Tortilla soup

CMCL C427
Application Week 1 Assignment (Tortilla Soup)
Chris Schuster

1. Tortilla Soup • Tortilla Soup (2001, Samual Goldwyn Co.) is a film about a Mexican-born widower living in Southern California derived from Ang Lee’s film, Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), which is about a Taiwanese star chef • Tortilla Soup is a white middle-class perception of Mexican culture, which uses stereotypes and beautifully prepared Mexican cuisine in an attempt to take mainstream America on a tour of Mexican culture

2. Why Study Food films? • Studying food films allows insight into the consumption of other cultures via their foodways ( Lindenfeld , 2007, p 305) • Culinary Tourism is the idea that we can learn about other cultures by learning about their cuisine and dining experiences • Culinary tourism is a factor in commercialism, mainstream film, culture, and a desire to be familiarized with different cultures without having to actually interact with them

3. OBJECTIVE and RATIONALE • Using the Critical Approach, Laura Lindenfeld demonstrates how Tortilla Soup functions as a mediated tourist experience, allowing us to visit a Mexican American family to experience diversity… from a safe distance ( Lindenfeld , 2007, p 304) • Lindenfeld suggests that while the film attempts to deconstruct homogenizing notions of Latinadad , it is unsuccessful, as it reaffirms hegemonic ideologies about Latinos that privilege being white (p 304) • Ultimately, Lindenfeld suggests through her qualitative analysis , that Hollywood lacks educational, accurate, and non-discriminatory perceptions that would result in a realistic film about Mexican culture.

4. STEROTYPES • Tortilla Soup’s representation of Mexican Americans as white middle class equivalents, do not allow the viewers of the film to experience a realistic Mexican culture. • Latina femininity stereotypes are present as the film stays consistent with Hollywood by portraying Latina women as either the “sexualized spitfire” or the “traditional señorita ” (p 311) this limits Latina women and how they are perceived by film viewers.

5. The marketing and prejudice legislation aspects Marketers are romanticizing minorities, specifically Latinos, in order to market products that appear authentic and marketable, when in fact, anti-immigration and anti-bilingual legislation has passed in several states . Quote1 : “ As anti-immigration and anti-bilingual legislation mounts, hunger pangs for Latino talent grow in the entertainment industry” ( Lindenfeld , 2007, p. 306

6. MARKETING TRENDS

7. Anti-immigration/bilingualism legislation Proposition 227, which severely limits bilingual education programs and mandates a “one size fits all” approach to teaching English to K–12 students, is placed on the June 1998 ballot and eventually passes. APALC joins other advocates to fight Prop 227 and also plays a supportive role in Angel V. v. Davis, a constitutional challenge to Prop 227, on behalf of limited and non-English proficient students in California’s public schools. The challenge fails to overturn Prop 227, although the state is required to provide mechanisms for schools to petition school districts for exemptions based on student needs. California

8. Anti-immigration/bilingualism legislation in arizona

9. Quotes and questions as food for thought Quote1 : “ As anti-immigration and anti-bilingual legislation mounts, hunger pangs for Latino talent grow in the entertainment industry” ( Lindenfeld , 2007, p. 306 Quote 2: “The affinity for Southwestern Cuisine in the US, can be convincingly interpreted as an act of cultural , an appropriation of the borderland foods in the hopes of neutralizing the power and voice of people, particularly Latinos in the region” ( Lindenfeld , 2007, p 308 Question 1: Do you think it is possible that the researcher has overthought the issue of culture as it pertains to this particular film? Is Tortilla Soup really just a feel good film about Mexican cuisine that is being attacked by Lindenfeld ? Question 2: What is your opinion about the fact that the food which is depicted in Tortilla Soup was actually designed by Milliken and Feniger , neither of whom is of Mexican descent?