Why did those people eat Sebastian? I did not get that. I love the movie and have read the play and watched it many times...but why did they? He threw money at them. They should have gone and bought food or something.
I am confused...
WARNING: I'M SEXY!
I think Sebastian's death was arranged by him, as his last act of poetry.
It's mentioned in the film that Sebastian spends some time in Tibet (with his mother). The manner of his death is very similar to the Tibetan sky burrial, where bodies are left on high cliffs for the vultures to eat.
His mother was with him in Tibet. As his cousin finishes telling the story of his death, Sebastian's mother closes his empty poem book. I think she understood his death to be his poem for the summer.
[deleted]
I agree with stratis and would only add that I don't believe they literally ate him, but DID tear him apart-- a little bit of over the top symbolism. The whole work is a bit over the top, but no less brilliant. As Violet related it, the incident comes across (to me, anyhoo) that it only appeared to her that he'd been "devoured". The foreshadowing of the "sky funeral" in Tibet and Sebastian's demise support the "devouring" aspect, and I think it wasn't meant to be literal. I'd also add that it may have been a means of gaining some sort of sick and twisted redemption by a sick and twisted man. I've seen this film several times and another layer always seems to come away. Maybe I've seen it too much, but this last viewing and after reading the "summer poem" comment by stratis really reinforced that to me.
share[deleted]