The representation of food
in transnational diasporic films
Film is, just like literature or music, a creative medium with which it is possible to express one's transnational diasporic experience. As Ezra and Rowden say in their introduction to Transnational Cinema - The Film Reader, "the concept of transnationalism enables us to better understand the changing ways in which the contemporary world is being imagined by an increasing number of filmmakers across genres as a global system rather that as a collection of more or less autonomous nations" (2006:1).
In particular, I have focused on how food is represented in transnational films, selecting four in which I think food plays an important role. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) is a romantic comedy film directed by Joel Zwick and centered on a thirty-year-old Greek American woman who falls in love with an American man and is forced to deal with her father's prejudices about Americans, and his wish that she married a Greek man. Both What's Cooking? (2000) and Bend it like Beckham (2002) were directed by the British director of Indian origin Gurinder Chadha. The former is set in the United States and shows the family problems that arise during the preparation of the Thanksgiving meal in four ethnically different families - African American, Latino, Jewish and Vietnamese. The latter focuses on an Indian girl living in London, who's dream of becoming a professional footballer is hindered by her parent's wish of finding her a nice Indian man to marry. Finally, Danish film Babette's Feast (1987), directed by Gabriel Axel, is the only film not only made before the beginning of the third millennium, but also set in the 19th century instead of nowadays.
In particular, I have focused on how food is represented in transnational films, selecting four in which I think food plays an important role. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) is a romantic comedy film directed by Joel Zwick and centered on a thirty-year-old Greek American woman who falls in love with an American man and is forced to deal with her father's prejudices about Americans, and his wish that she married a Greek man. Both What's Cooking? (2000) and Bend it like Beckham (2002) were directed by the British director of Indian origin Gurinder Chadha. The former is set in the United States and shows the family problems that arise during the preparation of the Thanksgiving meal in four ethnically different families - African American, Latino, Jewish and Vietnamese. The latter focuses on an Indian girl living in London, who's dream of becoming a professional footballer is hindered by her parent's wish of finding her a nice Indian man to marry. Finally, Danish film Babette's Feast (1987), directed by Gabriel Axel, is the only film not only made before the beginning of the third millennium, but also set in the 19th century instead of nowadays.