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Midterm Draft

The most youthful girl in her family, the talented chef Tita is forbidden to wed her love, Pedro. Since custom directs that Tita must think about her mom, Pedro marries her more established sister, Rosaura. The circumstance makes a lot of strain on the family, and Tita’s ground-breaking feelings start to surface in fantastical manners through her cooking. As the years finish, surprising conditions test the suffering affection for Pedro and Tita. While the plot of the film version of “Like Water or Chocolate,” directed by Alfonso Arau is very similar to Laura Esquivel text version, the film lost an integral part of the book, the sensual aspect of the cooking and love, making this translation traditional, according to Linda Cahir’s definition. To prove this, I will first compare the scenes between Tita and Pedro and the sign that is displayed at the beginning of the film. Second, I will explore Tita’s cooking because it deals with her emotions. Lastly, I will discuss what the film loses and gains by leaving out scenes.

Close to the start of the novel Rosaura and Pedro are to be married. This bombshell Tita especially as she adores Pedro. While she is making the cake for the wedding she starts to cry into the cake hitter. Since she was feeling yearning and misfortune, those feelings moved into the cake. Consequently, when the visitors at the wedding started to eat the cake, they also started to feel yearning and misfortune, some even became ill. Nacha, another house cook, who ate the cake, felt such aching and loss of her darling that she passed on.

The pictures in the film relate near the entertaining inclination the book gives us, giving us a high point on the visitors and long shots, demonstrating to us on the whole how everybody was crying. That night Nacha bites the dust and breaks Tita’s world. Later on, Pedro gives Tita roses, and she chooses to make quail in rose. The enthusiasm trickled from her to the dish and made Gertrudis the more established sister consider wicked considerations. The smell stirring from her ranges to an officer Juan, who was Gertrudis dream, the second is depicted mystically: “A pink clod floated toward him, wrapped itself around him…naked as she was, luminous, glowing with energy… without slowing his gallop, so as not to waste a moment, he leaned over, put his arm around her waist, and lifted her onto the horse in front of him, face to face” (pg 55-56). The film draws an incredible equal here, the image is foggy a little as though it is a fantasy, and without precedent for the film, which is faintly lit and inadequately lit, the image is splendid, with a streaming development of the two as they vanish. One of the most huge minutes in the book is when Tita conveys Rosauras child Roberto, the thing she cherished the most. In the film notwithstanding, the entire period of dealing with Roberto in the kitchen and taking care of him is brief, which is exceptionally befuddling for later scenes. As mother Elena faculties that Pedro and Tita may take part in an extramarital entanglement going on, she sends them to one of her family members in the United States.

Throughout the book and film, Tita seems to have character development. When preparing the food Mama Elena and they find out that Roberto died, she stands up for herself and yells at Mama Elena saying it is her fault. This is the first sign that Tita wants to get away from her family but more specifically, Mama Elena. Mama Elena is blocking Tita from being redeemed by not letting her marry because she has to be the one to take care of her.  When Mama Elena dies, in a way Tita is free.  

1 Comment

  1. Professor Sean Scanlan

    Ashley,
    Thanks for sharing your draft. It is a strong beginning. The key arguments are clearly outlined. As you refine and revise the essay, pay attention to:
    -Unfold Cahir’s definition in more detail, help readers visualize the precise reasons the film is the type of translation that you claim.
    -The paragraph on the tears and cake scene should be lengthened. I would use the tears and the rose petal scenes as the major arguments of the entire essay.
    -Add more direct quotes to support you ideas.
    -Avoid the word “picture” in the third paragraph. I think you want to use shot and scene.
    Best,
    Prof. Scanlan

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