In class we talked about stereotypes (female/male, German/Italian). Let's go over the basics: Mario is care free spirited, loving and warm, Martha is uptight, cold and a major workaholic/perfectionist. When looking at the cooking industry, NPR reports less than 7% of restaurants in the US are led by women. In Germany it is reported that only nine out of the 300 Michelin-starred restaurants are ran by women. If Martha was not a workaholic I don't know how she would hold her title at the restaurant. She still gets crap from complaining customers and almost all of them were men. Regardless, this overbearing perfectionist attitude is developed by the gender inequality that is commonly seen in real world kitchens. In the real world, women often need to be a perfectionist workaholic to get 1/2 of the notoriety other chefs in the industry get. I think the food industry-any industry has given her many of her bad character qualities such as being cold and uptight. Working twice as hard is common when you're a woman. Looking at one of our previous movies, 1000 Foot Journey, Hassan outshines Marguerite midway though the movie while Marguerite remains sous chef (and eventually business partner... but she never got to have the Paris experience/notoriety). Marguerite worked hard, did everything by the rules, but never moved up in the ranks. Hassan adds a few spices to his dish the second day and then BOOM he owns the restaurant.
Mario could be very competitive and try to outshine Martha, but his laid back Italian nature shapes him into a nonthreatening character. He makes a comment to Martha when she accuses him of trying to take her job. He says "I only go where I am wanted." Why is that? Italian? No, I think that add's to it, but I really don't think white, male Mario has to fight very hard to get a good job. Therefore he has the freedom to roam freely, come in late, and entertain the kids and still gets to leave the work day unscathed.
I think the cultures assigned Martha and Mario were a very good choice. If Martha was an easy breezy Italian, she probably would have been knocked up cooking pasta while her hardworking husband Mario would be raking up Michelin stars at the restaurant.
Also, here is my favorite scene. I think it shows Martha's character very well.
Here is my work cited:
- https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/08/31/639398136/women-chefs-still-walk-a-fine-line-in-the-kitchen
- https://www.exberliner.com/features/women-in-the-kitchen/
- https://datausa.io/profile/soc/chefs-head-cooks
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