ITT 4531 Italian Food in Film – Syllabus Fall 2014 University of South Florida - Italian Program Department of World Languages ITT 4531: ITALIAN FOOD IN FILM Dr. Patrizia La Trecchia Associate Professor & Head USF Italian Program | [email protected] https://www.facebook.com/PatriziaLaTrecchiaPhD | https://twitter.com/Dr_LaTrecchia http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/A-War-on-Food-Waste-Dr-Patrizia http://www.milanprotocol.com/supporters/supporter/id/patrizia-la-trecchia http://magazine.usf.edu/2013/summer/voices/patrizia-la-trecchia.aspx View my TED Talk, join the Milan Protocol on Food and Nutrition, and let's change the food system! Office Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 4:00-5:00pm & by appointment in Cooper 425 Class Meets: Mondays & Wednesdays 8:00-9:15pm CPR 344 Course Description: Italian food holds a special presence within several foreign cultures, among which the United States. Italy has developed one of the most popular, bio-diverse, and sustainable food systems. This course explores eating, one of the most basic acts of our lives, as represented in different Italian cinematic texts. We are what we eat. Yet we do not realize how this seemingly mundane act is intricately linked to culture, economics, and politics. The knowledge of what is behind food, its history, its culture, its traditions, its diversity, the reason for which that type of food exists, how it was made, by whom it was made, allow us to reconnect with the value of food and with the fact that food can become a primary factor for the improvement of life on the planet. Course Objectives: The production and consumption of food shapes our world, our culture, and ultimately our identities. Food becomes a medium that mobilizes the acceptance of difference. Through a variety of Italian films – paying special attention to the representation of Italian food – this course will map the consumption of food in a variety of geo-cultural settings (Italians in Italy, Europe, and in the United States) reflecting on the cultural and social constructions it shapes. In an increasingly globalized and fragmented world, isn’t food perhaps a way to maintain or affirm our differences, identities, roots, and ethnicity? This course also emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to the various aspects of the food system, from its cultural and cinematic representation, to agriculture and food production, to aspects of the culinary arts and consumption. In addition, it provides a theoretical and practical experience from field to table through cooking demonstrations at the kitchen demonstration classroom of the USF Diabetes Center. Students gain an analytical and practical knowledge of the global and local food system. They learn about the Mediterranean Diet gaining insights in sustainable agriculture and culinary arts and cuisine within a liberal arts environment. PLT 1 ITT 4531 Italian Food in Film – Syllabus Fall 2014 Student Learning Outcomes: The interrelations between the culinary discourse and the more general cultural one, as they relate to the representation of Italian food in film, constitute the backdrop for this course. This course reaches out to all student population, regardless of their majors. It also provides a good balance between practice and theory. Students will not only “close read” a cultural artifact by examining its formal elements and historical context, but also analyze representations of food to see how they reveal major social and political issues. After being guided to do a visual close reading of films (please refer to the handout “How to Do a Visual Close Reading”) that represent the role of Italian cuisine in the international/global gastronomic panorama, students will be able to demonstrate and recognize how our consumption of food and our food wisdom (or lack of food wisdom) shape our culture, our personal and collective identity, and our daily practices. Students completing this course will present and write a well-researched and well-argued analysis of a particular “food” film in order to explore an underlying issue. This is a discussion- and inquiry-based class; therefore, engaged scrutiny of the text is essential and active participation by all students is expected. Films Screenings and Reserve: Films will be viewed by students, on their own time, in advance of class discussion. Some brief clips or excerpts will be presented during class to engender discussion. All films will be kept on reserve for consultation during the semester. It is your responsibility to view the film before Mondays. Required articles from other sources will be made available over the semester via the Canvas site. Films: Tucci, Stanley, dir. Big Night (USA 1996, 1h 49’) Steno, dir. Un americano a Roma (An American in Rome, Italy, 1954, 1h 34’) Scorsese, Martin, dir. Italianamerican (USA, 1974, 49’) Miniero, Luca, dir. Benvenuti al Sud (Welcome to the South, Italy, 2010, 1h 41’) Borrelli, Ilaria, dir. Come le formiche (Wine and Kisses, Italy, 2007, 1h 25’) De Angelis, Edoardo, dir. Mozzarella Stories (Italy, 2011, 1h 35’) Murphy, Ryan, dir. Eat Pray Love (USA, 2010, 1h 73’) Miniero, Luca, dir. Benvenuti al Nord (Welcome to the North, Italy, 2012, 1h 50’) Di Gregorio, Gianni, dir. Pranzo di Ferragosto (Mid-August Lunch, Italy, 2008, 1h 15’) Cupellini, Claudio, dir. Lezioni di cioccolato (Chocolate Lessons, Italy, 2007, 1h 47’) Nettelbeck, Sandra, dir. Mostly Martha (Bella Martha, Germany, 2001, 1h 49’) Pasolini, Pier Paolo, dir. La ricotta (Ricotta Cheese, Italy, 1963, 35’) Guadagnino, Luca, dir. Io sono l’amore (I Am Love, Italy, 2010, 1h 60’) Ozpetek, Ferzan, dir. La finestra di fronte (Facing Windows, Italy, 2002, 1h 46’) Cirasola, Nico, dir. Focaccia Blues (Italy, 2009, 1h 18’) Rusca, Marco, dir. Food (Italy, 2012) La Trecchia, Patrizia, TED Talk, “A War on Food Waste and the Mediterranean Diet,” http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/A-War-on-Food-Waste-Dr-Patrizia PLT 2 ITT 4531 Italian Food in Film – Syllabus Fall 2014 La Trecchia, Patrizia, Hunger Relief Forum, http://www.wusf.usf.edu/news/program/florida_matters/episode/2013-09/hunger_relief_in_tampa_bay La Trecchia, Patrizia, “The Value of Food for Our Planet,” 5th International Forum on Food and Nutrition, http://www.barillacfn.com/en/forum/forum-2013/?video=y Required Readings: La Trecchia, Patrizia. “Identity in the Kitchen: Creation of Taste and Culinary Memories of an Italian- American Identity.” Italian Americana 30.1 (2011): 44-56. DeSalvo, Louise. “Cutting the Bread.” The Milk of Almonds: Italian American Women Writers on Food and Culture. Ed. Louise DeSalvo and Edvige Giunta. New York: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2002. 322-331. Dickie, John. Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and their Food. London: Sceptre, 2007. Recommended Films and Readings: Soechtig, Stephanie, dir. Fed Up (USA 2014, 1hr 32’) Jacobson, Kristi and Lori Silverbush, dir. A Place at the Table (USA 2012, 1h 24') Cross, Joe and Kurt Engfehr, dir. Fat Sick and Nearly Dead (USA 2010, 1h 37’) Colquhoun, James, Laurentine Ten Bosch, and Carlo Ledesma, Hungry for Change (Australia 2012, 1h 29’) Colquhoun, James, and Carlo Ledesma, Food Matters (Australia 2008, 1h 20’) Linklater, Richard, dir. Fast Food Nation (USA 2006, 1h 56’) Kenner, Robert, dir. Food, Inc. (USA 2008, 1h 34’) Fulkerson, Lee, dir. Forks Over Knives (USA 2011, 1h 30’) McLeod, Sandy, dir. Hungry (USA 2013) Bates, Robert, dir. Ingredients (USA 2009, 1h 13’) Course Requirements: The success of this class and what you learn will be based on your participation, attention, and intellectual curiosity. You will be exposed to a large variety of visual texts – during the course I will provide some supplemental readings – therefore, attendance is required barring documented emergencies or illness. We will spend our time in class thinking together about the ‘fictive’ realities produced by these visual texts, never separating the aesthetic and the cultural form. I will act as a guide into the complex context of Italian food and society, introducing the texts and their socio-historical context with mini-lectures and mini- interventions. Participation in class discussion is crucial. All members of class are expected to participate in the discussions, presentations, and debates. In each session, the scheduled topic will be contextualized, presented, and assessed from an aesthetic, cultural, and social point of view. A healthy debate is an informed one, and I expect you to watch all the films actively and critically, in advance of the class sessions. If you do not watch the films you will not be able to participate in class debates, and your grade – as well as the class – will suffer. PLT 3 ITT 4531 Italian Food in Film – Syllabus Fall 2014 In order to put you in an active role, while watching the films on your own time, you will be taking notes, which you will post on the Discussion Board on Canvas that will be organized as our ongoing blog or journal. • Tell us what you think about food. • Make connections with your environment, a current event, and your personal experience. • Discuss the issues the work raises for your life or the lives of those you know. • Exercise your critical skills. • Challenge your assumptions. • Think outside your sphere of habits and rituals. • Be introspective. • Reconsider your unconscious relationship to the arts and perhaps the world at large. • Be passionate. Writing is thinking. It invites surprises. When writing a journal, you will often discover things you did not know you thought or felt. The deepest insights often come after ten or fifteen minutes when writers initially feel they have run out of things to say. Writers should generate a lot of ideas to allow them to keep only the best ones for the finished draft. If you happen to produce a piece of writing that you would like to keep private instead of posting it publicly on the blog, you can do so and send it to me.