Brain Food: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|''"All we wanna do is eat your brains''<br />

 

An amazingly large number of monsters enjoy eating human ''BRAAAAAAINS!''

The subtrope of brain-eating zombies seems to have originated with 1985's ''[[Return of the Living Dead]]'', and most of the time when it appears it is either a reference to that film, or [[Popcultural Osmosis|unknowingly influenced by]] [[Memetic Mutation|other references to that film]]. Before Romero, zombies were not expected to eat people at all, except in some fringe Haitian legends which included anthrophagy as part of a general rampage on the part of the normally passive zombies whose controlling voudun priest had died.

 

 

A subtrope of [[Picky People Eater]]. See also: [[Zombie Gait]]. Not to be confused with [[Brainless Beauty]] (although being one may [[Your Brain Won't Be Much of a Meal|have its advantages]].)

** Wasn't the implication that {{spoiler|Her brother constituted some part of the Ultimate Awesome Android?}}

*** She named it after him, but there's no in-story suggestion that it is or isn't actually him.

 

 

* The first zombie movie that used the brain-eating element was ''[[Return of the Living Dead]]''. Here, the zombies eat brains because they give off endorphins that kill the pain of decomposition and rigor mortis.

* In the movie ''[[Grindhouse|Planet Terror]]'', the zombie-like mutants eat Fergie's brain, prompting the gag "Looks like we've got a no-brainer." Similiarly, a repeated line throughout the film is "I'm gonna eat your brain and gain your knowledge," first said as a small boy is playing with his action figures, although by the time Josh Brolin [[Ironic Echo|starts saying it]], it gets [[They Plotted a Perfectly Good Waste|creepy/hilarious]].

*** Is that what we ate? HUURGH...

* ''[[Silence of the Lambs]]'' sequel, ''Hannibal'', has a scene with a man literally eating his own brains.

* In the Japanese movie ''Attack of the Monsters'' (AKA ''[[Gamera]] vs. Guiron''), two alien women from the planet Terra plan to [[Nightmare Fuel|eat the brains of two children]]. It actually has a scene where one of the kids is secured, with his head shaved, about to become the main course. And it's a ''kids' movie''.

* The zombies in ''[[Pride and Prejudice And Zombies]]''. However, they sometimes mistake cauliflowers for brains.

* From the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'', you have the [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Anzati Anzati], a species that eats the "soup", also called the "luck" or the "Sea of Memory" of sentient beings. They're humanlike, but with a sort of proboscis in each cheek which unfurls to jam through the victim's nostrils and into the brain, then suck it out. One Anzati claims that the brain-eating thing is the only way to get at the "soup", and apparently lucky individuals are sensed as such and are more desirable. They also have incredibly long lifespans and no natural biorhythm - no pulse, no body heat - and tend to have a hypnotic ability that makes victims submit. To hammer the point home, there are myths about Anzati victims becoming Anzati themselves, and the irreverent slang term for the species is "snot vampire".

* The zombies in Ryan Mecum's ''Zombie Haiku'' eat brains. One of the haiku is:

{{quote| ''brains brains brains brains brains''<br />

''brains brains brains brains brains.'' }}

* One of the short stories in the book ''My Zombie Valentine'' focuses on a [[Zombie Apocalypse]] originating on the set of a zombie apocalypse film. The [[Alpha Bitch]] seems to be immune to zombie attack, and they speculate that she doesn't have any brains. However, it turns out that she's wearing a perfume that repels zombies.

* In the ''[[Starfleet Corps of Engineers]]'' series, the creators of the monster shii on the planet Sarindar fed on brain matter. A now departed race which colonized the planet centuries ago, they built artificial constructs in the shape of shii beasts to collect the heads; these decapitated victims in order to gather the brains.

* In ''[[Nightside|Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth]]'', a group of sentient zombies raised by the [[Big Bad]] and sent to slaughter the living reference this trope, debating whether or not they should eat brains and, if so, whether condiments will be required.

* The [[Rodents of Unusual Size]] from James Herbert's ''The Rats'' and its sequels have a preference for brains, and often chew their way [[Eye Scream|through the eyes]] of their human victims to reach this tasty treat.

* ''[[Mogworld]]'': Averted and lampshaded. The zombies in {{spoiler|the game}} just don't eat. Using the trope to terrify the nearby populace certainly makes for a fun time on your day off, though.

* In ''Terminal World'', by Alastair Reynolds, there are bio-mechanical creatures called "Carnivorgs" that survive by eating the brains of the people they capture. The front of their heads [[Nightmare Fuel|end in a drill]], which they use to punch through their victims forheads. The worst part? This process ''[[Fate Worse Than Death|doesn't]]'' [[Fate Worse Than Death|kill the victim]].

 

 

== Live Action TV ==

** The only brain-eaters to use a ''straw''.

* Brain-eating by humans and aliens alike is a constant motif in the first season of ''[[Lexx]]''.

** [[Word of God]] says that yes, he was going to eat them, but they realized how ludicrous that would sound, so they left it vague. It remains to be seen whether they'll ever come up with a different explanation.

*** Molly does make mention that he eats brains in the season one finale. To be fair though, she was just a little girl and probably didn't understand what Sylar was doing while poking around in her father's brain.

{{quote| '''Sylar''': {{spoiler|Claire,}} that's disgusting.}}

*** Does it really matter what he does with the brain? He's still ripping it out of your skull!

** After removing the neurochip from Crichton's brain, [[Magnificent Bastard|Scorpius]] finds that there's a large chunk of cerebral tissue clinging to it. [[Slasher Smile|Grinning wickedly]], he eats the piece of brain matter in a single bite.

* Subverted in the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' season 6 episode, "Bargaining", in which Anya points out that real zombies don't eat brains, unless instructed to do so by their zombie masters.

** In another episode, Buffy fights hellhounds who eat brains. She takes advantage of this by questioning the butcher's shop to discover who's been buying cow brains and raising the hellhounds.

** Glory sucks the sanity out of people's brains.

* [[Played for Laughs|Invoked]] on the "Bottle Bash" episode of [[Myth Busters]], in which Adam speaks to a Jello-brain: "You remember when I hit your head with a beer bottle?" (eats spoonful of Jello out of the brain) "No you don't!"

{{quote| "Mm, it's a delicious memory!"}}

== Music ==

* Jonathan Coulton's ''Re: Your Brains''. It's told as a memo from an office worker who's become a zombie to one who is not yet zombified, and the chorus says "All we wanna do is eat your brains. We're not unreasonable. I mean, [[Even Evil Has Standards|no one's gonna]] [[Eye Scream|eat your eyes]]."

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** And the Lovecraftian coelocanth Aboleths want to eat your brain and gain your knowledge.

** Inverted by the Chuuls, who are allergic to brains and will instead peel the flesh and bone from around it and eat that. In an aversion of [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]], this often means that Illithids will train them as garbage disposals for brainless corpses.

** The vat-spawned Grit stormers of ''[[SLA Industries]]'' are created with a similar ability.

** Also from ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' are the [[The Worm That Walks|Slaugth]], an alien race that have a taste for (and a liability to become addicted to) human brains.

* ''[[All Flesh Must Be Eaten]]'', a game entirely about zombies, has "Braaaaaaaains" as an option for a zombie's diet. Because this takes effort and means the zombie needs to eat more people to stay active (as opposed to "All Flesh Must Be Eaten", where they can eat any part), it reduces the zombie's power level.

 

 

== Video Games ==

** By ''beating them into a fine paste and absorbing it with his Cthulhu-tendrils.'' It is awesome.

* Combine Advisors from ''[[Half Life]] 2'' take the memories and knowledge of their victims by consuming their brains. Or at least we assume that's what they're doing. They ram their tongue in through the brainstem. Of course, they are psychic so it could just be some form of alien data transfer rather than NOMNOMNOMKNOWLEDGE.

* The [[Jonathan Coulton]] song quoted at the top of this page is one of the songs that will play on the jukebox in ''[[Left 4 Dead]] 2.'' Despite the fact that the game's zombies don't ''seem'' to eat brains, the song's chorus ("All we wanna do is eat your brains...") summons a horde of them to attack the Survivors.

** [[Word of God]] explains it. The zombies have an advanced form of rabies. Think rabies symptoms x10. This induces insanity, and loud noises and bright lights give them extreme pain. This is why they attack when car alarms are set off, as well as why they attack pipe bombs. It's their way of saying "SHUT UP/TURN THAT LIGHT DOWN, IT HUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTSSSSSS".

** In addition, the game features a take off of [[Pop Cap]]'s ''[[Insaniquarium]]'', where the fish are replaced by snorkel zombies, and the fish food is replaced by brains.

** [[Ear Worm|There's a zombie on your lawn!]]

*** [[Memetic Mutation|DON'T WANT ZOMBIES ON MY LAWN]]

* Uh, ''[[Stubbs the Zombie]]'' anyone?

 

 

** One of her co-workers was revealed to be an actual zombie. She explained that while zombies don't have a particular preference for brains, you are what you eat, and that to keep command of her mental faculties, that's exactly what she eats. Biting into Sam's brain later left her feeling stupider (being a vampire who doesn't much use his brain, he felt just fine.)

* ''[[Something Positive]]'' has a rather funny scene where Davan, contemplating the effect of authors' prejudices upon his ability to enjoy their work, imagines John Gardener returning and asking for "Braaiiins...preferably heterosexual braaaiiins..." A nearby male-male couple indignantly respond, "We're here, we're queer, and our frontal lobes are delicious, asshole!"

** Also a [[wikipedia:P-brane|Stealth]] [[Stealth Pun|Pun]]

** Zombies in OOTS also seem capable of saying nothing but "Brains...". When Xykon re-animates his dead dog in one of the prequel books, the first thing it does is kill a bird and eat its brain.

* In the ''[[Goats]]'' comic, [http://www.goats.com/archive/991108.html one of the characters decides to capitalize on the zombie plague] by selling brains to zombies over the Internet on a site called Brains4Zombies.com. The comic's creators then [[Defictionalized]] the site [http://www.brains4zombies.com/ here].

 

 

* ''[http://www.theonion.com/articles/zombie-nutritionist-recommends-allbrain-diet,1391/ Zombie Nutritionist Recommends All-Brain Diet]'', on ''[[The Onion]]''

* In ''[[Cradleland]]'', the {{spoiler|''ba'thulaz''}} eat brains, preferably those of sapient creatures like humans.

** "he has the voice of a zombie-angel"

** It turns out Zombie Boy is in fact capable of regular speech.

 

== Western Animation ==

** Then there's the first resolution we see between the Brainspawn and the Nibblonians...

*** Also when Lisa tricked Bart and Homer into thinking they had caught leprosy, they shambled to the home of their smart neighbour for his help:

{{quote| '''Bart:''' Braaaaains... braaaaains...<br />

'''Homer:''' Use your brains to help us! Your delicious brains... }}

** And then there was Billy's pet chupacabra...

{{quote| '''Grim:''' I think it's trying to suck his brains out!<br />

'''Mandy:''' Poor thing's gonna starve. }}

* New Comedy Central series ''[[Ugly Americans]]'' features many zombie characters, all of whom seem to have a natural desire to eat human flesh, especially brains. This is [[Played for Laughs]], since the civilized zombies regard brains in much the same way that recovering alcoholics regard booze.

* Subverted on ''[[Phineas and Ferb]].'' The zombies moan for brains, spleens, pancreases, kidneys, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|cucumber sandwiches.]]