A Comparison Of Religious Symbolism In Turtles Can Fly And The Color Of Paradise

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The extravagant chandeliers, beautiful landscape paintings, and textured ceilings that are inside the restaurant Papa Marco’s in Waukegan Illinois make a wonderful first impression for first time and returning customers alike. The architecture of the restaurant is reminiscent of middle eastern artwork and values, yet is also heavily influenced by Christian designs instead of taking inspiration from the Islamic religion. Unlike the influence of Christianity on Papa Marco’s, the movies Turtles can fly and The color of Paradise are heavily influenced by classical Islamic beliefs and traditions. In Turtles can fly and The color of Paradise, both movies demonstrate classical middle eastern traditions by speaking in languages such as Farsi and Kurdish. …show more content…

In both of the movies, the characters and scenes heavily revolved around the Islamic faith. This is more than evident in the movie Turtles can fly. In one of the scenes, a young boy named Satellite is constantly called upon by elders and members of the local mosque to perform favors for them, like translating what was on the tv to protect them from the war that was going on.Many times in the movie the mosque was featured, but that was not the only religious symbolism in the movies. In The color of Paradise, the main character Mohammed who is blind talks about his faith and spirituality in a particularly touching scene. When Mohammed’s father drops him off to a carpenter’s house who is also blind, he explores the house for a little while before the carpenter shows him to the backyard where most of his supplies are. He teaches Mohammed how to cut the wood based purely on the feel of it. This causes an emotional reaction within Mohammed, because the young boy starts tearing up. Exclaiming that he reaches his hands out to touch everything because he is trying to feel God, this brings up the boy’s belief in religion and how he pursued it …show more content…

It is not overly suggestive of religious overtones, but the high ceilings, the family styled landscapes, and chandeliers almost look like a cathedral. Even when talking about his Christian faith, he also proudly talked about his middle Eastern origins. When asked about how he learned to cook, he mentioned that he learned from his mother. Specific dishes that he mentioned was Shawarma and Kebabs. The origins of these dishes are from Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, and Syria. According to both the owner and the chef who was currently at the counter when I was interviewing the owner, these dishes are made by first marinating the meat in olive oil, oregeno, and tumeric. After descring some of the ingrediants they used (but surely not all of them), they described the process as sometimes long, and something that involved a lot of love and care. This promtpted my curiosity over the question, ‘Do you believe that food can create peace between nations that are fueding or families that don’t get along?’ With a brief moment of silence, he then answered. ‘Absoltuely.’ It was easy to tell that he truly believed what he said, and not just answering with a postive answer just for the sake of looking

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