Volume III Special Issue V May 2023

Name of Author : Kevin Frank Fernandes, Anugraha Jose

Title of the paper : Reading Food as a Narrative Tool in the Malayalam Film Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey (2022)

Abstract: The identity of a community depends on different factors, and food is one such cultural marker. A complex network of social interactions, market forces and geographic variables produce foodscapes with various social meanings and values. Culinary narratives are an attempt to narrativize these foodscapes - memories, and social and special practices - through films and literature. This paper will attempt to analyze how the cooking and consuming of food becomes a narrative tool for constructing, deconstructing and reconstructing social norms and expectations through the contemporary Malayalam film Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey 2022. What roles does food and its preparation play in these narratives? Is food merely a life sustaining activity, or does it have social functions? How are societal norms and expectations articulated through the everyday rituals of dining? How are discourses of religion, gender, class and labour constructed and articulated through food? This paper will also examine how recipes and processes of preparing food become metaphors and narrative tools in the film, and further help the viewer understand oppression and reconciliation. The paper will argue that food, its production and consumption becomes a space for power dynamics between characters to be explored. The construction, reconstruction are happening through food and food practices which includes recipes and dining practices. The close reading of the film using discourse analysis will be attempted to bring out the underlying significance of food.

Keywords : Culinary Narratives, Foodscape, Recipes, Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey

DOI :

Page Number : 163-167