Ratatouille's Distinct Cultural Experiences

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Ratatouille advances many of the arguments put forward by academic scholars who are proponents of freedom to participate in distinct cultural experiences. The main ways the film expresses these sentiments is by chronicling the experiences of five characters, Remy, Colette, Linguini, Skinner and the food critic as they navigate the French food scene. Remy, the main protagonist of the film is a rat whose main ambition is to be a cook. Because he is a rat, occupants of a French kitchen will attempt to kill Remy on site if they find him there, despite his prodigious cooking skills. Likewise, Colette, despite being a human, must overcome systematic prejudices to find success in French cooking because of her gender. Conversely, Linguini is the son of the celebrated chef Gusteau. He is wholly incapable of cooking himself. After the death of Gusteau, Skinner takes over the running of his restaurant. Instead of protecting the legacy of Gusteau, he chooses to bastardize the man by using Gusteau’s image to market cheap, profitable microwaved food. Finally, Ego is a famously negative food critic who is infamous among …show more content…

In his final soliloquy, after learning that Remy cooked the fantastic meal he had just consumed, Ego, the food critic concludes that “In the past I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: ‘Anyone Can Cook’. But I realize only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere,” (Bird 114). Markedly, Ratatouilles portrays Ego as the embodiment of someone who advocates cultural exclusionism. He is infamous among the characters in the film for his specific definitions of what gourmet French cooking should be and his harsh criticism of those whose work does not meet his strict

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