Food in Film by Jane Ferry

Author:Jane Ferry [Ferry, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Performing Arts, Film, Social Science, Research
ISBN: 9781317793908
Google: 6uXgAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-06-23T16:05:22+00:00

Mystic Pizza

In Mystic Pizza, the pizzeria is the nexus from which Daisy, Kat, and JoJo venture forth into the world of adulthood and the place to which they return when their interactions in the “outside” world go awry. Mystic Pizzeria offers a refuge from the outside world. Replacing the symbolic family dining table, the restaurant is now a safe place where the girls gather to express their feelings, resolve conflicts, share dreams, and solidify their group loyalty. In short, the socialization process that traditionally took place at the family dinner table takes place in the restaurant.14

In the opening scene, the formal solemn ritual of marriage takes place between Bill (Vincent D’Onofrio) and JoJo. The priest (Al Hodgkins) stands before them and invites God, families, and friends to witness and bless their holy union. The “firm covenant of marriage,”15 he states, is permanent because God established it; therefore the union may never be broken. Continuing, the priest asks Bill and JoJo to declare their “intentions to enter a binding and permanent union with one another.…” JoJo, in sudden panic, turns ashen and faints. The wedding is suspended. From this disrupted “ordered” nuptial ritual, the film cuts to the fast paced seemingly “disordered” orderly interior of the Mystic Pizzeria. Daisy and Kat, wearing Mystic Pizza T-shirts imprinted with a slice of pizza and the slogan “a slice of heaven,” converse and move about the restaurant in perfectly choreographed rhythm as they serve pizzas to the lunchtime crowd.

When JoJo enters the restaurant, Daisy asks in surprise “Jo, what’re you doing here?” JoJo replies, “I had to get out of the house.” She then defends her action in suspending her wedding, “I saw myself in ten years looking fatter than Bill’s mom, picking fish scales off his stinking rubber boots…and the lights went out.” Daisy and Kat reassure JoJo that she did the right thing. In their juxtaposition, these two scenes signify the theme for the entire film: the disruption of traditional, sacred ritual order16 and a restructuring of a new symbolic ritual experience through food.

After this introductory sequence, the film introduces Daisy and Kat’s love interests and then tracks the evolving interactions of the three women with their respective partners. Kat applies for and lands a babysitting job for Tim’s (William R. Moses) daughter, Phoebe (Porscha Radcliffe). Tim is a thirty-year-old architect restoring a town landmark while his wife works in England. Kat entertains romantic notions about a relationship with Tim.

Daisy meets her love interest, the socially elite Charles Gordon Windsor (Adam Storke) in a bar. Charlie, smitten by Daisy, arrives sometime later unannounced at her home. When Daisy walks through the door, she sees Charlie and her mother sitting across from one another in the family living room, straining for conversation. Seeing Daisy enter, Mrs. Arujo stands and says, “Well there you are–you didn’t tell me you’re going out to dinner. You could stay here for dinner. I’ve got some nice lobster.” Daisy, sheepishly, replies, “No thanks, Mom.” A few hours later, we see Charlie and Daisy enjoying an intimate, romantic dinner in a restaurant.

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