SAUSAGE PARTY: FOODTOPIA. Pixar with syphilis in an upgraded version

In 2016, a provocative comedy about the adventures of sausages hit the big screens, featuring humor of a low-brow, fecal-genital nature. The idea was novel enough for the film to make a decent amount of money, despite its unimpressive animation. It floored audiences with its over-the-top jokes, which likely shocked many but also provided a creative outlet for our culturally uptight sensibilities, much like what “The Boys” do today. Eight years later, Amazon Prime released a continuation of this “Pixar with syphilis,” undoubtedly aiming to outdo the full-length film’s level of raunchiness. If you were a fan of the “old” Sausage Party, you won’t be disappointed with the new one, as the jokes are even more outrageous, and the animation has improved somewhat. Therefore, I encourage you to embark on this sausage-filled adventure.

If you’re expecting Pixar-quality animation, you’ll be disappointed, as the titular syphilis plays a significant role here. The animation is more symbolic, and the backgrounds are much less polished. The budget for the series wasn’t large. The creators tried to make up for the visual shortcomings with the script, which worked to some extent, if viewers can break through the thick shell of perverted jokes. A strong and adult imagination is also needed to even conceive of a talking sausage. From the series, we learn that food has consciousness, and we should be aware of that when we put it in our mouths, as it can be quite harmful. This statement sounds particularly dirty in the context of the series, especially after a mind-blowing scene where all kinds of food, once freed, start copulating with each other. I never imagined an orange could have its contents sucked out through something resembling an anus, but such metaphorical images were born in the minds of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Forget about good taste, as the goal is to get rid of it. The scene of rummaging through human excrement in search of a piece of corn that bravely withstood the digestive system will make this clear. I can understand that for a considerable group of viewers, this series will be unwatchable, but I hope they at least appreciate the novelty of the concept.

The world presented is Earth, but after an apocalypse where food has become independent of humans. Food products attacked shoppers in stores and, surprisingly, defeated them. However, the long-awaited freedom for food isn’t so happy, as not only humans but also animals hunt them. Even rain is a deadly enemy to sandwiches, fruits, and especially cream cookies and unwrapped ice creams. Nothing is as it seemed. Additionally, food shares similar emotions to the hated humans. From episode to episode, the creators skillfully depict, amidst jokes about screwing and sucking, how society is built and gradually falls apart. It doesn’t matter whether it’s humans, self-aware birds shitting on them, or a crazy sausage that controls its victims by entering their rear and pulling their testicles. I hope I’ve sufficiently “encouraged” you to watch at least one episode. The beginnings may be shocking, but Rogen and his team don’t want to drown viewers in tons of perverted jokes. They want to show something more, to tell the story of the fall of a civilization of conscious beings, whether they are food or homo sapiens. The rules of this apocalypse are the same.

The characters are voiced by stars like Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, Edward Norton, and others. Most of them are known for their roles in raunchy and provocative productions, so they had no trouble lending their voices to a sausage, a hot dog bun, and a sausage that want to create a food paradise on Earth exclusively for themselves while exterminating humans. In this world, the most valuable loot will be teeth, a metaphor for human conquests. The stronger ones raped, murdered, and collected trophies, and teeth and skulls were extremely valuable mementos and even currency. Food also collects such votive traces of former life, not realizing they are building a social system identical to the one they overthrew.

In this Foodtopia, there is no place for an idyll, paradise, or a better world – only the necessity of existence and prolonging that existence, and this is perhaps the bitter conclusion of Sausage Party. It may be hard to grasp if you only look at the provocative layer of the series. Behind this mask, however, there is a moral, as in a fairy tale, only this time intended for adults. If you want to start a revolution, it’s worth having a plan for what will happen when the enemies are truly gone because then you’ll have to live normally. But will that be possible? And at what cost? Forgetting ideas, becoming an animal, or maybe something worse?