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Like Water For Chocolate: Magic Realism

The document discusses the use of magical realism in the movie Like Water for Chocolate. Magical realism allows the combination of realistic and fantastical elements to entertain viewers and provide deeper interpretations. In the movie, magical realism is used to define the feelings of the main character Tita and allow her to experience freedom despite restrictions placed upon her. Events like Tita's cooking causing those who eat it to experience her emotions or banishing her mother's ghost through her own will demonstrate how magical realism enhances Tita's freedom.

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Lexi Dei Falgui
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305 views2 pages

Like Water For Chocolate: Magic Realism

The document discusses the use of magical realism in the movie Like Water for Chocolate. Magical realism allows the combination of realistic and fantastical elements to entertain viewers and provide deeper interpretations. In the movie, magical realism is used to define the feelings of the main character Tita and allow her to experience freedom despite restrictions placed upon her. Events like Tita's cooking causing those who eat it to experience her emotions or banishing her mother's ghost through her own will demonstrate how magical realism enhances Tita's freedom.

Uploaded by

Lexi Dei Falgui
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The movie Like Water for Chocolate portrays the combination of

reality and of non-existing events. This combination is a part of literary


writing. We call it magical realism.
The purpose of magical realism is to entertain and boggle the mind
of the reader with deeper interpretations of the storys essence. In the
movie, magical realism was also used to define the characters feelings
and to live out the freedom that the character has been robbed off of.
Tita de la Garza, a daughter of Mama Elena, was selected by her
mother to follow the familys traditionone member of the family must
not marry but grow up taking care of the parents. By the time she was
born, she was already deprived of this freedom, to live a life filled with
comfort and a life to share with the man she loves. Such deprivation of
freedom has caused her to make use of magical realism.
Tita grew up in the delicious and fragrant borders of the kitchen.
She, like her aunt Nacha, was confined into cooking for the family.
However, Tita had something special in her dishes. It
was freedom. Mama Elena always restricted Tita from the freedom of
deciding and of expressing her love to Pedro. Of every emotion Tita
felt while cooking the dishes, family and guests who take it in grasp
the same emotion. Instances were when Tita cooked: Pedro and
Rosauras Chabela wedding cake to express her grief and sorrow for
failing to be the bride of his groom; quail with rose petal sauce for
family dinner to relay to Pedro her sexual urge/desire of him and of his
body; a dish for confronting Dr. John Brown about how shes lost her
virginity with another man and decides on cancelling the engagement;
a dish for curing her mother from fatal illness; and a dish for the
childbirth of Rosaura to express her anger towards the appointment of
Esperanza to follow the family tradition.
In all of which Tita cooked dishes, magical realism was a very
effective way to exercise her freedom. Not ever has Mama Elena been
able to control this freedom of hers. No one but herself was capable of
controlling how this magical realism occurred.
The other important instance in which magical realism was
effective for Titas freedom was when she casted away the ghost of
Mama Elena. Since being bothered for days by her mothers monstrous
soul, Tita herself was able to end this disturbance. It wasnt a spell
casted by mystical or magical individuals. It wasnt even a spell. The
words that drove away the soul of Mama Elena were the thoughts that
flamed the inner being of Tita. She tried to rid herself of her mothers
ghost and she succeeded. This scene proved that her own self was

what set her free, her own will to achieve freedom. Whats within her
inner voice was what truly set her free.
Lastly, I dont think there were ever instances of magical realism in
the movie that were not effective for the sake of Titas freedom. Here
are the instances and their proofs:the turning of tears into salt during
Titas birthThis transformation has proven Titas and the households
freedom and right to know that she is to live a life of magic realism;
the heat of the water that burned the shower where Gertrudis was
This gave Tita and Pedro the opportunity to practise their right to be
together; and the mere existence of Mama Elenas ghost (Some people
believe that ghosts dont exist. Therefore, ghosts are part of magical
realism.)This opened the gates for Titas freedom from weakness.
This was the start of the stronger Tita, the woman of her.

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