Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Food media Eat, pray, love, make social commentary
Posted by Alison Loughman on Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 3:26 PM
- Sony Pictures
In the preview for Julia Roberts’ new chick-lit-turned-flick Eat Pray Love, which opens on Friday, she addresses a bowl of pasta with a cringeworthy declaration: “This is my no-carb-left-behind experiment.” But Elizabeth Gilbert’s titular book was on the New York Times bestseller list for 158 weeks, and Glee creator Ryan Murphy helmed the film adaptation. It seems like the foodie sentiment resonates with the coveted Sex and the City demographic that movie studios are so keen to get into the theaters. Yet that silly little line reveals a little more about our food attitudes than the screenwriters intended.
Just a few years ago, it was de rigueur for a woman to eschew all carbs in favor of the all-encompassing Atkins craze of the early 2000s. The book aisles at Target and Wal-Mart were lined with chic-lit titles that name-dropped designers like they were getting sponsored. Restaurants, cocktails, diets were all trendy.
This sounds like an overgeneralization, but if we’re to let Julia Roberts shine as a beacon for feminine aspiration over the past few decades, she definitely points toward a shift. In 2001, Roberts starred in the lukewarm rom-com America’s Sweethearts as Catherine Zeta Jones’ formerly fat sister who manages to shed the pounds, and ultimately win the guy, through a strict no-bread policy. Over a decade, Roberts’ characters have done a nutritional 180.
This move toward food appreciation seems like a totally understandable move for the mid-recession (post-recession? Pre-depression?) woman who has finally learned that Carrie Bradshaw is, indeed, a fictional character. It’s not cool to get in debt for some Manolos anymore. Suddenly, pleasure becomes much more sensory, which I think Eat, Pray, Love attempts to preach. Roberts’ character travels, sees, eats to garner experience that you can’t weigh on a scale or hang in a closet.
Does that make that preaching much less annoying? Not really, and I agree with the blogger who wrote, “I’m embarrassed by the message of, ‘Life as a rich white woman is really hard!’” The aforementioned carb phrase is hard to stomach when you’re a lifelong food lover, and it postures Roberts’ character as holier-than-thou. As another blogger tweeted, “LIFE is my no-carb-left-behind experiment.” But a it’s nice to see a film approaching food love as positive, even if the protagonist seems a little too impressed with herself for, ahem, eating.
Is that to say that this epicurean approach won’t fall by the wayside as soon as our pockets get flush again? No, because Americans rally around trends. What comes after locally-grown, back-to-basics comfort food? The futuristic meal-in-a-pill that food lovers have always feared? God, I pray that’s not the case.
Does this movie look visually enjoyable, the food look totally delectable, the male stars totally adorable and romantically disposable, the heroine’s escapist desire relatable? Yes, and I might find myself restraining my own grumbles to watch the celebration of food stylist Susan Spungen’s artistic pasta and gelato. I doubt I’ll love it, but hey, I sat through Sex and the City 2 for the aesthetic experience, too.
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Enjoy!
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