Weird Question

This is going to sound really strange and/or creepy, but I'm just wondering what you guys think.

Do you think it's possible to make a cannibal a sympathetic protagonist and pull it off successfully?

Doesn't sound too far fetched. They've already done it with vampires and serial killers, so that's the logical next step.

What's their attitude towards cannibalism? Are they "Man, I love eating people!" or are they more reluctant about it, or even forced into cannibalism?

edited 19th May '11 9:33:40 PM by Five_X

I'm assuming you don't mean a cannibal by necessity. The most obvious solutions I see are to have them chow down on Asshole Victims, make them charming, witty, and charismatic, and/or give them a Freudian Excuse.

If it is by some physiological necessity, you need only emphasize their penchant for Asshole Victims and you're good to go.

edited 19th May '11 9:37:09 PM by KillerClowns

Even a "Man I love eating people!" character can be made a protagonist if you're writing comedy or aiming for a Villain Protagonist.

A lot of stranger things have been done, so why not? As long as the character is a good character, fully fleshed and developed, and you don't fully focus on his cannibalism, then you should be fine. His cannibalism should still be a major part of who his character is, but there should be other aspects of his character as well. He still loves, and feels, and hurts. He just happens to be a part of a culture in which eating people is considered acceptable.

@Five X. I'm thinking about different examples for different characters. Like, one character being forced to cannibalize others after being stranded due to an expedition in Siberia that's gone terribly wrong. And another character's a kind of Dexter-like guy who hunts down other criminals and eats them. Basically it's up and down the range of attitudes you mentioned.

Then yes, you very probably could pull it off, but make sure, since you're including multiple cannibals, to show some that aren't sympathetic to contrast with the sympathetic ones, to make each look worse and better, respectively, and to avoid the Unfortunate Implications that people might take from having only sympathetic cannibals, like thinking you're trying to convince people into that lifestyle or something. :P

Well, it's not so much multiple cannibals in one story so much as different situations I may use later.

edited 19th May '11 11:38:56 PM by Catarrh

It would help more if you give more context, especially your universe.