Sausage Party, the R-rated animated film starring Seth Rogen as a horny hot dog, is this summer’s funniest movie. It’s also the most environmentally woke!
Just take the premise: Grocery store items discover that getting purchased isn’t a path to paradise, but rather, vicious death. Food preparation is cast as torture, cooking as murder. The only non-personified items in the market—pots, pans, cooking utensils—are tools of destruction. The film is a morality tale, preaching against overconsumption in the tradition of Food Inc. and Super Size Me.
We’ve been anthropomorphizing food since the ‘80s, when animator Will Vinton’s claymation California Raisins launched their career with a hit cover of Marvin Gaye.
“People were afraid [at the time],” Vinton said in April. “There was this unwritten rule in advertising: you don’t represent food as some sort of living and breathing thing.”
However, after the raisins’ breakthrough success, animating food to sell its own demise became normal; I grew up in a generation that gleefully consumed the suicidal self-promotion of Frosted Mini Wheats and Chips Ahoy!Sausage Party plays with this brand of advertising’s visual tropes, spoofing the genre’s (and our) lack of respect for its subjects: food. The film opens with a musical theater piece that could just as easily be a jingle, and characters have the same black-wire limbs and white gloves as the California Raisins and the M&Ms (another Vinton creation).
But the movie flips the script. Instead of casting food as hapless shills, it details the rational thought process of products about to be eaten—to paraphrase: “Shit!”—and the trauma caused by living with that knowledge. Heck, the mustard gets so depressed that he throws himself off a grocery cart before he has the chance to be bought and consumed.
The United States boasts an obesity rate that is double the industrial world average. This is true despite widely available investigations into how corporate agribusiness and processed foods are driving the trend. Instead of statistics and secret footage, Sausage Party offers an alternative reason for self-reflection: Overconsumption destroys not just our lives, but the “lives” of our food products. After all, who really wants to be a processed sausage when you could be a humanely-raised steak? Or better still, a juicy, organic tomato?
The premise of the story revolves around truth-telling—a noble hot dog set on warning his fellow food products about the horrors that await them in the hands of humanity. But in the case of food, we’re often our own worst enemies. Is Sausage Party’s curse-laden horror at consumption in America simply a projection of what we should all be feeling about the state of our food system? It seems that just a quick scan of our eating landscape is deserving of at least a few well-placed swear words.
“No one will believe you,” Firewater, the wizened advice-giver amongst the film’s non-perishables, tells Frank, when he sets off to warn his fellow foodstuffs about their cruel and certain demise. The same could be said for progressive food activists, nutritionists, writers, politicians—are we really listening to them?
“I have to try,” Frank replies. “Everyone will die otherwise.”
As obesity and its side effects continue to claim American lives, the sentiment rings painfully true.
Without spoiling too much, the story ends with revenge—something like a warning shot to humans who refuse to rethink their diet. But the scene is a fantasy. After all, as Firewater says, “Hunger is insatiable, man.”
Parents of young children get more time with them if they work from home.Photo credit: Canva
Juicy subject matter
Giphy from The Blacklist.
We could start a rumor.
Grieving couple comforting each other
This response to someone grieving a friend might be the best internet comment ever
When someone is hit with the sudden loss of a friend or loved one, words rarely feel like enough. Yet, more than a decade ago, a wise Redditor named GSnow shared thoughts so profound they still bring comfort to grieving hearts today.
Originally posted around 2011, the now-famous reply was rediscovered when Upvoted, an official Reddit publication, featured it again to remind everyone of its enduring truth. It began as a simple plea for help: “My friend just died. I don't know what to do.”
What followed was a piece of writing that many consider one of the internet’s best comments of all time. It remains shared across social media, grief forums, and personal messages to this day because its honesty and metaphor speak to the raw reality of loss and the slow, irregular path toward healing.
Below is GSnow’s full reply, unchanged, in all its gentle, wave-crashing beauty:
Why this advice still matters
Mental health professionals and grief counselors often describe bereavement in stages or phases, but GSnow’s “wave theory” gives an image more relatable for many. Rather than a linear process, grief surges and retreats—sometimes triggered by a song, a place, or a simple morning cup of coffee.
In recent years, this metaphor has found renewed relevance. Communities on Reddit, TikTok, and grief support groups frequently reshare it to help explain the unpredictable nature of mourning.
Many readers say this analogy helps them feel less alone, giving them permission to ride each wave of grief rather than fight it.
Finding comfort in shared wisdom
Since this comment first surfaced, countless people have posted their own stories underneath it, thanking GSnow and passing the words to others facing fresh heartbreak. It’s proof that sometimes, the internet can feel like a global support group—strangers linked by shared loss and hope.
For those searching for more support today, organizations like The Dougy Center, GriefShare, and local bereavement groups offer compassionate resources. If you or someone you know is struggling with intense grief, please reach out to mental health professionals who can help navigate these deep waters.
When grief comes crashing like the ocean, remember these words—and hang on. There is life between the waves.
This article originally appeared four years ago.