Blog 12

Reflecting back on my blogs that I have written this semester I realized how much food can impact a person and the movie itself.  When I watch movies I never really payed attention to the food and how it has such a big impact in it. The films that we watched in the class I never would have watched on my own. The material that we covered helped me learn that there is a deeper meaning in the film than what we are presented with. The material covered in class really drew my attention to the food aspect of the movies and how it can effect a person or the overall film. I did spend time reading the required movie. My favorite film we watched this semester was Como agma para chocolate. This was my favorite film because it showed how the daughters cooking of rose petal chicken affected each character differently. One daughter ran away from home after eating it and the mother actually showed emotion for once throughout the film after taking a bite. It showed how food can change a person after they eat it.

Blog 10

The relationship between the two brothers starts off strong but then starts to diminish throughout the running of the restaurant. Their attitudes change throughout the movie because one brother wanted to keep the traditional Italian style meals while the other wants to adapt to the American culture. Keeping the Italian way is having large meals before the actual meal comes to your table. It also occurred when a customer wanted spaghetti and meatballs but the meatballs would be charged separately. The other brother wanted to adapt to the American way by saying the customer is always right and that they have to adapt not the people.

blog 9

On Sunday we celebrate Easter to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. This year we have to improvise on the celebration because of quarantine. My family and I still ate what would have normally at easter but not with our family surrounding us. We had T-bone steaks and baked potatoes and just cracked jokes or discussed what was going on in the world. Catholic soul food and African-American soul food are common in different ways. Both of them celebrate dinner with the family and they are traditions of which food we eat. All the foods cooked are home made and are made from people who have experience cooking the food. This is demonstrated in the films.  Balthrope says "One the established chef and the other aspiring chef, they gain satisfaction from cooking Latino dishes for loved ones." This relates to catholics because we are taught to help and love everyone. My dad always takes pride in cooking for everyone, he always makes sure everyone gets fed and if theirs extra he invites the neighbors over to have some food this way they can be apart of the celebration. My brother and some of my cousins stand next to the grill when my dad is cooking this way they can see how the food comes out and what makes it so good. In the films food is what brings the families together even through hardships. Food is what is keeping everyone together through these days. Soul food is the only thing keeping it glued together.

Blog 8

The two movies Eat Drink Man Woman and Tortilla soup both enforce a rule that the family sits down to eat dinner together every Sunday. Eat Drink Man is a Chinese film and Tortilla soup is based on a Latino family. Both films have a similar opening sequence showing the fathers of the families cooking food for Sunday dinner than the rest of the family members going about their lives.  The ending of the movies show the daughters being pregnant and one of them deciding not to go abroad. In tortilla soup you can't tell where the film is located right away but in Eat Drink Man Woman you can tell it takes place in a Chinese theme right away. In both films the daughters move in with their boyfriends and both the middle children decide to quit their jobs to open up a restaurant. The oldest daughters of the families both find love with coworkers of theirs. The main differences in the films is the food they cook. In Tortilla soup they grill the food they cook unlike in Eat Drink Man Woman where they fry and steam the food. The films are really similar and the storyline is the same in both films. The only difference between the films is the locations in which they take place and the characters.

Blog 7

In the film Chocolat Vianna opens a chocolate shop in the countryside in France. The film shows how she guys from being a nobody to a valued citizen of the town. Chocolate has always been apart of her culture as we learn that she comes from a background of mayan descent. Vianna can be classified as a Shaman who's duty is to provide spiritual healing.We discover this because she shown using the chocolate for healing and medical purposes. Mayans used this as a spiritual practice. She connects with her heritage through the use of chocolate. Another way we discover that Vianna has Mayan descent is through her habits. She has a tendency to wander around like her ancestors used to. Vianna is able to diagnose her customers issues and then be able to prescribe them the correct cure for their issues. Vianna also helps people without prescribing chocolate as a treatment. She begins teaching Josephine and gives Josephine back her dignity.

Blog 6

In the film "Whats Cooking" the Avila's put the  stuffing put inside the turkey and the Nguyen's covered half the turkey with spice and sauce traditional to where they are from.  The Nguyen's have spring rolls that they hand roll, the William's have a non-traditions,  and the Avila's have hand made tortillas and tamales as their side dishes. Each family took the American holiday and made the feast their own tradition by putting their own twist to it.The film "What's Cooking?" shows a range of cultural  through out the movie. There is a Vietnamese, Hispanic, Jewish, and African-American family all in one neighborhood. The movie shows scenes how different cultures celebrate the American holiday Thanksgiving. Each family explores  how they fuse their cultural and ethnic identity in America. The beginning of the movie starts with a scene of a white family sitting around a dinner table with the main course on the table; a turkey. The scene then changes to a bus full of people from all different backgrounds, showing a difference between what is typically expected from the opening shot. Each family throughout the movie, even  though they come from different backgrounds, have a turkey that is supposed to sit at the center of the table.

Blog 5

In the film Como agama para chocolate the role of food played a role in personal and national identities. The way food impacted the characters personal identities is the way they acted after they ate the food that Tita had cooked. When Tita had received the roses from Pedro she thought about cooking the rose petal chicken. When everyone took a bite of the rose petal chicken everyone had a different reaction to it. When Mama Elena took a bite of the chicken she said it was to salty because she never shows emotion in front of her children but Tita could see that she really enjoyed the food. When Pedro took a bite of it he said right away that it was the best food he has ever had. Gertrudis after she took a bite became horny at the dinner table. She ended going to the shower to continue and while she was doing that the rebel leader was able to sense that she was in trouble and came to rescue her. The way food impacted national identities is when Tita went to the doctor she ate different food there than what she would eat at her house. When she was at her house she would eat corn tortillas.

Blog Entry 4

In the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green takes place in a densely overpopulated, starving New York City of the future, NYPD detective Robert Thorn  investigates the murder of an executive at rations manufacturer Soylent Corporation. With the help of elderly academic Solomon "Sol" Roth. Thorn begins to make real progress -- until the governor mysteriously pulls the plug. Obsessed with the mystery, Thorn steps out from behind the badge and launches his own investigation into the murder. he role of food has a metaphorical meaning in the film. The "Metaphorical Meaning of Food" in the film Soylent Green is food is treated prosaically or as a mere prop to help the spectator engage with the story line; something to add a sense of completeness to the leap of imagination needed to believe in the cinematic illusion of a future world. This shows that food in was the main focus in Soylent Green because food was scarce during this time and the people living the slums were only able to survive on rations meanwhile the rich were able to have real food and not live on the rations. The film revolved around food because if the owner of the rations wasn't executed no one would've known that dead bodies were being put into the rations and that the political officials were having all the real food for themselves. If I was Detective Thorn situation I wouldn't be afraid to expose what was really in the rations. I would hope that by telling people they will revolt against the upper class. I would not be afraid of getting threatened  by the government for exposing what really was in the rations.

Blog 2

In the film Babette's Feast the main idea of Power of Food and the Protestant Ethics were presented throughout the film. The power of food was displayed throughout the film when Babette cooked up a meal for the village. The general of the army was in attendence for this meal. The general was the only that had commented on the food that Babette cooked for them. The general said the meal had reminded him of a cafe he ate at over 30 years ago. It had that turned out Babette used to cook in that cafe until the war broke out. Another the power of food was presented in the film is when Babette had gone back to Paris for a little bit. Babette used to cook really good meals and everyone in the village enjoyed her cooking but when she left to go back to Paris for a little the cooking started taking a decline and everyone disliked the cooking. Everyone enjoyed Babette's cooking so much that they begged her to stay and cook for them since they really enjoyed her cooking. The way Protestant ethics is portrayed in the film is during the anniversary dinner for the death of the pastor. During the scene when everyone was at the dinner they agreed not to say anything about her cooking. They did this because it is against the protestant way to use stuff that isn't theirs. They really wanted to say something about the cooking but they knew they couldn't.

I chose Reel food and World Cinema as a class for the Spring 2020 semester. I chose it because it caught my eye that food can be a big part of a film. I didn't know that food and film communicate information about our political and economic aspirations, ethnic and religious values and even sexual and philosophical identities. Social, cultural and historical issues also play apart in how we view films. The way food is portrayed in the film plays an important role in the film structure, character development and film themes makes me realize how the littlest details can impact a film so much. What I am hoping to accomplish in this course is to look at the way food is portrayed in films a different way.  I would also like to learn how they thought of using food as a way to portray different things. My favorite food film is Ratatouille. Ratatouille is my favorite because it shows how even though being in a kitchen is rodent free he still cooked. Even though he is a rat he still did what he loved. He managed to make really delicious dishes that impressed the food critics.