Themes in the Movie Like Water for Chocolate Directed by Alfonso Arau

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Love, tradition, emotion are just a few of the themes that are covered in the movie Like Water For Chocolate directed by Alfonso Aráu(1992) and bases on the novel written by Laura Esquivel(1989). The movie tells the story of Tita, a young woman that longs her life to marry her lover, Pedro but can never have because of her family’s traditions. The story develops on how Tita is trying to rebel against her mother and her tradition of the youngest daughter not marrying but taking care of her mother until the day she dies. The story takes place in Mexico at the turn of the twentieth century. The movie was amazing at showing these themes and really easy to identify them.
The main theme of the movie is love especially the love between the Tita and Pedro. We can feel love in different ways like through family deaths, time, distance, traditions and secrecy. The love between Tita and Pedro is a forbidden love stated by the tradition of Tita’s family. Pedro fell in love with Tita since the first time he saw her and when he tried to ask for her hand in marriage Tita’s mother, Elena, declined because of their traditions. Pedro married Tita’s older sister thinking that he could be close to her. Tita tries to obey her mother’s demands and suppress her feelings for Pedro but she never succeeded. They believed that what they felt was true love and that everyone else was against them. I personally don’t believe its true love. True love is when they don’t have doubts or worries about their relationship. In the movie, Tita and Pedro were always worried about each other. Tita always felt anxious when seeing Pedro and her sister together and doubt that Pedro really felt something for her. Also, when Pedro was away she went with another man and almost...

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... keep it as a secret until the way they finally ended up together. The tradition Tita’s family uphold surprised me a lot, it’s hard for me to believed that people those days had traditions like that, although I know that during that time traditions were well respected and to be like Tita to rebel against them was seeing as unforgettable. The transmission of emotions was quite unique in the movie. The way Tita described her cooking and dishes and how it affected other people was amazing and very well done. The whole movie was a masterpiece in my opinion. It was one of the few movies that I have enjoyed and still made me think about many things in my life and the past. The movie was not only intended to make fun and have a good time watching it but also to show people who times have changed and the struggles other people had to pass for us to live the way we live now.

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