Category Food and Television:

A World of Snackers? Parallels between the Analog and the Digital Age: The Japanese Experience

Posted on by Tatsuya Mitsuda

In 2007, a few months before the launch of the iPhone, journalist Nancy Miller reflected on the ominous impact its predecessor, the iPod, was having on consumer behavior. As a handheld device, the iPod could store bulky album collections, allowing its owners to listen to music on the go. Miller also made a more ominous point, suggesting that Apple’s intentions were more far-reaching: the company was enticing consumers to watch television and movies, play games, and follow the latest fashion trends on the Internet-enabled device, freeing people from being stuck at home when it came to consuming content.  To help readers visualize what this future portended, Miller used candies and snacks as examples. She presented the Mini Oreo, introduced by the multinational…

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Control through Compassion – Hidden Power Relations in Finnish Makeover Shows

Posted on by Susanne Ritter

Within the sphere of television, especially weight-loss makeover shows portray the fat body as inappropriate, inacceptable, and in need of change. Makeover shows are popular all over the world; the arguably most well-known one regarding weight loss is The Biggest Loser, which has been airing in the US since 2004 and has been reproduced in close to 40 countries, highlighting its appeal to the general population. Makeover shows transmit the imperative of improvement: improving one’s body, in the logic of the makeover, directly translates to an improvement of one’s life; if one works hard enough, anything is possible. The makeover narrative thus reflects a neoliberal notion of personal responsibility, which used to be prominent especially in the US but has…

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How (Not) to Eat a Taco – Queering Mexican Food Practices in VIDA

Posted on by Carolina Faller Moura

“Tacogate” is what actor Mishel Prada calls it. Thanks to the way Prada’s character, Emma, eats a taco in the very first episode of the STARZ show Vida (2018), the series immediately caused a stir. In a scene set at a Mexican restaurant in the East LA neighborhood Emma grew up in but has long not visited, she douses her carne asada taco in Valentina hot sauce and brings it to her mouth straight on, rather than tipping her head and biting it from the side, letting pieces of meat fall all over the table as she tears the tortilla with her teeth and then with her fingers. Her way of eating and especially her choice of condiment took people to Twitter to share memes of shock and…

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