliches like “Deadpool” just recently did with Superhero movies and “Cabin in the Woods” and “The Final Girls” did with horror movies, along with the millions of other thoughts I have about the capacity for this film, but that’s for another time… Hopefully (anticipate a “Sausage Party Part 2: Artistic Pizza Work or Peach of Shit?” article when it hits theaters). One thing I can say is that this movie has my imagination running wild and that’s a feat in its own. Props to you, Seth Rogen & Co.!

If you take away anything from this article, remember this: You are what you eat. So if you do decide to spend your thyme and dough money to go see “Sausage Party”, think to yourself “What did I just consume?" Did you just have duck breast with bacon or duck magret breast with pancetta? Beneath the layers of obscenities caked onto it, is “Sausage Party” actually an abstract parallel of the dangers of consumerism, false consciousness and religious complacency? Even if it wasn’t the creators’ intentions, does it matter as long as you are able to take something away from it? The main ingredients are the same regardless, so it’s up to you as the viewer to decide how to interpret the film.

Bon Appétit!