The End.

                                            The End.

Reel Food and World Cinema. A course where I learned about food films. A course that showed me how much of a role, food can truly play within a film. After looking at and rereading all the blogs that I wrote this semester, it was another reminder of all that we have done, and all that I have learned. We have watched several different movies throughout the semester, from American to foreign films. Most of the films, I probably would have never heard of nor watched, if it was not for me being in this class. What we watched throughout the course broadened my horizons for what movies I would usually go for. I am a movie girl, but the same genre and type of movies are always the ones that usually draw me in. But now I feel like I am much more open for going outside of my comfort zone when it comes to movies.  

                      

    

When it comes to films and the role that food plays within them, throughout this course, I was able to learn a lot. Such as the power that food can have, which was discussed heavily with Babette’s Feast. I also learned how food can impact and play a strong role within love, romance, family, and culture. These ideas were covered in multiple movies that we watched, including Mostly Martha, What’s Cooking, Chocolat, Tortilla Soup, Soul Food, and even more. I would have never connected a food film to a science fiction film, but Soylent Green showed me different. This film helped me make this connection and see more of that scientific, metaphorical meaning of food. I appreciate each of the films that we watched whether they were my favorites or not. There was a purpose for why we watched, discussed, and analyzed each of the films that we did. The films watched worked perfectly with the objective of the course and helped us to achieve our learning goals of the class, as well as the topics that we covered. I also appreciated the topics covered because we did not just focus on one or two ideas, and we did not just discuss the surface level of these topics. I was able to really deepen my understanding of these topics and make some great and meaningful connections between them and the films. 

I spent a great amount of time reading the required material of this course. I took my time on each of the required readings and made sure to take notes on all of them. I think this was super beneficial for me because it allowed me to have a better understanding of the films, the role of food within the films, as well as other themes and ideas that the films covered that I may not have noticed, or may have been confused by. The readings were very important and helped with the overall effectiveness of the course. We were able to discuss and analyze not only what we saw in the films, but what we read in the readings. Both the films and readings left me with some great takeaways from this course overall. 

                                       

When it comes to the difficulty of this class, I do not think that it was challenging, and I think that it was not challenging in a good way. This class was what I believe to be everything that it needed it to be. If we want to use the word challenging, I will say that it challenged me in the best way possible. It challenged my thinking, allowing me to grow in my understanding in a course that was very new to me, but a course that combined two topics that I was familiar with, or thought that I was familiar with. I really enjoyed this course and am glad that I decided to take it. 

When it comes to which film of the course was my favorite, that is a hard question to answer. This is because out of all of the films that we watched, a couple of them I really really enjoyed and would watch again, and even recommend to others (which I have already done) due to how much I liked them. These films include The Hundred-Foot Journey, Mostly Martha, What’s Cooking, Woman on Top, Chocolat, Tortilla Soup, Soul Food, and Once Upon A Time...When We Were Colored. The films that I did not mention still were interesting, entertaining, and helped me learn something, but it is something about these eight films listed. These eight films that I mentioned had qualities about them that really sparked my interest and kept me completely engaged the entire time. I truly enjoyed each of them for their own specific reasons (ex. theme, characters, scenes, organization), and they are the ones that resonated and stuck with me the most. These were the films that had that “wow” factor to me, making me love what they bring to the table. 

                               

                   

Sources:
https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-15165001-red-cinema-style-curtains-close-end-projected
https://www.filmlinc.org/dinner-and-a-movie/
https://www.amazon.com/Food-Film-Culture-Genre-Study/dp/0786426160
https://www.amazon.com/Reel-Food-Essays-Film/dp/041597111X