Representation of Identity through Narrativization of Food in Julie and Julia (2009) and The Lunchbox (2013)

Abstract

Food is one of the most important ‘cultural markers’ for human beings. It creates a sense of belonging and identity. It also helps to understand social, familial, relational and class connections. Another aspect associated with food and its usage is related to gender. It is an undisputed fact that food is a significant activity in the lives of human beings. However, food never has been/ is not merely about physical sustenance. We should not delude ourselves into thinking that eating is a non-essential undertaking due to its ‘quotidian’ nature. Food can never be looked at singularly. Like literature, it has endless meanings, which have to be ‘read in between the lines.’ It is replete with both overt and covert meanings which are related to the most cherished and inaccessible parts of human rational/ irrational depths of the brain. We eat for various reasons; out of hunger, anxiety, stress, emotional distress and even after we have been satiated. Food comprises a ‘more or less conscious tool’ for an amiable and volitional behaviour of a person or her/ his association with a group/ section of the society. It also acts as a means of bias against gender, abuse, and subjugation. Women have been confined to the kitchen since time immemorial. This ‘space’ has been responsible for their subjection, enslavement, unacknowledged labour and anguish. The present paper examines Julie and Julia (2009) and The Lunchbox (2013) to look at the stereotypical notion of ‘kitchen’ being the restricted ‘space’ from a different perspective. There are many dimensions to the ‘kitchen,’ the food cooked in it and a sense of liberation and identity involved with it. For the protagonists of these movies, the ‘kitchen space’ has multifarious implications and each deals with them according to her individual social setting.

Keywords

• food
• emancipation
• gendered