User:10000BL/H2-Film & Food: How food is use to convey a message

The genre of food films is maybe less present than popular genres like Action or Horror. Yet much can be said when it comes to food and how it appears in films. Every genre follows a certain structure and consists of certain semantic elements that makes up the genre. For the genre of Food it can mean 1) that food is present of food in a wide variety of ways, 2) the storyline is based around a chef and 3) that the narrative of the film depict its characters negotiating questions of identity, relationship and culture among others through food (Bower, footnote, page). The film's focus lies on the preparation and presentation of food and this results in closeups and panning shots of the food. Also the restaurant setting or a wide array of shots of a kitchen as well as from shops where the food is prepared can often be seen in films that fall in the genre of Food.

The assigning of a film to the genre of Food is difficult and subjective. Often films contain scenes where food is present, but many of them are perceived not to be in the genre of food. A good example of a film that is not seen as a film within the genre of Food, but which contains important scenes involving food, is The Hours (Daldry, footnote, 2002). The film follows the lives of three women that are all connected by the book Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. All are somehow unhappy in their relationship and deal with emotions of suicide. In two distinctive scenes food acts as a conveyor of deep emotions. In the first scene Laura, played by Julianne Moore, wants to make a cake for her husband's birthday. To make a cake is important for her, because it is the way to show him her love. Yet, as a viewer you notice easily that her love for him disappeared already a long time ago. Not surprisingly, the cake is a failure and this cake is a metaphor for the feelings Laura misses in the relationship. Her second attempt to make a cake succeeds only after she discovers her feelings for her female neighbour. The kiss that follows enables her to make the perfect cake (for her husband). In another scene Clarrisa, played by Meryl Streep, throws plates with expensive food in the trash bin. This wasting of food is a metaphor to process the loss of Richard, who committed suicide after revealing his feelings of love for Clarissa (Footnote minutes).

Like in The Hours, filmmakers often turn to food to communicate important aspects of character's emotions, personal and cultural identity (Bower, footnote, page). Even though a film is not about food from its base, food still can play an important role in conveying feelings and emotions. Bower (footnote page) explains that it was because of Terasa de Lauretis that we understand the power of cinema when it comes to production and reproduction of meanings, values and ideology. Food is a conveyer that can be used in many ways and can stand for many emotions, both implicit and explicit. Food in film can act in such a way that it tells us who we are, what we stand for and what we treasure. It can speak easily about love, identity, culture and relationship. Part of the real, according to Bower (footnote page), we grasp is in food imagery. How food is coded, whether it plays a major or minor role, it is often a major ingredient in how we perceive the film.

A film that has a strong connotation with food shows a broad exploration of how food exists within a certain culture. By this it gives viewers an insight in ethnic foodways. With foodways is meant the pattern of what is eaten, when, how and what it means (footnote Balthrope, page). For my research it is more important to highlight certain ethnic foodways than to investigate the genre of food films as a whole. This means that classic films that are assigned typically to the genre of Food, like Tucci's Big Night (1996, footnote) or Hallström's Chocolat (footnote, 2000) are not addressed further in this thesis/chapter. Instead, central films for my research are Itami's Tampopo (1985,footnote) and Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman (1994, footnote). Taken into account my graduation project In Search for Perfect Orange, the choice for these films is obvious.

When I started to develop ideas for video works, I had to learn how food is depicted in film and what it means or stance for. If I was only interested in how food aesthetically can be captured on film, the observation of TV-shows dealing with food would be sufficient. Eat Drink Man Woman starts beautifully with a five minute long homage to the Chinese kitchen and its elaborated techniques (footnote, describing what is seen). If you are font on food, this is one of the films that is a must see. The film continuous to show scenes of cooking attractive dishes and food is clearly in many facets an important element in the film. The film tells the story of a single father and his three daughters who live under one roof. The daughters differ much in career and interests, but are all struggling with attracting a partner and the interpersonal relationships. Important are the weekly sunday dinners, where father Chu cooks extensively and visually beautifully, yet were taste of the dishes is of (meerdere foodnotes, minutes, what happens). Key during the sunday dinners are the announcements that are made in the film. Each announcements leads to a rupture in the structure of this family (3 footnotes, minutes and waht happens). Throughout the film we learn that chef Chu is losing his taste for food and that second daughter Jia-Chien shares the same passion for food as her father. Instead of a career in business Jia-Chien actually dream is to become a chef, like her father. Yet somehow her father is not supporting this idea, in the meantime she is offered a high ranked position in Amsterdam from the Airline company she is working for. The last announcements is made by Chu himself. Again Chu cooks extensively however this time his technique is failing. He leaves pan fall out of his hands and he miss cuts the watermelon. Besides the daughters and their husbands are also Mrs. Liang, young woman Jin-Rong and her daughter Shan Shan invited for the dinner. During his long announcement Chu reveals that he is already for some time in a relationship with Jin-Rong and asks her mother Mrs. Liang if he could mary her daughter. The dinner ends in a big drama with everybody leaving the house except Jia-Chien, she looks sad. In the following scene we see Jia-Chien cooking Asian cuisine in what appears a Western kitchen. The scene reveals she is in Amsterdam and it seems she in the end accepted the offer from her work (footnote, explain that it contradicts to tea scene+minute). Towards the end of the film we see a pregnant Jin-Rong living with Chu in a newly build home. Chu gets on a cab and is driven to his old house. On the door of the house is a leaflet stitched that translates 'sold'. He gets of the cab, hesitates to use his old key and rings the bell. Jia-Chien opens the door. Somewhat shy he enters his former house. It looks empty and clearly needs some decoration. It looks like Jia-Chien just moved in from Amsterdam. In her kitchen she cooks the dishes she learned from her father. At the table she serves him soup. An argument between Chu and Jia-Chien starts about the amount of ginger, when the both realise that Chu has his taste back. He asks for more soup, which Jia-Chien serves him. Then Chu grabs her hand and whispers 'daughter' when Jia-Chien replies with 'father'.

Itami's self proclaimed Ramen Western (footnote, trailer youtube), Tampopo is a film that tells the story of young woman Tampopo, who is the owner of Ramen noodle shop Lai Lai. Unfortunately the business of Tampopo's shop is doing not so well and the taste of the Ramen are not as it should be. Truckdrivers Goro and Gun decide to help Tampopo. Through extensive trainings of preparing Ramen, advices from masters and spying at competitors' shop, Tampopo finally learns how to cook the perfect Ramen. This main storyline is interspersed by several sketches that tell little stories about and around food involving characters from different social background (footnote, sketches, minutes).

Tampopo consists of many scenes where food is shown, prepared and consumed. The choice for the food is interesting and it looks like Itami has chosen the food with great care to express multiple layers of social reality within Japan (footnote Ashkenayi, page). The major food in the film is noodles. Rice, Japanese staple, is only shown twice. The choice of noodles over rice is not accidental. Noodles have a less formal context than rice and take only a small part in Japanese kitchen as a whole. Ashkenazi explains that Japanese eat a wide array of noodles that fall within three classes: 1) Japanese-style noodles, 2) noodles of Chinese origin and 3) European noodles (e.g. spaghetti). Japanese-style noodles come roughly in two major classes: Soba, which are thin buckwheat noodles) and Udon (thick wheat noodles). Ramen noodles are actually Chinese from origin and are made of egg flour (footnote, page). Noodles are consumed eleven times in the film and only once Japanese noodles is consumed. Also once it is European in the form of Spaghetti, the rest of the times noodles of Chinese origin are consumed (footnote, page).

Almost all relationships and social issues are expressed in the film through individual's relationship to food. Seduction is portrayed through the eating of an oyster out of the palm of a little girl's hand, which leads to a kiss (footnote, min). The same gangster is seen twice with his mistress in which sexuality is expressed by the erotic use of various foods (2 footnotes, Ashkenazi en film plus min. garnalen, egg yoke, whiped cream). Exchange of knowledge is shown at the beginning of the film where an old man explains a young man how to eat Ramen and that it is important to have respect to the food, especially the pork (footnote, min). This exchange of knowledge comes back in a second scene where a group of young Japanese women are attending a class of How-to-eat-Spaghetti. The class is interrupted loudly by a caucasian man who slurps his Spaghetti like Japanese would do with their noodles (footnote, min). individualism versus collectivism is made beautifully visible in a scene where a group of senior business men meet for a dinner in a fancy French-style restaurant. All decide to go for the Sole Meunière with beer as their drink. Only the clerk, who also came to the dinner, takes time to digest the menu. He shows to have clear knowledge about French cuisine and is able to translate the menu and chose something he likes himself (footnote, min).

The relationship between a master and his apprentice is clearly visible in Tampopo and also, in a less direct way, in Eat Drink Man Woman. Goro acts like a master for apprentice Tampopo and guides her in the process of learning the perfect Ramen. In Eat Drink Man Woman no scenes show literally the connection between a master and a apprentice, yet it becomes clear that Jia-Chien passion for food and cooking techniques are inherited from her father. There are many films that show this type of relationship in general (e.g. The Karate Kid and The Last Samurai) and more specifically related to food The Ramen Girl (footnote, explain). When it comes to my work, the interaction between my father and me in film and sculpture can be seen as

many films could have been investigated but i choose not to do, and many films act on tampopo and eat drink man woman. ramen girl and tortilla soup.

Interesting to read in Ashkenazi article is that about marriage etc, only after reading Ashkenazi article it became aware to me that in Tampopo no normal relationships are there

It is then interesting to see, as Ashkenaz that this typical Japanese film uses most of the time

Ashkenazi explains further that Japanese-style noodles and Chinese-style noodles are easily distinguished from each other. First, shops usually serve only one of them. Second, shops that serve Japanese-style noodles have a Japanese decor and have a blue banner hanging at the door which announce it is open, whereas shops that sell Ramen have a white banner that carries characters in red and a greek-key design around it. This comes back in the presentation of the noodles where Japanese noodles come in earthenware bowls and Chinese noodles in porcelain bowls again with a Greek-key design.

However noodles are immensely popular amongst Japanese from all background and this can be seen in cityscapes where standing-only bars are interspersed by speciality shops (footnote, ashkennazi). Japanese Noodles, as Ashkenazi explains

This wide variety of noodles with the position it takes

This is all captured in a funny, almost slap stick way that

and with a lot of effort and suffering Tampopo finally learns how to cook the perfect Ramen 

, training and loopwholes, spying on competotirs

this contradicts 'tea ceremony'

and dressing, but we also learn that chef Chu is losing his taste. 

Throughout the film you not onlsee chef Chu cooking complicated, beautiful looking dishes and advising yet losing it sense for taste.

wide array of food shots

---> explain more in general about food genre, follow chapter bower, maybe now The hours. Give examples of films i watched, foodways etc

The purpose of this thesis is not to explain the history of Food films nor to clarify what exactly a food film is or what it requires. Therefor classic films that fall in the genre of Food, Tucci's Big Night (footnote) and Hallström's Chocolat (footnote, 2000) to name a few, are not the focus of this thesis. Rather the majority of films that are discussed in this thesis are related to (my) ethnicity and/or deal with interpersonal relationships and disturbance of relationships. Starting point

to the focus of this thesis when it comes to food in films must be related first to (my) ethnic background

which films fall in the genre of food can sometimes be subjective, there are certain elements that indicate it that we are dealing

it is logical that food plays a keyrole in the film.

Like every genre films that

The genre of food films doesn't doe under for genres like horrror or ..a. When it comes to films that fall in the food genre,

uitleggen foodways, what food genre is, what voor elementen ten grondslag liggen aan food films

I never realised that the use of food in films was such embedded that it is a study on itself or I never watched films in such a way that I was paying attention to a point that I would make notes when food was present in a film and where it stance for/actually conveyed. When I started with my project Nr. 39 with Rice it was initially not my intention to work with moving image. Only in a later stage I realised that the inclusion of my father, whom is a chef from origin would be an interesting yet logical choice to make. When I started my journey to learn more about how food is depicted in films, how it is presented in films or where it actually stands for, I was looking for films that were culturally close to me. Films like Tampopo (Itami, 1985), Eat Drink Man Woman (Lee, 1994) and Jiro Dreams of Sushi (Gelg, 2011), which is technically a documentary are striking examples of Asian culture in many facets. In my private DVD collection I posses already for many years Kebab Connection (Saul, 2004), a film which tells the story about a Turkish young man Ibo, grown up in Germany out of a traditional turkish family, that is in love with German girl Titzi, whom are awaiting their first child. The upcoming birth of the child puts things on the edge (spanning) in the traditional Turkish family of Ibo. The unfolding of this cultural clash together with the fight between a Greek and Turkish restaurant holder about who has the best eatery of Hamburg with lots of scenes were food is key is a film when looking back falls into the genre of films about food. One of the first movies I watched for my current research was The Ramen Girl (Ackerman, 2008). This film, which story is somehow similar to that of the Karate kid (Avildsen, 1984), tells the story about Abby who moves to Tokyo to be with her boyfriend. This relationship ends at an early stage in the film and as a consequence she starts to build a love(?) for Ramen noodles and insists sensei Maezumi to learn her to cook Ramen. The story unfolds that in order to make good Ramen you have to cook with the heart.

There are many good films about food or where food plays a key role. Since my interest is pointed to a specific cultural context, I left out films like Stanley Tucci's Big Night and Hallström's Chocolat for my research. Two films that became important for my research are Tampopo and Eat Drink Man Woman. Films that fall in the genre of Food come generally speaking in two forms, first where the main character is a chef and second where food plays a symbolic role. Often filmmakers turn to food to communicate important aspects of character's emotions, personal and cultural identity (Bower). The Hours (Daldry, 2002) is a good example where the presentation of food stance for the character's emotion. In a particular scene Laura, played by Julianne Moore, wants to make a cake for the birthday of her husband. This is important for her because it is the way to show her love for him, yet as a viewer of the film you notice easily that the love has dissapeared from here site a very long time ago. The cake then, not suprisingly, is a failure. The love that had to be conveyed by the cake is false. Her second atempt only succeeds when she finds out she has feelings for the visting neighbours. The perfect cake as a result can be seen as a product of her regained love for someone (the hours min...). Another scene from The Hours shows how food can stand for someone lose or sorrow. Clarrisa, played by Meryl Streep, throws away plates of expensive food as a methaphor for losing her former lover Richard, played by Ed Harris, by suicide. Both cherish love for each other, that somehow never became real. The food that Clarrisa throws in the trash bin is a methaphor for the lossing that what she actually treasured the most. Eventhough the film is not about food, food in itself plays an important role in coveying feelings both negatively and positively emotions. Bower explains that it was because of Terasa de Lauretis(check) twenty years ago that we understand the power of cinema in when it comes to production and reproduction of meanings, values and ideology. And food is a conveyer(drager) that can be used in many ways and could stand for many emotions, both implicit and explicit. Food, amongst others, in films is a way to tell us who we are, what we stands for and what we treasure. It can speak easily about love, loss, identity and friendship, power, culture, class, relationship. Part of the real, according to Bower, we grasp is in food imagery. How food is coded, whether it plays a major or minor role, it is often a major ingedient in how we perceive the film.

Through food we can (dis)identify us with the characters on screen. Films like Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), Soul Food (1997) and Festen (19..) all depict the interaction of families through the sharing of /food/foodways. Especially in the first two films The way the use food

that covered in a layer of food, but for my research I choose not to use them...

there are many films i could watch for my research like ... ...., however i choose these films because the have a link with my culture of are closely related to my personal family relationship.