Food stop motion
by Tanya
A double dose of foodiste stop-motion animation, thanks to Youtube.
Culture clichés abound in this little history lesson, but I don’t even mind the beef Stroganoff. In fact, the entire enactment of wars in XX and XXI is kind of clever, gruesomely messy (like real war is), but also made me incredibly hungry after watching.
PES makes really clever stop-motion shorts and this one is full of magic. Enjoy!
I actually found the first video pretty disturbing. At first I was like, “Neat! Stop motion food!” But then using each culture’s food to represent wars started to bother me. I think food is one thing that can really bring people together and open a door for learning about other cultures.
I know this video was not likely meant to be taken seriously. And usually I have a good sense of humor about stuff like this. But it hurt to see falafel used to represent a suicide bomber.
Perhaps it also bothers me because the food represents entire cultures, and I don’t think entire cultures or populations are at war. The average person who eats food is not killing people, but I think a lot of Americans think of all foreigners as the enemy.
I think a lot of those same things are why I *did* find this animation interesting. I felt that its grotesque nature showed just how exactly ridiculous and grotesque all this fighting can be. I highly doubt that the creator meant it to make light of historical travesties.
I can see how it might make someone uncomfortable though.