The Joy of Cooking: Like Water for Chocolate

(Como Agua Para Chocolate) which I argue is a site for feminine resistance and empowerment. The film incorporates the mundaneness of periodical romance and the fantastic characteristic of magic realism, creating a new space for the exploration of otherwise naturalized binaries. Like Water for Chocolate relies on a tenuous nexus of narrative structures, sensuality, and metaphor to create a shifting, seemingly insubstantial landscape of subtle yet substantial subversive strength. Upon first viewing, the film is likely to create in the viewer a certain perturbing feeling of being ungrounded. Yet, it is doubtful that the viewer in this initial experience will notice the complex of relationships I describe herein. The analysis I describe is one arrived at after repeated viewings, analysis, and research.…