Papillon question?

[salutetomyshorts]

Does anyone know what "gorillas are for eating" means?
Does it mean exactly what it says?
Or is there some kind of hidden symbolism in there that I'm just not clever enough to figure out?

This is a debated topic in my family.. and my four year old sister refuses to believe that it's "gorillas are for eating" just because she says it "doesn't make sense," so she chooses to sing it as "the rules are for eating." Bahaha. So yea.. if anyone could help me out, I would really appreciate it!

:]]]
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Razors pain you, rivers are damp, acid stains you, drugs cause cramps, guns aren't lawful, nooses give, gas smells awful, you might as well live.

[L]

Maybe it symbolizes that the value we place on things like endangered animals is kind of overrated, because the human condition is suffering and should outweigh concern for the animals.

Or maybe gorillas are just some damn tasty meat.

[neverending]

[Jennilynn]

I thought it was an HIV/AIDS reference. There was a rumor that it was caused by someone eating a gorilla.
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* jEnNi LyNn *

[salutetomyshorts]

Ha. Thanks for the responses.. I guess it's just a thing to be interpreted differently by different people..
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Razors pain you, rivers are damp, acid stains you, drugs cause cramps, guns aren't lawful, nooses give, gas smells awful, you might as well live.

[brifromtheinternet]

Papillon:
Based on the true story of Henri Charriere, also known as Papillon, which is French for 'butterfly' (the character even sports a large tattoo of a butterfly. A petty criminal, Papillon is wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in a French penal colony in 'Guiane' (French Guiana, South America). Papillon is determined to escape but attempt after attempt meets with difficulty, resulting in eventual recapture. He continues his attempts to escape despite incarcerations in solitary confinement as punishment.

"And Daga stayed on the farm
Though he found no cause for alarm
It was a hell of a swim but he still had two good arms "

Daga is played by Dustin Hoffman.


my answer: i believe that "gorillas are for eating" means gorrilla warfare. from what i can tell, jenny is writing about the great escape, and relating it to her own love life...

PS. alt.com is a porn site- don't make the same mistake that i did
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when god gives you AIDS, make lemonAIDS.

[chemicalstress]

I always thought the song was full of little pieces of conversation between Blake Jenny and Morgan...it sounds like "Gorillas are for eating" is something someone would say only in a certain context so it sounds funny to take it out of that context and put it in a song. Maybe? The AIDS idea is interesting though. And as for the gorilla warfare...I think it's guerilla warfare.

[HeallateR]

[Nepenthe]

i agree with that it is bits and pieces of conversation between 2 or 3 people, and I don't think the song is ABOUT the movie, but its a long movie, and following it can be a headache, so they are just catching up about it. its a very vague recap, and "gorillas are for eating" are random things that people could say in a "deep" conversation, and there is this unspoken uncomfortableness between the male character and the female character. there are conversations, but then there are these thoughts or else it is what the conversation transforms into.... im not sure

it's probably a giant metaphor that i will never be able to understand
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http://www.last.fm/user/NeppyK8/

[bello_misterioso]

[InShiningArmor]

I remember an episode of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood here he was eating some kind of frozen treat in the shape of a gorilla, that was the first thing I thought when I heard it. I remember how be explained it wasn't a real gorilla, and how he only ate a little and put it back in the freezer.

[binky1984]

[wanderlust]

[Rilokileyfan21]

So...I've seen it spelled two ways. The first way I saw it spelled was 'Papillan' (with an 'a') which would make sense because it IS a spanish name so you would say it that way when saying it in spanish...but everyone spells it with an 'o'. I don't get it.....*sigh*...
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We shift eachothers body to accept the bullet.

[Rilokileyfan21]

[Nepenthe]

[Rilokileyfan21]

[Heather]

[Heather]

[Rilokileyfan21]

Yeah, I figured that out from reading into it. It's just weird though because I actually know a mexican guy named Papillan (with an 'a') so I assumed it was a hispanic name.
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We shift eachothers body to accept the bullet.

[nymersic]

Sorry for opening up a dead thread folks, but I believe I figured it out. I felt obliged to post as the question had bugged me, too...

@salutetomyshorts: I must say, I heard "the rules are for eating" originally too, so your then-four-year-old sister wasn't crazy...
So, I'm pretty sure this had nothing to do with environmentalism or guerilla warfare, or with Papillon at all. I believe it's a reference to another movie. I originally considered Planet Of The Apes (1968), as that was directed by the same guy as Papillon.

I think the real answer is in Tarantino's movie True Romance ('93). The main character, Clarence, played by Christian Slater, offers an animal cracker a guy. He accepts and takes one. Clarence stops him from eating it, telling him to put it back, saying "Save the gorillas." The other guy gives an "oh forget it, I didn't want an animal cracker anyway..." look.
Now, I think this theory is cemented by the lines that follow "Gorillas are for eating": "Don't you know it's true / I fell in love with you", referring to the movie's title, True Romance. Also, the next lines "And don't you think it's sad / 'cause here we both stand / admidst the wreckage of our past" are reminiscent of both the movies Papillon and True Romance (though True Romance refuses to give the terrible wreckage a "sad" feeling, but that's trademark Tarantino - the characters mourn nothing). Of course, their early work, especially on The Initial Friend, contained a ton of movie references (that's what the whole song 'Sword' is about).

And on a side note: both of those movies are excellent; if you've never watched them before, I recommend them.

[Caspar]