Women and Appetite in Film

Question

Hey guys,One of my ideas on slow percolation revolves around a woman and her appetites. I was trying to think of archetypical POSITIVE female character with large appetites, but I can only think of negative ones, though plenty of male characters with large appetites portrayed as charming, positive (Diego Rivera in numerous movies, for example). Appetite is a little different from desire, but not much.....does anyone have a favorite movie with a female character who has a big appetite and the character is on balance positive (the mom in What's Eating Gilbert Grape isn't exactly positive, but she's not entirely negative either. but she's a background character)? The appetite can be for anything, food, sex, real estate (hey, in San Francisco, the devil does a tidy business trading souls for dismal studio condo units!), offspring, power, whatever.I'm sure my film noir obsession is just blocking me.Thanks, you guys always knock the blocks out of my head.MystiP.S. Are there ANY studio-owned "indie studio" left? Have they ALL been shuttered?Is anyone in L.A. producing feel-bad movies anymore?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

Like Water for Chocolate. A very good movie for female foodies. Better book than movie.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Like Water for Chocolate. A very good movie for female foodies. Better book than movie.[/nq]
PS - I'm a taster, not an eater. I'd like to live on ordirves. Yum! I want olives, save that potato thing for someone else.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hey guys, One of my ideas on slow percolation revolves around a woman and her appetites. I was trying to ... Are there ANY studio-owned "indie studio" left? Have they ALL been shuttered? Is anyone in L.A. producing feel-bad movies anymore?[/nq]
Don't know specifically about movies but my wife is a big reader of "private eye" fiction with female main characters and has pointed out that, just as male detective fiction tends to have the running trope of the private eye that has lots of girl friends and romantic encounters, female private eye fiction frequently has the trope of either the main character or her best female friend being able to eat anything she wants without gaining any weight.
So for men, you've got the male private eyes living out their fantasies they get to sleep around a lot without emotional entanglements, and for women, their female private eyes get to live out their fantasies they eat whatever they want and stay thin.

NMS

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Mag Ruffman was the star of a show called A Repair to Remember. That made her the ultimate woman in my eyes, much more than those useless anorexics on the Victoria Secret runway. Home plumbing can keep a girl busy, but it also kept her from putting on the pounds from all the desserts she treated herself with.
In terms of movies? Heartburn might have your gal. I still remember the cheesecake recipe in the book. Or what about Under The Tuscan Sun? Is that out on Blu-Ray?
BTW, in some scenes, Mrs. Grape is the entire background.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]...does anyone have a favorite movie with a female character who has a big appetite and the character is on balance positive[/nq]
Kathy Bates in "Fried Green Tomatoes."
(Am I supposed to admit I watched that movie?)

RonB
"There's a story there...somewhere"

Usenet · Answer

"Mysti Berry"
[nq:1]does anyone have a favorite movie with a female character who has a big appetite and the character is on balance positive[/nq]
Not sure if Marianne Sägebrecht in Bagdad Cafe (aka Out of Rosenheim) with Jack Palance fits the bill. Long time ago.
Then there's big appetite for life. Queen Latifah. Bette Midler.

And numerous Klumps.

Martin

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hey guys, One of my ideas on slow percolation revolves around a woman and her appetites. I was trying to ... as charming, positive (Diego Rivera in numerous movies, for example). Appetite is a little different from desire, but not much..[/nq]
Yesterday I saw a trailer for "Shopaholic," based on the bestsellers by Sophie Kinsella. I've never seen any of "*** and the City," but isn't shopping also one of their big appetites?
Watched a TCM profile of Joan Crawford last week. You might find good material in some of her films, along with those of Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn.
And what about Robin Wright's character in "Forrest Gump"? She was a sympathetic yet hungry character.
Outside of film, a huge example is Madonna. There's a clip "Behind the Music" shows often run: it's very early Madonna on American Bandstand. After her performance, Clark asks what her goals are. She says, "To rule the world."
Lois

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]And what about Robin Wright's character in "Forrest Gump"? She was a sympathetic yet hungry character.[/nq]
She was never positively balanced.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]One of my ideas on slow percolation revolves around a woman and her appetites. I was trying to think of ... have a favorite movie with a female character who has a big appetite and the character is on balance positive[/nq]
My favorite scene of a woman scarfing down food: Julie Christie in "McCabe and Mrs. Miller". McCabe and Mrs. Miller sit at a saloon table, McCabe gaping in disbelief as Mrs. Miller downs enough pork and beans for 4 grown men. She just shovels it in with both hands, and when she's done she tosses down her fork and knife, sits back and announces, "Mr. McCabe, I am a ***."
[nq:1](the mom in What's Eating Gilbert Grape isn't exactly positive, but she's not entirely negative either. but she's a background ... sure my film noir obsession is just blocking me. Thanks, you guys always knock the blocks out of my head.[/nq]
There are many kinds of appetites, but I guess you literally mean food, don't you? Most food movies I can think of with women as positive central characters position them as chefs ("Babette's Feast", "No Reservations"). There's a fantastic woman chef in Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections", which hasn't been made into a movie yet (and I am *so* wanting to be the writer...)
There's a scene in "The Witches of Eastwick" where Michelle Pfeiffer's character is magically protected from adverse effects of over-eating and she waltzes through a grocery store downing all sorts of sweet things directly off the shelf...
A woman with a huge appetite for life is Maude in "Harold and Maude".

For appetite to be positive, it's got to be a appetite for positive things. Maude is the closest woman I can think of, to being a female Zorba who just embraces and gulps down life.
Alan Brooks

A with an Underwood
Deep Oat
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Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]My favorite scene of a woman scarfing down food: Julie Christie in "McCabe and Mrs. Miller".[/nq]
Mine: The trollop in "Tom Jones" who seduces him with food.

I have a gift for enraging people, but if I ever bore you it will be with a knife.
- Louise Brooks

Women and Appetite in Film

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