Reel Food Liam Breslins Blogs

Liam Breslin Dr. Esa Reel Food 4/26/20 Blog 10 What is your favorite food? Where does it come from? Is it something your family makes often? If so, it is likely that that food is something grounded within your heritage. Heritage is an important part of human culture and is vital to coexisting with each other. This plays a very important role for our brotherly characters in Big Night. Stanley Tucci’s “Segundo” and Tony Shalhoub’s “Primo” are two italian immigrant brothers living and working in 1950’s New Jersey in a family owned Italian restaurant. Throughout the movie, from the very first 10 minutes all the way to the end, it seems as though these brothers are on opposing sides of the same coin. They are both brothers from the same Italian town trying to survive in America, but have completely different immigrant perspectives. Segundo wants to be successful and financially stable and remain in America, but the restaurant is not as popular as the other Italian restaurant ...

Liam Breslin  Dr. Esa 4/12/20 Reel Food Blog 9 Where are you from? Yes, your town or the country you’re family is from are fine answers each. Is there anything specific you can remember that trademarks the place you are from or even trademarks your own family. Culture is mainly propelled by influences of where people are from and their family (biological or chosen). Within both films, Once Upon a Time and Soul Food, the audience is shown, in specific instances, culture being shared amongst groups of African-American people in various periods. At the start, both films feature a more or less scattered family that the story ultimately gravitates around. However, as the film progresses, sometimes subtly, we see more of the family/group come together, especially in accordance with food.  In an article from Reel Food, Balthrope describes various elements about the significance of food within both films. One of these elements is the sense of community large meal...

Liam Breslin  Dr. Esa 4/6/20 Reel Food Blog 9 Have you ever had a Sunday dinner with your family? No no, I don't mean microwaving something then eating in front of the TV. I mean a REAL Sunday dinner, eating food freshly cooked with your family with “good manners and pleasant conversation”.Both Eat Drink Man Woman and Tortilla Soup are similar films in both cinematography as well as plot, as one is based on the other. Food is also an important tool to tell the story of both of these films. Although they are different films in various areas, both feature a Sunday dinner within the beginning of each film.  Both Tortilla Soup and EDMW feature what we see as a family of 3-4, having a single father who is a revered chef that works at a high end restaurant with his (mainly) 3 daughters. Each daughter in both films is living a different life from her sisters and has a different focus/perspective as the movie progresses. However, in the beginning of each film, as e...

Liam Breslin  Dr. Esa 3/30/20 Reel Food Blog 7 Chocolate! A food beloved by millions (except me I have a dairy allergy)! An often dark brown, soft, sweet, and delicious treat eaten on holidays, for desert, or even just as a snack. In the film, Chocolat , a mysterious arrival of a woman and her daughter bring various forms of traditional and sweet chocolate to a french town. Although deeply rooted in tradition, Lenten seasonal (christian) tradition to be exact, the french community that Vianne has moved into is ultimately impacted by her delicious treats. Chocolate is still loved by people, but often people are unsure of its origin.  Thousands of years ago, chocolate originated from what is known as the Cacao plant, or more specifically the beans of the plant. In ancient Mayan civilization, it was said that the beans of the cacao plant were given to the people by a feathered, winged deity named Kukulkan. The beans had many various uses in ancient Mayan c...

Liam Breslin Dr. Esa Reel Food 3/1/20 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 ...

Liam Breslin Dr. Esa Reel Food 2/23/20 Blog 4 Have you ever eaten a steak that was so good, it brought you back to a very happy time in your life? The first time you had eaten a steak. Your favorite moments with your Mom, eating with your family. Soylent Green is a sci-fi film that focuses heavily on its futuristic setting influencing its characters desperation for food. Within the film, I personally feel as though the food within the film (the real food not the decomposed people) represents nostalgia and reminiscence.  In the first couple minutes of the film, Thorn is tasked with investigating the murder of the one of the Soylent companies rich executives. Upon his return home to his dillipated apartment which he shares with his older companion, Sol, Thorn brings back different things including real beef. Before this point we here Sol reminiscing about the old days when he was younger, in which you could get real food so freely and easily, and how now in 20...

Liam Breslin Dr. Esa Reel Food: Blog 2 2/16/20 Blog 3 Mostly Martha explores multiple themes within its foreign (to an American audience) setting. Food is intertwined with the ideas of love, romance, circumstance, borders, etc. We see the various key characters enthrall themselves more within these themes as the movie progresses.  Food is the focal point in this film, at least for the main character, Martha. We see her cooking and working long hours within the kitchen at the start of the film. Soon, Martha’s sister passes away shattering and disrupting Martha's normally non-stop lifestyle for more than one reason. A: She has lost her dear sister whom she was close with, and B: Martha now needs to take care of her young niece, Lina, until Lina’s father can take her to Italy to live with him. As well as Lina's unexpected arrival, Martha also is accompanied at work by a new cook Mario. At this point in the film, love/romance is depicted as more of ...