Commodifying and Gendering Food in Films and Television

1. Commodifying and Gendering Food in Films and Television Prepared by: Mariam Bedraoui and Rachid Elaasri

2. Core Material • “Slow Food, slow Films” • Author: Dennis Rothermel • Source: Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Issue 4, July 2009. • “A Domestic Divo: Televised Treatments of Masculinity, Femininity and Food” by • Author: Rebecca Swenson • Source: Critical Studies in Media Communication, Issue 1, March 2009.

3. Outline • Part One: • Food, Television/Cinema: Zones of Cultural Intersections • Methodological Notes • Part Two: • Commodifying Food: “Slow Food, Slow Films” • Gendering Food: “A Domestic Divo: Televised Treatment Of Masculinity, Femininity and Food” • Part Three: • An Overall Evaluation

4. Food, Cinema/ Television: Zones of Cultural Intersections

5. Some Notes on Methodology • What is food? • Food stuff and cooking • The space where cooking takes place • The values related to food and cooking • What contexts for food? • Food genre films • Cookery shows • How will the articles be discussed?

6. “Slow Food, Slow Film” Commodifying Food in Films

7. “Slow Food, Slow Film”: Main Thesis The cultural load of food and films Manipulation and commodification Resistance to this dominant mainstream productions Artistic creations • “Food and film inherit traditions with a broad range of values. Large- scale industry proliferation of social pabulum has come to dominate in both. Perennially renewed resistance to this domination, however, thrives in both food culture and film culture. The hallmark in either case is dedication to exquisite creations within the dedicated practice of an art.” P. 265 • “What slow films has in common with slow food is the prevailing presence of care, care for the making of food, care for the making of the films, but foremost for the one for whom it is meant, who will in turn will be ready for the receipt of the gift. In stark contrast, industrial food and industrial film find value strictly in terms of the exchange of price for commodity.” P275

8. “Slow Food, Slow Film”: Key Concepts1- Slow Food

9. “Slow Food, Slow Film”: Key Concepts2- Slow Film

10. “Slow Food, Slow Film”: Key Concepts3- Commodification

11. “Slow Food, Slow Film”: A Review of the Case Study

12. A Review of the Case Study: An adaptation to Meet Conditioned Tastes • Film making style • Long elaborate shots • Contemplative protagonists • Food culture • Simple dishes using fresh ingredients • Cooking is the process of designing a gift • Small servings • Film making style • Conventional analytical montage • Conventional female protagonists • Food culture • Cooking grants power and control • Mainstream food: Pizza, overcooked pasta with tomato sauce • Large servings

13. Evaluation • The use of fast food in a movie is not necessarily a sign of complicity and consolidation of the dominant consumptive habits • Not all Hollywood adaptations are by necessity driven by an intentional marketing for the capitalist values. • The construct of slow food may not keep the same defining boundaries across different cultures.