Blog Entry 9



Soul Food (film) - Wikipedia                             Amazon.com: Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored [VHS]: Al ...




By F. Mason Hertrich
The food in both films serves a big role. That of bringing people together, especially in "Soul Food" (1997). Wherein the family fights about problems they have, but the food is ultimately what brings them together. In "Once Upon a Time..." (1995) the food mainly serves as a way of reflecting how they are treated. For example Richard Roundtree's is faced with the problem of many people not accepting his ice. Which doesn't stop the town from still buying from him. Which is obviously motivated by the fact that the reason many people are not buying from him is because he is black. Also the food is used much more in a community sense when they are at the Church. As pointed out by Balthrope the grandfather is never seen at his home cooking, but helps cook at the Church. Which certainly shows the community sense in the making and eating of the food. This is also something unique to even to at Churches. Speaking from personal experience being raised in the Catholic faith that is really not something one normally sees. Unless the community is very tight knit like in the film. Another example comes from the aunt making a lot of food for her son, a slightly different use of food in the film. Because her mentioning that no one up north makes food like her, she is clearly more referring to the fact that he doesn’t have a wife. Which is a little different then most of the other times food is used in the film to portray how they are being treated. Similar in “Soul Food” (1997), the food serves to bring not the community together, but rather the family. In the film they value the tradition of eating together on Sundays so much that when the Grandmother initially is in a coma there are still some who want to do it to keep the tradition going. Which certainly speaks to the devotion they have for it. The devotion coming from not just the food being enjoyed, but also the family always coming together.

Bower, Anne L. ed. Reel Film. Balthrope, page 106, 2004 

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