1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910798891203321

Autore

Lindenfeld Laura

Titolo

Feasting Our Eyes : Food Films and Cultural Identity in the United States / / Laura Lindenfeld and Fabio Parasecoli

Pubbl/distr/stampa

La Vergne, New York : , : Columbia University Press, , 2017

©2017

ISBN

0-231-54297-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (278 pages) : illustrations, photographs

Classificazione

AP 50300

Disciplina

791.436564

Soggetti

Food in motion pictures

Motion pictures - United States - History

Food - Social aspects - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- 1. Food Films and Consumption: Selling Big Night -- 2. Autonomy in the Kitchen? Food Films and Post feminism -- 3. Magical Food, Luscious Bodies --  4. Culinary Comfort: Th e Satiating Construction of Masculinity -- 5. When Weirdos Stir the Pot: Cooking Identity in Animated Movies -- 6. Consuming the Other: Food Films as Culinary Tourism -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Big Night (1996), Ratatouille (2007), and Julie and Julia (2009) are more than films about food-they serve a political purpose. In the kitchen, around the table, and in the dining room, these films use cooking and eating to explore such themes as ideological pluralism, ethnic and racial acceptance, gender equality, and class flexibility-but not as progressively as you might think. Feasting Our Eyes takes a second look at these and other modern American food films to emphasize their conventional approaches to nation, gender, race, sexuality, and social status. Devoured visually and emotionally, these films are particularly effective defenders of the status quo.Feasting Our Eyes looks at Hollywood films and independent cinema, documentaries and docufictions, from the 1990s to today and frankly assesses their commitment to racial diversity, tolerance, and liberal political ideas. Laura Lindenfeld and Fabio Parasecoli find women and people of color



continue to be treated as objects of consumption even in these modern works and, despite their progressive veneer, American food films often mask a conservative politics that makes commercial success more likely. A major force in mainstream entertainment, American food films shape our sense of who belongs, who has a voice, and who has opportunities in American society. They facilitate the virtual consumption of traditional notions of identity and citizenship, reworking and reinforcing ingrained ideas of power.