The Language Of (Un)Palatability, (In)Digestion And Being Fed (Up) At The Threshold Between The 2 Hs – Humor And Horror – In The Menu

The paper looks at the 2022 film production The Menu, which is a horror comedy that manages to be convincing – we shall argue – because of the smart manner in which language is used. We start from a justification for this idea, finding it in the first scenes. Still in the introductory part, we establish the roles of the main character, Margot, as well as some of the features of her companion, Tyler, and state the functions played by language that shall be followed throughout the whole analysis in the way it is used. The body of the analysis focuses on the terminology specific to the field of food and cooking, looking at the people involved or staff, procedures, insights on the cuisine served and the show that the experience turns out to be, and, last but not least, the descriptions of the courses and the hints that they provide on the situation. The final part of the investigation bearing on the dishes is not only descriptive, assessing the lexis, but also looking into the intricacies of language use, namely its psychological effects and subtle impact, the way in which it blends horror and humor, boosts tension gradually, and creates reality at the threshold of competing outlooks on fine dining which see it as either deserving art or arrogant nonsense. The approach is a blend of linguistics and cultural studies, with a focus on the collaboration between language and psychology, paying attention to how the former creates the dynamic of the other.