Star Wars: Rian Johnson Carves Up a Porg Cake to Celebrate 'The Last Jedi'

To celebrate the upcoming release of The Last Jedi on home video, Rian Johnson and many members of [...]

To celebrate the upcoming release of The Last Jedi on home video, Rian Johnson and many members of Disney's marketing team threw a party to honor the film's financial and critical successes. While it may have been a party, the festivities did get somewhat violent when Johnson carved open the head of a porg cake.

In the video, which Johnson posted to his Instagram account, he thanked the marketing team for their efforts and can be heard exclaiming it was "weirdly satisfying" to plunge a knife into the porg.

This behavior seems to contradict his previous attitude towards the critters, having already apologized for a scene in which Chewie roasts one over an open flame.

"He doesn't eat them, I guess, to be fair. That's a small recompense for those poor porgs. Sorry," the director shared with Entertainment Tonight.

Seeing the way fans responded so intensely to the animals made the anticipated reaction to that scene seem even worse.

"It was always there," Johnson pointed out. "So the instant we introduced the porgs and people started joking about recipes for them before the movie came out, I was like, 'Oh boy."

While some may find it disturbing to eat something so adorable, science reportedly has an answer for those compelled to consume the cuddly creature.

According to Professor Oriana R. Aragón, one response to something cute is "playful aggression," a reaction that equates to seeing an adorable baby and claiming "I could just eat you up." Aragón told The Verge, "There is a strong response to cuteness that involves the suggestion of eating the cute being."

Aragón also posits that the brain responding to stimuli that cause an abnormally positive feeling might lead to this playful aggression, similarly to how when someone is incredibly nervous, they have a hard time controlling their laughter.

"My guess would be that people are… playing on that initial impulse to exclaim something about wanting to eat [them up], and taking that impulse to the next step for effect," Aragón explained. "I do not think people are actually wishing that this is a new source of protein."

The Last Jedi hits Digital HD on March 13th and on Blu-ray and DVD on March 27th.

Would you ever eat a porg? Let us know in the comments below!

[H/T Instagram, riancjohnson]

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