The Menu

[kayonetta]

I finally got around to watching The Menu. I appreciated the nods to shows like Chef's Table, but knew there was a twist. I didn't know what, though. Some of the scenes are going to be wedged in my brain for a while, I think. I might need to watch it again soon.

[alice]

This movie stuck with me a lot more than I expected it to! The part where they send the guys out into the woods and she lady chef talks about how everything was her idea really got to me.

[kayonetta]

Yes! That scene, and the whole precipitating incident, all keeps playing in my head. The compliments, the critic's ploy, the chef's response.

[poppys3edbagel]

I watched it as well recently. What struck me, though, was as much as he frames it that both he and Joy's character are both service workers (i.e. "the help") he is in an inherently different position as someone with wealth and influence and in an uncontroversial job. It's not *not* true given where he started and how he is still catering to a customer base above his social class, but it is not the same context.

Whereas she's an escort, a job that's often considered either sex work or adjacent to sex work. It's a very gendered, looked-down-on role that would not be considered on the same level as even a smalltime cook that makes fast food (though fast food as a class marker is depicted in the film).

I get the general idea, that he's trying to use her to reconnect to where he came from. But it felt a bit forced to me. Maybe I missed the point of it.

[alice]

I think him recognizing her as a sex worker/escort is the thing that reminds him of where he started and why he's doing this blatant act of class warfare against the patrons. It's a little sappy the way he makes the burger at the end of the movie but I think it still works with the movie's themes as a whole.

Also I'm realizing now that this movie made my interest in eating at Michelin-starred restaurants go way down.

[kayonetta]

I understood it to be that the chef didn't look down on her profession, didn't see it as lower than being a cook. I also thought the whole island was bankrolled by the angel investor, not that he was wealthy himself.

It's true that he is very much an authority figure. He also held almost all of the power in that situation. But I wasn't put off when he identified her as "one of us", at least not for class reasons.

But I need to watch it again with these questions in mind

[poppys3edbagel]

I think for me, it wasn't so much an issue that he wasn't looking down on her. My issue was the framing not engaging with the fact that - to many people - a sex worker is an "unperson" according to society in ways that a fast food cook wouldn't be. The character himself doesn't need to agree with that take, but the narrative sort of accepting his view of them coming from similarly degraded backgrounds didn't quite jive together to me.

Not so much against the themes as more of a suspension of belief thing, if that makes sense.

[alice]

It totally makes sense! Sure both a line cook and a sex worker are seen as service industry trades but when you're a michelin starred chef you have a lot more privilege and power than that, to see yourself in that role when its convenient can be offputting.