Interaction of Food with Power and Masculinity within "Pariah" and "Brokeback Mountain" Juliette Bauer College

Scenes involving food and male characters from both Dee Rees’ Pariah (2011) and Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2005) help to elaborate on and explain relationships that both Arthur (Charles Parnell) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) hold with other characters as well as their own masculinity within the films. Using cinematic cues, types of food, and who is preparing the meals, the films invite their audiences to understand how masculine ideals are used through food to dictate power. To illustrate this, one can use the scene from Pariah where Arthur sits down to a post-work Sunday meal amidst a family argument, and the scene from Brokeback Mountain wherein Jack Twist competes with wife Lureen Newsome’s (Anne Hathaway) father, L.D. Newsome (Graham Beckel) over the Thanksgiving spread.

Within Pariah, Arthur and Audrey’s (Kim Wayans) unequal relationship is solidified through food. This relationship is especially defined by assumptions of power and gender norms. This begins to appear early on the film, in the scene where Audrey is arguing with Alike (Adepero Oduye) over what she should and should not wear to church. A short scene, one may assume that not much is offered regarding Arthur and Audrey’s relationship within the...