Call a Human a Meatbag: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:meatbag1 4141.jpg|link=VG Cats|frame|Cat, human, [[Tropes Are Flexible|equally meaty.]]]]
 
 
{{quote|"Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!"
"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?"|"[[They're Made Out of Meat|Theyre Made Out of Meat]]"}}
|"[[They're Made Out of Meat]]"}}
 
{{quote|'''Red Volcano''': "Worthless humans."
'''M'gann''' and '''Superboy''': "<small>WE'RE NOT HUMAN</small>!"
'''Red Volcano''': "Apologies. Perhaps the more inclusive term would be 'meatbags'."|''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' }}
|''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' }}
 
When humans are referred to as "meatbags" or as otherwise meaty things by non-meaty beings. Another but equally valid version, largely in the case of aliens, is that the term is used not as an intentional slur, but simply to express shock or novelty, or because the alien does not have another term sufficient to describe us. These examples still count as this trope because they may still be interpreted as insults by humans (including the audience). In fact, this may be played for laughs.
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{{examples}}
== Comics --[[Comic Books]] ==
 
== Comics -- Books ==
* ''[[Batman]]'': Poison Ivy has been known to trot these out in the comics.
* In ''[[Nextwave]]'' Machine Man calls humans "fleshy ones".
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{{quote|'''Durge:''' May the Force be with you, Meatbag.}}
 
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In ''[[The Return]]'', Ranma is upset when one of his/her demonic "daughters" refers to humans as "meatbags".
 
== Films -- Live-Action[[Film]] ==
* The Bug "Edgar" from ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'' uses several of these including, "monkey boy", "meat-sack", "milk-suckers", and "unevolved, undeveloped, barely conscious pond scum totally convinced of their own superiority as they scurry about their short pointless lives."
 
== [[Literature]] ==
 
* Short story "[[They're Made Out of Meat|Theyre Made Out of Meat]]" by Terry Bisson is an amusing example that is played with. A spaceship crew is studying a new planet and has found that the dominant species is "made of meat" and that they "talk by flapping their meat at each other." As the story continues, {{spoiler|it becomes clear that the protagonists are aliens studying Earth and humans. They decide that no being made entirely of meat could possibly be worth studying and decide to sweep their results under the rug without letting the brass know. Differs slightly in that calling humans meat isn't so much derogatory to the characters as it is novel.}}
== Literature ==
* Short story "[[They're Made Out of Meat|Theyre Made Out of Meat]]" by Terry Bisson is an amusing example that is played with. A spaceship crew is studying a new planet and has found that the dominant species is "made of meat" and that they "talk by flapping their meat at each other." As the story continues, {{spoiler|it becomes clear that the protagonists are aliens studying Earth and humans. They decide that no being made entirely of meat could possibly be worth studying and decide to sweep their results under the rug without letting the brass know. Differs slightly in that calling humans meat isn't so much derogatory to the characters as it is novel.}}
* The White Court Vampires of ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' refer to mortals as "kine" because they see humans as little more than herd animals for them to eat.
** They also refer to wizards as "freaks," as Harry explains "If you saw a cow that could shoot lightning at you, you'd be freaked out too."
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* In the ''[[Skinned]]'' series, the mechs (humans who had [[Brain Uploading|their brains uploaded]] into androids after their actual bodies are destroyed) call humans "orgs", as in "organic".
 
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
 
* In an episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', the universal translator interprets a silicon-based lifeform's name for humans as "ugly giant bags of mostly water". Data admits the "mostly water" part is indeed an accurate description of a human.
== Live-Action TV ==
* In an episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', the universal translator interprets a silicon-based lifeform's name for humans as "ugly giant bags of mostly water".
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': Spike on more than one occasion referred to living humans as "walking Happy Meals."
** [[Eldritch Abomination|Glory]] has a tendency to actually refer to humans as 'meatbags'.
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* In ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', demons tend to refer to the human bodies they possess as "meat suits". ''Angels'' with contempt for humans refer to us all as "mud monkeys".
 
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
 
== Tabletop Games ==
* More callous vampires from the ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' series have a tendency to call mortals "juicebags", since in their minds, all we're good for is sustenance. More cultured vampires say "kine" (as in the archaic word for cattle).
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
 
== Video Games ==
* Statement: HK-47 in ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' is very fond of the term "meatbag" when describing living beings. Possibly the [[Trope Codifier]] for that specific insult.
** Clarification: Interestingly, it didn't start out as a slur for the [[Fantastic Racism|entire race]]. HK-47, during a heated argument, called {{spoiler|Darth Malak}} a meatbag, and {{spoiler|Darth Revan}} found it so hilarious that he programmed the Droid to refer as such to all humans.
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* One of the insults available to Bots in ''[[Tribes 2]]'' is to call the other players ''"Inefficient Meat Bags."''
* A rare "not intended as an insult" example - when ''[[Star Control II]]'''s Slylandro are bid farewell with "Goodbye, Slylandro gas bags!" they cheerfully reply "Goodbye, human fluid sack!"
* In ''[[Maple Story]]'', the fugitive robot One-Eye calls your character "Squishy" - as a ''compliment''. (He's [[Cloudcuckoolander| a little spacy]].) Later, all the fugitive robots in Haven call you that, also as a compliment.
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
 
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[Beyond the Canopy]]'', a [[Dem Bones|skeleton soldier]] refers to several living opponents, regardless of species, as "skinbags".
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'', when Xykon has a [[Villainous Breakdown]] due to the loss of his [[Soul Jar|phylactery]], he refers to Vaarsuvius and O-Chul as "sickening pouches of warm goo."
** He also calls Roy a meatbag in their first encounter.
** He did this in [[Start of Darkness]] after realizing his transformation into a lich {{spoiler|robbed him of his sense of taste, so he can't enjoy coffee anymore.}} He kills everyone else in the diner in a fit of [[Tranquil Fury]] and nearly kills Right-eye and Redcloak, calling them fluid-filled sacks of organs.
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* In ''[[Troops of Doom]]'', the tiny Legonians refer to humans as "longshanks".
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
 
== Western Animation ==
* Bender of ''[[Futurama]]'' is fond of the term "meatbag".
* ''[[Transformers]]'' gave us such pejorative names as "Fleshlings", "Puny Earth Creatures", "Earth Germs", "Organics", "Squishies" and "Stubbies". A lot of Transformers (particularly Decepticons) have a rather dim view of humanity.
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* The ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' kids get called humans by Red Volcano; Red Tornado's younger brother. Superboy (Kryptonian clone) and Miss Martian (Martian) point out that they're not human. [[You Fight Like a Cow|Volcano apologizes, and says he presumes the inclusive term is "meatbag".]]
** In season 2, the Light's mysterious new partner has a penchant for calling people "meat".
* In ''[[Inhumanoids]]'', subterranean races refer to humans as "fleshlings"; the friendlier ones do make an effort to use the correct word once they're told what it is.
 
{{reflist}}