Week 13 – April 28 & 30

Tuesday: Group Presentation 5: Food, Film and Image of Japan (3 students) Watch Film: Itami Juzo Tampopo (1985) (118 minutes) and Read: Michael Ashkenazi, “Food, Play, Business, and the Image of Japan in Itami Juzo’s Tampopo”, in: Reel Food, p. 27-40

Group Presentation 6: Food, Film and Sex (3 students) Watch Film: Zhang Yimou Raise the Red Lantern (1991) (128 minutes) and Read: Ellern J. Fried “Food, Sex, and Power at the Dining Room Table in Zhang Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern”, in: Reel Food, p. 129-146

All: Watch Film: Bob Giraldi Dinner Rush (2000) (99 minutes)

Thursday: Food, Family and Eating Italian
Read: James Keller “Filming and Eating Italian: Big Night and Dinner Rush” In Food, Film and Culture, p. 124-140

Quiz about the film and Discussion of readings and film

Blog Entry 11: Compare Big Night from last week with Dinner Rush. How are they similar and different? Which one did you like more and why? Blog is due by Sunday, May 3.

Week 12 – April 21 & 23

Monday: Evening Film for All: Campbell Scott & Stanley Tucci, Big Night (1996) (109 minutes)

Tuesday: Food, Family and First-Generation Immigrants
Read: Margaret Coyle, “Il Timpano – “To Eat Good Food Is to Be Close to God”: The Italian-American Reconciliation of Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott’s Big Night”, in Reel Food, pp. 41-59
Discussion of readings and film

Thursday: No Class: Submit your Term paper.

Blog Entry 10: Describe the relationship between the two brothers and their situation as first-generation Italian immigrants. Or What is the meaning of the last scene in the film when all three main characters are eating breakfast? Blog is due by Sunday, April 26.

Week 11 – April 14 & 16

Tuesday:  Group Presentation 1: Food and Violence. Watch Film: Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994) (178 minutes) and Read: Rebecca Epstein, “Appetite for Destruction: Gangster Food and Genre Convention in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction”, in: Reel Food, p. 195-208
Group Presentation 2: Food, Family and the American Mafia. Watch Film: Martin Scorsese Good Fellas (1990) (148 minutes) and Read: Marlisa Santos, “Leave the Gun: Take the Cannoli: Food and Family in the Modern American Mafia Film”, in: Reel Food, pp. 209-218

Thursday: Group Presentation 3: Ecofeminism and Agriculture. Watch Film: Marleen Gorris Antonia’s Line (1995) (104 minutes) and Read: James Keller, “Dreaming of the Pure Vegetable Kingdom: Ecofeminism and Agriculture in A Thousand Acres and Antonia’s Line”, in Food, Film and Culture, pp. 94-108
Group Presentation 4: Watch Film: Peter Greenaway The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover Read: READ: Raymond Armstrong, “All Consuming Passion: Peter Greenaway The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover”, in: Reel Food, p. 219-234 OR James Keller, “The Allegory of Intemperance: Spencer Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover”, in Food, Film and Culture, pp. 13-23

First Draft of Term Paper is due by Thursday, April 23, 11:20 a.m. (No Exceptions!)

Week 10 – April 7 & 9

Tuesday: Food, Ethnicity, Culture and Film – Part 2
Watch Film: Tim Reid “Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored” (1995) (115 minutes)
Watch Film: George Tillman Jr. Soul Food (1997) (115 minutes)
Thursday: Read: Robin Balthrope, “Food as Representative of Ethnicity and Culture in George Tillman Jr.’s Soul Food, María Ripoll’s Tortilla Soup, and Tim Reid’s Once Upon a Time When we Were Colored”, in Reel Food, pp. 101-116
Discussion of the reading and the two films

Blog Entry 9: Explain the way the film shows how food transmits culture and constitutes ethnic identity. Make sure to use the article by Robin Balthrope. Blog is due by Sunday, April 12.

Week 9 – March 31 & April 2

Tuesday: Food, Ethnicity, Culture and Film – Part 1
Watch Film: María Ripoll Tortilla Soup (2001) (103 minutes)
Watch Film: Ang Lee Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) (124 minutes)

Thursday: Read: James Keller, “Family Suppers and the Social Syntax of Dissimilation”, in Food, Film and Culture, pp. 163-176
Discussion of the reading and the 2 films

Proposal for Term Paper is due today.

Blog Entry 8: Tortilla Soup is a remake of Eat Drink Man Woman. Compare both films and write about the role of food in both. Blog is due by Sunday, April 5.

Week 8 – March 24 & 26

Tuesday: How to Review a Film
Read: Warren Buckland, “The reception of film: the art and profession of film reviewing”, in Teach Yourself Film Studies, Chapter 6, pp. 179-199
Watch Film: Lasse Hallström Chocolat (2000) (121 minutes)

Thursday: Read: James Keller, “Itzam Revealed: Chocolate and the Mayan Cosmology”, in Food, Film and Culture, pp. 24-36

Blog Entry 7: Discuss the role/effect/function of food in the film. What is Vianne's role as cook/ healer/ shaman in the film. OR: Write about the role of cocoa (chocolate) in Mayan culture. OR The physical and metaphysical meaning of transformation in the village during lent leading up to Easter. Blog is due by Sunday, March 29.

Liam Breslin's Blog 5

Foods are often cohesive to one another, ever binding. Foods go well with other foods and are often blended, mixed, and or kept together. What's more? Food can bind more than just itself and other foods, but it also has a binding and sometimes building affect on people. Like Water for Chocolate clearly establishes its narrative emphasis on food within traditional, personal, and national boundaries.

 This film takes place in early 20th Century Mexico. As the name of the film implies, the traditional recipe for hot chocolate in Mexico includes water when mixing rather than milk, which is used in countries where milk is plentiful. By boiling back and forth the water and chocolate (cocoa) together, the two mix and form a more so overstimulated bond/mix. Linking both personal and national ideas, this can be personified through how Tita feels personally around and in relation to her love interest, Pedro. We can see this side of her and her personal feelings through the meals she cooks in the film.

 When Pedro and Rosarua are married, Tita is to prepare a wedding day meal. Within this meal, Tita essentially adds her tears of sadness over the loss of her beloved Pedro to her sister Rosaura. Upon eating the prepared meal, the wedding guests become overturned with emotion from Titas tears in the cake and begin to mourn their loved ones as well. Across the films plot, Tita is learning and growing. From being with her illegitimate mother who didn't allow her to marry, all the way to taking care of Esperanza and finally being with Pedro once more. Bound by nationality and location, certain food and the concept of cooking depicts how Titas emotions take shape to form her personality, attachments, and lessons she has learned throughout the film. 

Week 5 - Feb. 25 & 27

Tuesday: Food, Film and National Identity
Guest Speaker: Dr. Amy McNichols, Professor of Spanish, Dep. of World Languages
Evening Film: Alfonso Arau, Como agua para chocolate (1992) (123 minutes)

Thursday: Read: Miriam López-Rodríguez, “Cooking Mexicannes: Shaping National Identity in Alfonso Arau’s Como agua para chocolate”, in Reel Food, pp. 61-74

Blog Entry 5: What did Dr. McNichols talk about? How is her talk related to our film and topic? OR What is the role of food in the formation of personal and national identities as depicted in the film Como agua para chocolate? Blog is due by Sunday, March 1.

Week 4 - Feb. 18 & 20

Tuesday: Science Fiction, Horror and Futuristic Foodways
Read: Warren Buckland, “Film genres: Defining the typical film”, in Teach Yourself Film Studies, Chapter 4, pp. 119-151
Watch Film: Richard Fleischer Soylent Green (1973) (97 minutes)

Thursday: Read: Laurel Forster, “Futuristic Foodways: The Metaphorical Meaning of Food in Science Fiction Film”, in: Reel Food, pp. 251-266
Discussion of Film and Reading

Blog Entry 4: What is the “Metaphorical Meaning of Food” in this science fiction film? What would you do if you were in such a situation? Make sure to include the article by Laurel Foster in your reflection. Blog is due by Sunday, February 23.

Week 3 – Feb. 11 & 13

Tuesday: A Chef in Love: Food, Romance and Drama
Read: Warren Buckland, “Film structure: narrative and narration”, in Teach Yourself Film Studies, Chapter 2, pp. 31-76
Evening Film: Sandra Nettelbeck, Mostly Martha (2001) (109 minutes)

Thursday:Read: James Keller, “Mostly Martha: Appe/type and Stereo/tite”, in Food, Film and Culture, pp. 68-78
Discussion: Germany Meets Italy: Obsessively Workaholic Chefs and Chefs Living Joyously

Blog Entry 3: How are love and romance represented in the film? What is the role of food in the film and how does that relate to family, love, and romance?  Blog is due by Sunday, Feb. 16.

 

Week 2 – Feb. 4 & 6

Tuesday: Film Techniques and Style: How to read a food film

Read: Warren Buckland, “Film aesthetics: formalism and realism”,
in Teach Yourself Film Studies, Chapter 1, pp. 1-29

Evening Film: Gabriel Axel, Babette’s Feast (1987) (103 minutes) 
Thursday: Read: James Keller, “The Artist in Exile: Babette’s and ‘Alexander’s Feast’”, in Food, Film and Culture, pp. 152-162

Discussion: Self-sacrifice and denied pleasures: The power of food and the Protestant morality

Blog Entry 2: Write a reflection on the main idea of the “Power of Food and the Protestant Ethics” as represented in the film Babette’s Feast. Blog is due by Sunday, Feb. 9.

Week 1: January 28 & 30

Tuesday:    Introduction of Course and Material; Basic Film Terms

                  Evening Film: Lasse Halström, The 100 Feet Journey (2014) (122 minutes)
Thursday:   Read: James Keller, “Introduction: The Cinematic Hunger Artist”, in
                  Food, Film & Culture, pp. 1-12 OR Anne Bower, “Watching Food:
                  The Production of Food, Film, and Values”, in: Reel Food, pp. 1-13
Discussion: Culinary Images: Food, Film, Culture, and Society

Blog Entry 1: Why did you choose this class? What are you hoping to accomplish in the course? What is your favorite film/ food film and why? Blog is due by Sunday, Feb. 2.

Welcome to Reel Food and World Cinema

Course Description: Food has been part of the semiotic process of film-making since films began. Food and film provide information about ourselves and our values. They both communicate information about our political and economic aspirations, ethnic and religious values, and even sexual and philosophical identities. Both enrich our minds with ideas about adventure and bravery, hope and despair, love and romance, and more. This course explores the representations of food in world cinema. We will pay special attention to the social, cultural and historical issues depicted in films from around the world. In addition to analyzing films as pieces of artist cinematic expression, we will also examine the multiple roles that "culinary images” play in world cinema. We will also pay special attention to how food production and preparation, presentation and consumption can play an important role in film structure, character development and film themes. McDaniel Plan: International Non-western; Social, Cultural, and Historical Understanding 

Learning Objectives: In this course, students will

• explore how cinema represents the role that food plays in our lives as an expression of identity, as a form of entertainment, as a ritual, as sustenance and also as a means to bring people together into a community.
• explore the social, cultural, and historical context of food as depicted in film.
• learn the way film shows how food transmits culture and constitutes national, gender, and ethnic identities.
• develop the skills needed for analyzing cinematic texts in cultural contexts.