Friday, April 18, 2014
Food, Glorious Food
The two main characters in Daisies are constantly eating or at least playing with food. They have lavish dinners at restaurants, bathe in milk and playfully slice bananas and sausage. This trend culminates in the scene in which they sneak into a feast, indulge their palettes, and engage in a food fight. What is the point of all this food, glorious food? Can you make sense of the use of food in at least some of these scenes?
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The film Daisies is centered on people’s relationship to the food they eat. At the beginning of the movie the two girls decide to go bad. As one of the first acts of their new lifestyle, they eat apples. The apples in this instance are reminiscent of the apple involved in original sin and symbolize not only the start of them being bad, but also their willingness to do so. They also say that they are becoming bad because the world that they live in is bad, so by consuming the food that this bad world has produced they are allowing the worlds badness to enter and eventually consume them. Food is then involved in every instance when they do something bad. They always have the older men take them out to dinner prior to abandoning them. At these meals they are sloppy, wasteful, and overindulgent showing that their intentions are not what the men expected. In their final attempt at being bad they stumble upon a feast and which they then proceed to eat or destroy. Their indulgence ends when they are stuffed and are hanging from the chandelier. At this point they have eaten so much of this tainted food that their new weight forces the chandelier to fall causing them to have their epiphany. The falling chandelier symbolizes the fall of man. Their behavior up to this point has led God to forsake them, an idea further expressed in the following scene when they are left in the water to drown.
ReplyDeleteThe two women in Daisies use food as a means to display their non-female gender roles. The two main characters often convince men that they will take them “home”, but are first expected to take them out and pay for a grand dinner. Yet after the meal, the women go with the man to his train and then after it starts moving, they jump off. This action is one example of how men are duped in the use of food. The two main characters constantly slice bananas and sausage with scissors while at their house. This action is a clear reference to castration, demonstrating the female emasculating the male. Towards the end of the film, the characters go to up the mini-elevator in order to seek “nourishment.” They find a huge hall, with tables upon tables of food. The two females eat their way around the table, switching each seat as they go. They continue to destroy and eat, until the entire room is in shambles. Yet when the viewer thinks that it could get no messier, the two main characters begin a food fight, throwing cake at one another. Each ends up covered in food from head to toe, and afterwards they walk along the banquet table acting as though the entire debacle was a joke or entertainment. The characters of Daisies contradict the stereotypical “prim and proper” female, demonstrating the director’s choice to make the females quite unfeminine. In most cases of the film, food is always used while the two main female characters are contradicting normal gender roles. Food is the connection that the director uses to associate females with non-feminine characteristics.
ReplyDeleteI can’t explain in entirely about what the food means throughout the movie but in certain scenes the symbolic meaning is prevalent. During the scene where the two women are cutting up bananas and sausages it is in no doubt taking stabs at masculinity. As they chop the bananas and sausages its as if they are chopping off the will power of a man, because we all know men only think with there you know what’s. Cutting what makes a man a man and easily devouring the pieces of bananas and sausages they “eat” the manhood away from men. During the scene when the women entire the banquette hall and feast upon the food it shows an anti-feminist view. Usually women are not to stuff their faces with food and be eloquent, but in this scene they are shown stuffing their faces with cakes and throwing food like animals. In most movies men are shown as animas but in Daises the women are animals throwing food everywhere and making a mess of a perfect hall. This plays on the idea that the hall is like a perfectly good person and they indulge in the persons gifts but are when they are thrown into the water they want to change the past but they cant because they have already broken the relationship. The film Daises takes multiply stabs at both feminist and anti-feminist views, there is no way of fully understanding the food unless you take each scene as if it was a shot at masculinity.
ReplyDeleteThere are multiple reasons why the two girls in “Daisies” continue to eat mass amounts of food throughout the movie. The girls continually mention how they are “bad” and that is their general goal until the end of the film when they realize that being “bad” is not as great as they thought it would be. One of the ways they are bad is by cutting and eating the bananas, sausages and pickles, like Eddie mentioned. Most people know what these foods mean subliminally, however, when the girls are eating them non-stop, it represents how they are trying to make themselves seem more dominant over the men, by taking away and devouring what identifies them as men. Another reason why the girls eat a lot of food is because, it’s free! In a lot of scenes where they are binging on food, it is because they are taken out on a date by a rich man. The man may be thinking when spending all of this money on the food, that there will be some sort of reward, which is probably bringing them home for a more interment experience. However, it was all a tease for the male because at the end of the date, they would ditch the man and go run away laughing. For example, when the women are getting on the train with the male, they jump off with the male following. However, at the last second they jump back on, never to see the man again, after eating all the food that the man had bought. In the end, the food represents more than just something to fill them up, but rather a form of-man hating and greed.
ReplyDeleteFood is used throughout the movie to represent the stereotypes of feminism. Normally in society women are expected to be ladylike and eat with etiquette and class; however throughout the movie it seems that the goal is to be as repulsive as possible. The girls eat or talk about eating every chance they get and when they do eat they do not care for being polite but rather indulge as much food as possible. This comes as a shock at first because we are accustomed to women being wined and dined and representing themselves with decorum. Men are typically expected to take women out to dinner and pay for everything with the expectation of receiving the favor returned later. But in the movie we see the women use the men and eat as much food as possible and leave them with no night cap. By doing this it shows that women are more than pets that can be controlled, they protect themselves from being used and stand up for themselves. The food is represented in the film to go against the stereotype of women and their expectation to eat little and pleasure the men for treating them. The women in the film show their free willed spirits by living the life that they want and not allowing men to have the hierarchy. The girl’s value food as a top priority throughout the film which I believe was chosen by the director to go against the stereotypical accusations against women.
ReplyDeleteFood plays a major role throughout Daisies. Food is a necessity of life, so by having food in many of the scenes shows that they are living out their lives. By having lavish dinners at fancy restaurants they are showing to not live life simply, but to go all out and not hold back. In one scene, the blond girl is on the phone with somebody she had previously spent the night with, but instead of paying attention to him, she and her friend are sitting on their bed cutting up bananas and sausage. The food in this scene is showing how they do not care what a man is saying and that they are in charge of this situation. They slice the bananas and sausage rather than conversing with this man. Before the food fight, they shove their faces full of expensive food, not caring if it is obvious that they took some food. This is showing that they want to indulge in the great things in life and should not hold back to anything. Once the food fight starts, it shows that everything that they have done in their lives does not matter anymore and that they could just sail through life doing whatever they want, including throwing their food. Without the food in the movie, the message of a carefree life would not be shown as clearly.
ReplyDeleteThe two main characters in Daisies seem to always be around food. The director finds many different roles for food to relate to. The many lavish dinners are included to show that these two women do not fit the normal gender roles. Normally men take women out to dinner, pay for the expensive meal then can except to take their date ‘home’. However, in Daisies the women turn the table. Instead the two girls have the worst manners possible at the dinner table, as if to scare their date away. Then they escort their dates on the next train. This is a complete turn of events from the social norm. The men to do use the women, but the girls end up using the men for free food. Throughout the middle of the film the girls start cutting up various foods such as cucumbers and sausage. These actions can easily be compared to cutting a part of the male anatomy. Once again this can be seen as the girls having power over their male counterparts. Once again not conforming to the social norms and taking away masculinity from men. Finally during the final scene of the film where the two girls are eating all the food on the dining table the film is making a statement that food does not make people happy. Even though the girls eat all of the food and in the moment they seem overjoyed. However as time progresses the girl realize how sad and empty their lives are. This could be commenting on the flaws of capitalism where free choice is everywhere compared to communism where choices are very limited.
ReplyDeleteThe film Daises focuses on two women, and how they view themselves as “bad”. The two main characters of this film are women, and at the beginning they decide that they should go “bad”. Their actions throughout the rest of the movie define what is considered “bad”. They go out to dinner with numerous men, and once they get a meal out these men, ditch them. During these meals they act very unladylike by stuffing their faces and have no courtesy. In their apartment they throw food everywhere. We don’t know the history of these characters so their decision to go bad remains unknown. It could be they feel they’ve been suppressed as women, and this is their opportunity to break out of the identity given to them because of their gender. The way in which the movie presents them disgustingly eating is funny. The director makes them eating something to laugh at because it is supposed to represent that it’s funny that this is considered bad for women to eat this way. All humans need to eat, so it’s funny that something women are prone to do is considered bad. Men can be very messy when they eat with food like wings, ribs and cheeseburgers so it’s unreasonable that it’s considered bad if a woman eats in a similar manner. This movie represents the gender roles that have developed over time as silly. It’s silly that in this movie it is scandalous for two women to eat their hearts out, but it’s the unfortunate truth of how society has developed and views women.
ReplyDeleteVera Chytilova who is the director of the 1966 Czechoslovak film Daisies, ultimately uses the idea of food to her advantage to portray non-female gender roles. This is evident in the scene at the beginning of the film when the two main characters, who are females, try to convince older men to take them back to their homes, but they are first obligated to take the women out to a nice dinner and pay for the dinner. However after the dinner, the women trick the older men by boarding the train with them, only to jump off and for the men to finally realize the women are gone. Another example of how food is used to show non-female gender roles is the scene in which the women are both at home slicing foods such as bananas, sausages, and pickles, with knives and scissors. Through this, this particular example shows a direct correlation to masculinity and how the women are emasculating males. Finally, the women go up into a miniature elevator shaft seeking nourishment of some kind. Once they get off of the elevator, the women come across a huge hall, filled with vast amounts of food fit for a king. The two main characters then stumble upon a table and start to eat all of the food on the table, each moving a seat down as they finish their meals. After this, the women then partake in a huge food fight throwing pieces of cake at each other. After the food fight, both women stroll past the table acting as if the entire food fight, as well as themselves being covered in cake was a huge joke. Through this, the main characters of the film ultimately oppose the stereotypical “prim and proper” female, as well as the communistic ideals during the late 1960’s. The characters of Daisies ultimately challenge the stereotypical “prim and proper” female, when Chytilova chooses to make the two women very unfeminine. Throughout the film, food is used while the two women are challenging normal gender roles. Ultimately, food in this particular film is the connection in which Chytilova uses to correlate females with non-feminine characteristics.
ReplyDeleteFood is a big theme in Daisies and is shown constantly through out the film. The food stands out even more when you considered the context of where and when the movie was produced. The movie was made at a time when most people in Czechoslovakia were probably having a hard time making ends meet and only the social elite could afford to indulge in such gluttony as portrayed in Daisies.
ReplyDeleteThe two girls in the film can be seen as the symbolic of the government. They start off good but early on in the movie there is a scene in which they decide that they want to be bad. As the movie progresses they become more and more corrupted. Their corruption can be seen in how they increasing waste more food culminating in the banquet scene in which they demolish a lavish feast. In this context, the food represents government power. In the beginning, the girls use food more or less properly only taking as much as they can eat. But eventually they start taking much more than they need and just waste it. This all builds to the destruction of the banquet, after which the girls realize they have gone too far and try to reverse their mistake. They put the pieces of the plates back together and try to reassemble the food. But it can easily bee seen that it is impossible to reverse the damage already done not matter what they do. After fixing everything they lie down on the table contenting thinking that everything is back to normal. And right then the chandelier falls on them killing them. This film seems to send the message that the government is corrupted beyond anything that can be fixed even if they want to change. The only solution is for a revolution in which the old government is over thrown and a new one that is still pure can take it’s place.