An Essay on Popular Cannibalism

If there's one thing I really regret it is that I never got to do the Master's in Film Studies I applied to do a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to do it and I missed out on studying things I genuinely enjoyed. So what I present here is the one time I got to write about something I love in an academic setting. This essay was written for the history degree I studied for and is perhaps the one thing I genuinely enjoyed working on whilst at university. This essay didn't get my highest mark ever (got a 66 I think) but it sure was fun to write and now anyone can enjoy it. I've even left in all the references like a proper academic.

A Critical Review of an Audio-visual Representation of the Past

Alferd Packer: The Musical is an independent film that was originally filmed in 1993 by a group of Colorado film students. It received a commercial release through Troma Studios, a company that specialises in controversial and gruesome films, in 1996. Owing to the fact that Alferd Packer was not well known outside of Colorado the film was renamed Cannibal! The Musical in an attempt to boost the film’s appeal. Written and directed by Trey Parker Cannibal! The Musical tells the tale of notorious cannibal Alferd Packer. During America’s gold rush of the nineteenth century Alferd Packer led an ill fated expedition into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Packer emerged as the sole survivor of the trip and as the shocking events of what happened emerged he was charged with murder.  In the years since Packer’s conviction he has become an American pop culture icon inspiring rock bands and cookbooks. Cannibal! The Musical takes the grim horror of cannibalism and puts it to Broadway-style show tunes and is perhaps the most high profile retelling of the Packer legend. This essay will critically review Cannibal! The Musical discussing how historically accurate the film is comparing primary evidence with the story of the film.

Before discussing Cannibal! The Musical it is perhaps best to provide some background information on Packer himself. He was born in 1842 Packer served the Union Army during the American Civil War but was discharged on medical grounds. Following his unsuccessful army career Packer turned his hand to prospecting. In 1873 Packer was part of a party of 21 men that headed for Colorado’s gold country in search of their fortune. In January 1874 the party encountered Native American Chief Ouray who recommended they postpone their expedition until the summer. Several of the men ignored this advice and two parties split off from the main group and continued into the Rocky Mountains. One of these parties was led by Alferd Packer and consisted of five other men: Shannon Wilson Bell, James Humphrey, Frank Miller, George Noon and Israel Swan. The party soon got lost and ran out of food and this eventually led to cannibalism. Packer was the only one to make it back from this trip alive and he was eventually charged with the murder of the rest of his party. Packer always maintained that he was responsible only for the death of Bell who he killed in self defence and that Bell had killed the others whilst Packer had gone scouting the area alone. This is the basis for Cannibal! The Musical.

As surprising as it may sound Cannibal! The Musical is a film drenched in authenticity. The structure of the film is built around the confessions made by Alferd Packer between his original arrest and subsequent trials. This is perhaps a double edged sword as it offers a story based around primary sources but is also a very biased account from a man desperately trying to avoid the noose. Cannibal! The Musical follows the Packer line on the events of the fateful winter of 1874. The film’s opening scene represents a graphically violent scene which it soon transpires is what the prosecution in Packer’s trial claim really happened. This is one of the few possible inaccuracies in the film as a coroner’s report from where the bodies “were all together and the men had apparently been killed in their sleep” (Quillen 1995 (b)) which led to Packer being accused of murder. Further research into the events surrounding Packer’s crimes provides several conflicting accounts of what truly happened so it is impossible to conclude what actually happened. Following the opening recreation of Packer’s crimes the film moves on to a court room scene that is an amalgamation of various aspects of Packer’s long running legal battles. The scene is filmed in the actual courtroom used for Packer’s first trial and the judge’s sentence that he would “be hung by the neck until you are dead, dead, dead and may God have mercy upon your soul” (Gerry 1883) is taken directly from the trial transcripts. This scene is perhaps the most historically accurate scene in the film whilst what follows takes a considerable artistic licence with the facts but rarely strays to far from Packer’s version of events.

Cannibal! The Musical is typical of films set during America’s western expansion made in the late twentieth century. Early big screen adventures set in this time period were two dimensional stories of good versus evil, cowboys versus Indians. As the century drew to a close a new kind of Western film emerged. This is largely down to the changing cultural landscape in the United States of America as “the films reflected the changed realities and sensitivities of the country as well as the ideology of “New West” historians” (Rollins 2003  p. 581). Cannibal! The Musical is a prime example of the changes in the Western genre. Alferd Packer is described as “the most infamous white cannibal of the American West” (Greig 2009 p. 272) in a tome called “The World’s Worst Crimes” and in the early twentieth century it would be unimaginable for him to be the hero of a film but that is exactly how he is portrayed in this film. Trey Parker plays Packer as a young, naïve blue eyed boy with an almost child like innocence never once coming across as the blood thirsty monster history has often claimed him to be. Cannibal! The Musical takes the unique decision to ignore the evidence that seemed to prove Packer’s guilt and instead invests completely in the account of a man convicted of both murder and manslaughter. The film sticks to the core events that have proven to be true such as Packer’s meeting with Chief Ouray and the path taken by Packer and his party. The film’s only real divergences from fact are the various musical interludes which are highly unlikely to have actually occurred and the various story devices necessary to drive a film on successfully.

There are several elements essential to a successful screen play. The most obvious of these is the need for a love story of sorts. In Cannibal! The Musical there are two separate story arcs that involve romantic relationships, both of which take a great deal of artistic licence. The first is a love triangle between Packer himself, a trapper named Frenchy Cabazon and Packer’s horse Liane. There are various inaccuracies with this set up with the most obvious being that two grown men are unlikely to come to blows over the affection of a horse. The second inaccuracy is that there is no documented proof of Packer owning a horse which was one of the reasons the real life Packer ran out of supplies on his trip through the Rocky Mountains. As Di Stefano explains “Packer’s small group had no pack animals with them, and they carried their scant provisions on their backs” (Di Stefano 2006 p. 191). The second romantic entanglement involves Packer and Polly Pry a reporter for the Denver Post newspaper. Unlike Liane the horse Polly Pry existed and was an instrumental part of Packer’s story. In the film Pry is portrayed as a young reporter in search of a scoop who interviews Packer eventually falling in love with him and trying to prove his innocence. She is eventually responsible for saving Packer from execution, arriving just as a noose is tied around his neck, which is quite different from what really happened. In reality Packer was originally charged with the murder of his fellow prospectors but due to a change in local laws all murder convictions were over turned including Packer’s so he never came close to being executed. Packer was later retried for manslaughter and sentenced to forty years in prison and this was when the real Polly Pry became involved in his case. She was described as “a well known muck-raking reporter” (Di Stefano 2006 p. 195) which is very similar to the character that appears in Cannibal! The Musical although in reality there was no romance between Packer and Pry as she met him after he had spent the past part of two decades behind bars.

Another crucial element that is found in every film is conflict. It is essential for a film’s protagonist to have a rival that pushes them on. In Cannibal! The Musical Alferd Packer has a rivalry with a group of animal trappers led by Frenchy Cabazon. Cabazon is joined by Preston Nutter and O.D. Loutzenheiser and ironically the three represent the villains of the film in stark contrast to history which has painted Alferd Packer as the villain. This is a further inaccuracy. In the film there is a fierce rivalry between the gold miners and the animal trappers whilst in reality Alferd Packer was an accomplished trapper himself. The three trappers are also named after members of the original twenty one man party Packer had originally been a member of. Cabazon was the man who recognised Packer during his years on the run from the law (Quillen 1995 (b)), Nutter met Packer just after his alleged crimes (Quillen 1995 (a)) and Loutzenheiser led the other party prospectors that left Chief Ouray’s camp ahead of Packer and had refused to allow him to join them (Di Stefano 2006 p. 191). Although their representation in the film is not completely authentic, most notably Cabazon who is beheaded by a samurai sword during the finale, they are at least grounded in reality. The introduction of the three trappers is a unique way of pacing Alferd Packer’s story. Rather than focusing on Alferd Packer’s crimes and making him the villain of the piece Trey Parker chose to portray Packer as an alternative hero.

Alferd Packer’s story in the film is told through a series of flash backs as he tells his story to journalist Polly Pry and this drives the narrative. Also allowing Packer to tell the story means the film portrays Packer’s account rather than what was legally concluded to have occurred. Cannibal! The Musical exonerates Packer for four of the five murders he was convicted of. The film suggests that those murders were committed by fellow prospector Shannon Wilson Bell. The film follows what has been proven to be historically correct with Israel Swan being the first to die. Although once again the film takes artistic licence and suggests that Swan was murdered because of his never changing positive attitude and his obsession with building snowmen whilst bursting in to song. It is a well known fact that people who have an unwavering positive attitude even when faced with the bleakest of situations can cause a great deal of annoyance it is unlikely this led to Swan’s death, even the most positive person would struggle to make snowmen when faced with starvation and almost certain death. The death of the other members of Packer’s party is more grounded in fact, at least in the facts according to Packer himself. From his initial arrest and until he was eventually released from prison Packer always claimed he had only killed Bell and that was in self defence he also claimed that Bell was responsible for the death of the others. In his confession Packer claimed “when the man saw me, he got up with his hatchet towards me when I shot him sideways through the belly, he fell on his face, the hatchet fell forwards. I grabbed it and hit him in the top of the head” (Packer 1883). Cannibal! The Musical recreates these events using Packer’s three confessions as a guide. Ironically in the years since Cannibal! The Musical’s release a great deal of research has gone into proving Packer’s claims. Historian David P. Bailey has since used forensic evidence “that supported Packer’s account that he fired at close range after being attacked with a hatchet” (Bailey 2003 p. 6). Continuing historical research has led to the value of Cannibal! The Musical’s historical accuracy improving.

In conclusion Cannibal! The Musical is a surprisingly accurate film that offers up the story of a minor historical figure focusing on individual events that can be backed up with proven fact. Despite it being a musical at its core this is a film that offers the definitive account of Alferd Packer and the crimes of which he was convicted with. Whilst it is unlikely although not impossible, as hunger and stress can have affect a man in unusual ways, that grown men would travel through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado bursting into song it can be argued that Cannibal! The Musical offers good history. The story is deeply rooted in historical fact taking inspiration from primary sources including Alferd Packer’s confessions. It offers the full details of the Packer case and avoids emphasising or embellishing the cannibalistic aspects of the case choosing to focus more on the characters than the grim loss of life. Cannibal! The Musical may be the only contact many people with have with the story of Alferd Packer and it serves as an excellent introduction to his case.

Bibliography

Bailey, D.P. (2003) “Solving the West’s Greatest Mystery: Was Alferd Packer Innocent of Murder?”, Pathways Magazine, 2003

Di Stefano, D. (2006) “Alfred Packer's World: Risk, Responsibility, and the Place of Experience in Mountain Culture, 1873-1907”, Journal of Social History, September 2006, Vol. 40 Issue 1 p. 181-204

Gerry, M.B. (1883) “Judge Gerry's Death Sentence of Packer Hinsdale District Court Case # 1883DC379” Colorado State Archives, available at http://web.archive.org/web/20040405011012/http%3A//www.archives.state.co.us/packer.html last accessed 20/11/2009

Grieg, C. (2009) The World’s Worst Crimes An A-Z of Evil Deeds Arcturus Publishing Limited: London

Packer, A. (1883) “Packer’s Second Confession”, Colorado State Archives, available at http://web.archive.org/web/20040405011012/http%3A//www.archives.state.co.us/packer.html last accessed 20/11/2009

Quillen, E. (1995 (a)) “Alferd Packer, the Colorado Cannibal”, Colorado Central Magazine, September 1995, available at http://cozine.com/1995-september/alferd-packer-the-colorado-cannibal/ last accessed 20/11/2009

Quillen, E. (1995 (b)) “A Packer Chronology”, Colorado Central Magazine, September 1995, available at http://cozine.com/1995-september/a-packer-chronology/#more-828 last accessed 20/11/2009

Rollins, P.C. (2003) The Colombia Companion To American History On Film Colombia University Press: Chichester, West Sussex