just wondering if jeunet meant to put some pro-vegetarian symbolism in his film? consider this: both warmongers are seen devouring shrimp, where as the Basil's crew were only seen eating waffles and mashed potatoes.
granted, they probably couldn't afford meat, but it just seemed like a visual cue to separate the blood-thirsty De Fenouillet & Marconi from our heroes.
maybe i'm reading too much into it.
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that is an interesting observation. i'm a vegetarian and (after watching this film 3 times so far) i never picked up on that. is Jeunet a vegetarian? i kind of think it may just be that the Micmacs couldn't afford meat. but i wouldn't be too surprised if you are right about making it a cue to separate the villains from the heroes. it also served to separate De Fenouillet and Marconi from each other. of the two, Marconi seemed more angry, while De Fenouillet seemed almost OCD the way he was eating.
shareTo me the shrimp scene were more caricatures of the personalities of both arms dealers, one meticulous and gourmet and greedy, the other carefree and piggy style.
***So I've seen 4 movies/wk in theatre for a 1/4 century, call me crazy?**
Meticulous and gourmet? You wish!
They were both pigs. The reason Fenouillet was peeling off the shells and using a fork to bring the shrimps to his mouth, is because his wife was sitting next to him, watching him judgingly like a mom, ready to lash out to him if he didn't show proper, decent eating behaviour. You can see him almost literally begging with his eyes "honey, may I put them in my mouth now?". If he was indeed "meticulous and gourmet", then he would have eaten the peeled shrimps one by one, instead of putting them in his mouth all at once. I found it a very funny scene, and it was indeed a caricature of the personalities of the arms dealers.
By the way, I could be wrong, but I don't think the scene was meant to promote vegetarianism. It was rather the other way around, the filmmaker simply used devouring meat to characterize the arms dealers as being predatory savages (devouring vegetables wouldn't bring the message across as effectively :) ). The same was done in a scene in Under Siege (1992).
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It is possible. In Delicatessen, grain became money and the underground terrorists were vegetarians who were mocked for "eating their money."
shareSeems to be a common link maybe. Meat was mainly eaten by the corrupt and evil in Delicatessen. They good guys, the frogmen, were vegetarian.
share[deleted]
Not to mention Delicatessen had the butcher be the villain . . .
Who chopped up people . . .
Into meat . . .
Sounds like someone sees the worst in butchers.
yes, i think you're reading too much into it. I think shrimp was chosen because it is tres luxe- like lobster in the U.S. It is also the first time we see the theme presented that the 2 are very much alike (which we really see in the scene w/ them and the land mine.)
imo, to illustrate 'bloodthirsty', you'd need to show big bloody steaks.
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