Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Fairy tale Form/Magical Realism

When discussing the form of Like Water for Chocolate, we noted its fairy tale-like structure (three daughters of a evil (step)mother, fantastic events, etc.).  One could also label it under the category of magical realism, a mode typically associated with Latin American fiction the work of the late great Gabriel Garcia Marquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, etc.).  Like Water seems closer to the former in some ways than the latter, but it nevertheless seems related to the latter as well.

2 comments:

  1. Wow! I was not able to attend that class so I did not get to hear that discussion. I didn't think of it like that at all, but it really does have the typical fairy tale structure. This film is a fairy tale structured movie, but in a different country/time era. Very interesting point! That really puts the film in a whole new perspective for me.

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  2. I completely agree that this movie could be considered as magical realism. According to princeton.edu, "Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction [1] in which magical elements are blended into a realistic atmosphere in order to access a deeper understanding of reality. These magical elements are explained like normal occurrences that are presented in a straightforward manner which allows the "real" and the "fantastic" to be accepted in the same stream of thought."
    I feel this totally fits Tita's character. She is living (what I would imagine to be/seems to be) a normal life in the time and setting of the story, but has this sense of something special or magical about her. We see a magical element in a realistic setting right away at the beginning of the movie when Tita begins her own premature birth by crying so much from her mother slicing onions. Having a premature baby, with little warning in the kitchen is quite realistic. However, how the labor started is not. With the way the story is told throughout the movie, the audience easily accepts these fantastic events as just another part of the story. It's not like Tita waves a magic wand and 'poof' things happen. But her emotions are so strong that they affect others....and that is very realistic. It's the vehicle that is used to project the feelings is 'magical.' The director does a wonderful job with blending reality with fiction to make Tita's story more believable.

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