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.