How many couples have imitated the kiss of La dama y el vagabundo while eating spaghetti? How many children have wanted to be cooks after seeing Ratatouille? Who has not dreamed of a romantic dinner after seeing a Hollywood movie? Without a doubt, cinema leaves its mark on society. It leaves us unique moments. Moments that we all know and remember. And, in many of them, gastronomy is the protagonist. The gastronomy in the cinema He has the art of making us smell and taste food (even without putting it in our mouths).
Gastronomy in the cinema
The cinema allows us to move to other places without the need to travel. The cinema allows us to live risk without running it minimally. The cinema allows us to feel sadness, joy, anger or fear for an hour and a half without getting up from the sofa. Cinema allows us to travel to another era without having a time machine. In addition, the cinema allows us to savor without eating.
Cinema is a reflection of society. At the same time that it has the ability to educate and raise awareness, it creates a imaginary social. Frame trends and describe realities Who doesn't want to dress like the protagonist and distill such glamor? We could say that it defines and reinforces stereotypes. He who smokes is a bad guy and, therefore, he is attractive. The same happens with gastronomy, although not in the same way. They are simply conventions that the public understands. Associations between various concepts that show viewers the personality of the characters, emotions, passions, environments ...
Through food we know how is the character. One of the clearest examples in the history of cinema is in The Breakfast Club (1985). Five teenagers are punished in the library. All of them are very different from each other: the popular, the brainiac, the athlete, the bad guy and the outcast. It's time to eat and everyone opens their lunch. Instantly food reveals their personalities. The chic girl has to eat sushi with soy sauce, which automatically turns her into "a dicky dick." While the rebel on duty does not even have lunch which shows us that he is a carefree boy and that he does not care about everything.
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The ritual of preparation
We must not stop paying attention to ritual of the preparation of any dish. It is of utmost importance. As he Mise en Place ("Everything in its place") by Ratatouille like the one in your house. When you prepare the dishes (or they prepare them) the organization As much as the disaster They are beautiful. How many scenes have we seen of a couple cooking laughing out loud as they get lost. Or, how many have we seen of a meticulously careful preparation with a lot of desire for it to go well.
The number of musical «What feast!"To Beauty and the beast It is a clear example of the ritual. In this case, the enchanted characters have perfectly planned the banquet. They want to make the protagonist feel like a queen and they succeed through a wonderful dinner.
Gastronomic situations in the cinema
Another virtue of filmmaker gastronomy is the description of environments. How are the lunches or dinners between the characters allows us to deduce in what situation we find ourselves. A dish prepared with care and love denotes that we are facing an important meal. Like other fundamental elements of gastronomy: the space, crockery and cutlery, centerpieces ... On the other hand, if we see a meal with very little good looking on the screen, the situation changes radically.
And of course: the company (However, you can still enjoy it alone). But, if we look at it, when the character appears eating alone quickly, the cinema is responsible for transmitting melancholy, sadness, loneliness, gloom ... It is a stereotype believed, to a great extent, by the cinema. People think that eating alone is sad. Of course, it is great to enjoy gastronomy in company and, in general, it is the most common. But, it is not bad or sad to enjoy it alone.
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Food is the central axis. Being able to eat is synonymous with being well. It is the most basic, it is health. It is also to enjoy, share and admire. Therefore, it is not surprising that gastronomy is an essential pillar in the cinema. In any film there are breakfasts, lunches, snacks, snacks or dinners. And there will never cease to be. And we will enjoy them. Not only while we watch the screen, but also through it… What gastronomic scenes are your favorites?
