Shannon Forrester 

ENG 2400

Pro. Scanlan

10/29/2020

 

Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate (1992) and Alfonso Arau’s Like Water for Chocolate (1993)

Laura Esquivel’s novel, “Like Water for Chocolate,” is about a protagonist named Tita de la Garza, who lives in Mexico during the Revolutionary War, faces various hardships personally while maintaining the kitchen as Head cook for the family. With the abuse and intimation from her mother, the first antagonist, Mama Elena, and her desired lover, the second antagonist, Pedro, she finds difficulty finding the middle ground of it all. Every chapter follows up with each month of the year, delicious recipes, and food preparations that correlate with the plot. For instance, in April, the dish was turkey mole with almonds and sesame seeds. The ingredients include chile mulato, chiles anchos, lard, turkey stock, etc. For the prep, Esquivel adds, “two days after killing the turkey, clean it and cook with salt.” It shows how appetite and well-thought the recipes were.  The film, Like Water for Chocolate by Alfonso Arau, is very similar to the novel, however, it shows the main points of the story of Tita. Also, almost none of the preparation steps were shown in the film and many recipes were almost unapparent. According to Linda Cahir’s literature-to-film translations, traditional translation can be identified when comparing and contrasting the two versions. Traditional translation uses similarities to show the viewers or readers the main points or events of the story it is inspired by, without showing every by verbatim. From watching the film after reading the novel, it maintained the overall plot, settings of the novel, but reconstructed certain details that filmmakers saw as necessary and fitting for the viewers.   

Every main character in the novel plays an important role in Tita’s life. She is the youngest daughter amongst the other 3 sisters. She loves cooking and creating recipes with the cook of the house, Nacha for the family, due to her being born in the kitchen. She’s denied marriage because of Elena’s “family tradition:” the youngest child must not be married and take care of the mother until she dies. Although she follows this tradition, she’s introduced to a young man named Pedro who he seeks interest in marriage and unfathomed love starts to create. Mama Elena is the mother who belittles and abuses Tita for the simplest thing. She’s the head of the household and struggles to find peace with herself. Elena is the hardest roadblock for Tita to be with the man of her life. Pedro seeks interest in Tita but marries Rosaura, Elena’s eldest daughter. He often becomes selfish, jealous, and possessive of Tita, in efforts to regain Tita’s love assurance. The least but important character that is revealed at the ending of the story is Esperanza, who narrates the entire story and is the daughter of Pedro and Rosaura, great-niece of Tita. 

While the plot of the film version of “Like Water for Chocolate” is almost identical to Laura Esquivel’s novel, the lack of contexts when filming major scenes, and certain use of lighting that makes this translation traditional as stated by Linda Cahir. When proving this, I will first compare the scene with the Rose Petal fiasco between the film, and the novel. Then, I will explain how lowkey lighting plays a perspective on how the filmmakers interpret certain romance and dramatic scenes. Lastly, I will point out the different points of view from a male and female perspective, romantically. 

  1. In Chapter 3 of the story, the process for preparing the meal was to carefully remove the petals so your fingers won’t get pricked. Esperanza states, “…little wounds painful but the petals could soak up the blood that might alter the flavor of the dish and even produce dangerous chemical reactions” (45). Pedro gives Tita a rose bouquet has a sympathy gift after her losing Nacha, the house cook. Once Tita accepts it, it pricks her on her chest and hands. Tita cooks quail in rose petal sauce, with one of the roses she was gifted. Everyone who eats the meal feels aroused, except Rosaura, who felt nauseous, but Gertrudis had a strange experience. She begins to imagine herself with Juan, who she notices while going to the market and making love to him. To relieve her trouble, Gertrudis prepared her shower but it was a big task since she had to fill it with ten buckets of water and constantly climb up and down. While taking her shower, it caught on fire from her body heat. She then took cover running and got kidnapped by Juan, a captain of the rebel army, which later became her husband. Comparably, the film captures almost the exact scenario to show the main scene. It shows Pedro giving the bouquet and how the blood dripped once the throne pricked her skin.  Once everyone was eating, the more they ate, the higher the arousal became and sexual tension grew between Pedro and Tita.  However, the scene quickly goes to Gertrudis taking a shower but does not show the process of preparing her shower. It also did not show her body heat causing the shower to catch fire.  It skips to Juan taking her away on a horse. In the book, it states, “…the sexual desire Juan had contained for so long while he was fighting in the mountains, made for a spectacular encounter” (44). The book makes it seem sensual, while the film makes it seem like a kidnap.  
  2. The filmmaker uses low key lighting when filming romantic or dramatic scenes. Low-key lighting is an effect that uses a hard light source to enhance the shadow of a person in a scene. The hard light source is often bright and it brings attention to a specific part of the scene. In the film, after Tita was done cooking and cleaning, she was putting away her pots and pans and returning them to the storage room, while holding an oil lamp. She noticed someone else’s presence, which was Pedro. He extinguished the lamp, without saying anything and they made love. The light of the lamp drew attention to both Tita and Pedro’s shadow for dramatization. 
  3. In the novel, Esquivel shows the emotional, and vivid imaginations that each female character feels. In chapter 1, the author describes Tita’s emotions when she discovered Pedro will be marrying Rosuara: “…her body fill with a wintry chill: in one sharp, quick blast she was so cold and dry her cheeks burned and turned red, read ad the apples beside her” (20).  Another example is in chapter 7 when Tita bumped into John and felt a sense of comfort when he held her: “Tita was beginning to wonder if the feeling of peace and security that Dr. Brown gave her wasn’t true love, and not the agitation and anxiety she felt… with Pedro” (118). On the contrary, in the film, Arau captures more of the sexual aspect of the story. With Gertrudis feeling aroused during dinner and Pedro just wanting sex with Tita.

Tita’s character develops when she sacrificed her voice and not talking for six months. This was because Roberto, Pedro’s son, died and the news was so devastating for her that he because mentally distraught. Dr. Brown found her and took her to his place to help her recover. She felt comfortable at the home and she never wanted to go home and deal with motherly torture. During her stay, she felt numb to the situation and never spoke. Until Gertrudis brought Tita a nostalgic oxtail soup that she loves. Her sacrifice gained her the self-confidence that she never had for years while taking the abuse and emotional stress from her mother, Elena. When trying to speak her mind and have a say in a conversation, Elena aggressively disapproves of everything and curses Tita unnecessarily. To keep in mind, after dealing with the stress from childhood, having this transition is what she needed.

Towards the ending of both the story and film, Mama Elena dies from overdose and things are starting to look good for Tita after 20 years. She gets engaged with Dr. Brown and they plan on married. Gertrudis marries Juan and becomes more outspoken and confident with who she is. Pedro and Rosaura gave birth to Esperanza, Tita’s grand-niece, despite his never-ending love her Tita. After the engagement party for Tita and Dr. Brown, Tita and Pedro decide to consummate their love and forget what others think, leaving Dr. Brown to no longer wanting to marry her. When they finished Pedro dies and Tita kills herself while imagining her and Pedro embracing and their spirits being together forever.