Reel Food & World Cinema

In Lasse Hallstr öm's 2000 film Chocolat , food represents the pleasures the people of the small town are being denied. For Josephine, it's freedom from her husband and the ability to be her own person. For Luc, it's freedom from his mother and Armande is denied the right to see her grandson. Vianne Rocher is apart of a Shamanic Legacy, which is very present in her character throughout the film. As a Shaman, Vianne's role in the film is to act as a clairvoyant of sorts. When people enter her shop she has them spin a wheel and uses what they see as a basis for what kind of chocolate they need. She refers to the wheel as a game and tells them she can guess their favorite chocolate off their answers, but I think it's more based on their answers, she is able to understand what chocolate will help them on a deeper level within their lives. In Food, Film and Culture , James Keller writes "The Shaman searches for the lost soul to capture and return." (Keller) ...

In Gurinder Chadha's 2001 film  What's Cooking  holiday traditions, multiculturalism, and ethnic identity are all presented through the 4 families and the various struggles faced by each member of said families. Holiday traditions are shown through the film as something the older generation wants to keep but the younger generation wishes to change. This is most evident in the Williams family, especially between Grace and Audrey. Grace, the grandmother of the family, wishes to keep Thanksgiving the way it was when she was still raising Ronald. She mentions how she always cooked 2 turkeys, and the house was always filled with families, not friends. Audrey changes this tradition by changing the stuffing in the turkey and inviting friends to spend the holidays with them. Multiculturalism applies to the films ability to show various cultures in LA, but can be specifically applied to the Avila family and the Nguyen family.  When Gina brings Jimmy Nguyen home, the Avila family i...

Last Tuesday in class, Dr. McNichols gave a lecture on the history of Mexico and its culture, especially focusing on the food. Her main focus, or at least what I thought was most important, was the Aztec's history, various Spanish foods, and the Mexican Revolution, which I now know was heavily inspired by the French Revolution. For some reason, I know a lot about the French Revolution, but I never knew about its impact on the world, or that it was connected in some way to the Mexican Revolution. Dr. McNichols's lecture was connected to Alfonso Arau's  Like Water for Chocolate,  or  Como Agua Para Chocolate , due to the period in which the film was set. We learned about the Mexican Revolution which lasted until 1917, which coincides with the start of the film in 1910. The de la Garza family lives on a ranch close to the border, and it's clear that this is a place affected by the revolution. The change in the social order that we learned about from Dr. McNichols during a ...