“YOU ARE GONNA HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO COOK” – THE ROLE OF FOODWAYS IN REVISING HIERARCHICAL PATIENT-CAREGIVER RELATIONSHIP IN JOHN SAYLES’S PASSION FISH
Urszula Niewiadomska-Flis
Abstract
A transformation of hierarchical patient-caregiver relationship between May-Alice and Chantelle, complicated by racism inscribed in the relationship between a white mistress and a black helper, is negotiated through the use of food – its preparation, serving, and daily as well as festive meals. It is my intention to trace and analyze the role of food in the evolution of their relationship. I will demonstrate that food helps these women to build affectionate coexistence and meaningful communication across the color line, rather than re-inscribes racial asymmetry into their relationship through references to the served and the servant dichotomy.
Keywords:
Passion Fish, the American South, post-Civil Rights South, food and foodways, racial relations, racial asymmetry, patient and caregiver relationshipReferences
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