Appetites and Anxieties: Food, Film, and the Politics of Representation

6. Food as Threat and Promise: Genre and Auteur Analysis

6 Food as Threat and Promise Genre and Auteur Analysis Cannibal films use violations of food taboos to explore the figurative consumption of individuals and cultures whose livelihoods and traditions are destroyed by “progress.” The films reveal that food behaviors are often fraught with contradiction. Even less sensational narratives reflect people’s conflicting associations with what they eat and drink. For example, food films and food documentaries communicate the anxieties and hopes that people in consumer society have about food consumption and its emotional and material implications. Cannibal films’ unique representation of food choice and food behavior also points to the idea that genres, cycles, and groups of films deploy foodway elements in specific ways. Films’ representations of food can illuminate contrasts between directors’ thematic preoccupations, and just as performance manifests itself “differently in different genres” (de Cordova 116), depictions of food mirror and manifest a genre’s stylistic and thematic conventions. As Rebecca Epstein notes, analysis of a “film’s food enriches our reception of the film and its generic codes” (196). Meals as Connection and Conflict in Gangster Films Food can be integral to “the structure, themes, and characters typical of traditional Hollywood genre films, such as the western, musical, or chapter 6 154 screwball comedy” (Epstein 195). One could argue that “filmmakers in all film genres turn to food to communicate important aspects of characters’ emotions, along with their personal and cultural identities” (Bower 1, emphasis in original). Genre films create contrasts between characters and convey narrative progression by including some scenes that highlight food’s soothing associations and others that draw out the frightening connotations of food behavior. Yet each genre opens up different aspects of food’s contradictory status. Some genres tend to emphasize ways that “food can enliven social relations, enrich spiritual affairs, and enhance an individual’s sense of well-being” (Jones et al., “Sensory” 2). Others stress ways that food can be used to threaten, seduce , “punish and in other ways manipulate behavior” (Jones et al., “Sensory” 2). Still others explore food’s role as a dual-edged object of promise and threat. Genre films use the semantic elements featured in food films. In genre films, scenes are set in kitchens, dining rooms, and restaurants. There are scenes of food preparation, presentation, and consumption, and rarely scenes of food procurement, preservation, or cleanup. Audiences understand the significance of a food choice or meal by comparing it to the meal system (food performance) established in the narrative . At times, genre films “depict characters negotiating questions of identity, power, culture, class, spirituality, or relationship through food” (Bower 6). Genre films also convey visions of food that range from utopian to dystopian. In some instances, sharing food becomes a means for creating community. At other times, food behaviors are a sign of characters’ and societies’ disorder; for example, in gangster films, characters ’ food behaviors can illustrate personal problems that result from disparities of cultural and economic power. Gangster films consistently mobilize food’s opposing connotations. As Epstein explains, in gangster films “Dining with others typically facilitates communication, problem solving, and social comfort” (197); at the same time, meals can be “rife with social conflict” and the site where “the threat of social difference” emerges (197). In gangster films, food is a source of comfort and community. It is also a weapon, and meals can be pivotal moments when scores are settled and characters’ weaknesses and misconceptions are put on full display. Epstein points out that the gangster film’s “subtext of (failed) class mobility” is often expressed through characters’ food behaviors (198). food as threat and promise 155 As the genre’s many food scenes reveal, some films link the gangster’s failed class mobility to his uncivilized nature. Other films suggest that class and ethnic divisions are simply insurmountable. The etiquette and cuisine requirements of the Protestant upper class make it impossible for even “civilized” gangsters to transcend their ethnic, lower-class origins. As a consequence, gangsters’ only sustaining option is to reside with their families in a separate realm where conventional upperclass (food) protocols are set aside. A gangster might achieve financial success, but his inability to master upper-class (food) behavior shows that he can never belong to elite society. Moreover, by embracing nonethnic upper-class cuisine, the gangster separates himself from everything that has sustained him and his family. Since the 1930s, food...