Magical_Realism_in_Like_Water_for_Chocolate

*Magical Realism in both* Novel and Film ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ Both novel and the film Like Water for Chocolate relies strongly on the element of magical realism. The presentation of magical realism, however, is different in both texts where in the novel, it is richly applied to further enhances the story; while in the film, magical realism is sometimes neglected, which potentially causes confusion towards audience and hence affecting their understanding towards the story. In the novel, the author—Esquivel’s employment of magical realism, with its mingling of the fantastic and the real, keeps the story unique yet appealing. For example, in one of the meals, the food acts as an aphrodisiac, and causes Gertrudis to sweat. However, “[h]er sweat was pink, and it smelled like roses, a lovely strong smell.”(53) As she is showering, the water drops have never made it to her body because they have “evaporated before they reached her.” (54) Furthermore, Gertrudis gave off so much heat that “the wooden walls began to split and burst into flame.” (54) The dramatic imagery of the pink sweat, powerful aroma and evaporation of water exemplifies the novel’s magical realism. Although impossible to occur in real life, the details are written so descriptively that it projects a vivid picture in readers’ mind. Esquivel uses her words expressively to further arouse the readers’ two senses—smell and taste. This, correspondingly, reinforces the readers’ image of the story as well as their interests in continuing the plot. Conversely, the film presents magical realism in a rather confusing way, leaving out details the book so impressively brings to life. The selection above takes up 5 pages of the novel, but is compressed into less than 2 minutes in the film. Not only has the director left out Gertrudis’ pink, rose-scented sweat, but also the part where water has evaporated before it touches her. In the film, it is evidential that water has touched her body, destroying the magical realism in the novel about her boiling heat of lust. Not to mention, the shower suddenly bursts into flames, leaving audiences who are unfamiliar with the book lots of confusion. Neither the narrator nor any characters have explained the reason of the fire, which is significant as it causes the fleeing of Gertrudis. Without descriptive explanations like written in the book, no one will have thought that the heat of Gertrudis’ lust has ignited that fire. Keeping in mind that this movie is filmed in 1992, it is impractical for the technology then to create such magical effects. Yet, I believe these neglected bits should still be presented, maybe in the form of narration. Although in some parts of the film where for example, the birth of Tita with river of tears flowing, matches perfectly with the novel, other scenes such as Gertrudis’ scene above, have magical realism which is heavily utilized in the book. In the novel, magical realism provides an apt vehicle for the exploration of different themes in an appealing way; however in the film, this style has at times been neglected. More importantly, Gertrudis’ scene has been specifically chosen to compare because it reveals much about female sexuality in the story. While Tita can only articulate her sexuality within domestic sphere, Gertrudis is able to break these boundaries undoubtedly. Her escape can be seen as a triumph, in which she sheds believes of social propriety to pursue her unbridled desires. This, however, can also been seen as an expulsion from the ranch, which means the free expression of female desire clearly has no place in the ordered domestic realm. The contrasting experiences of Tita and Gertrudis demonstrate the only two very extreme possibilities for female desire—stifled and unspoken, or over sexualized to the point of being pornographic. In conclusion, the film seems more concerned with getting through the broad events in the plot, neglecting much details of magical realism the novel has expressively represented, and thus confuses audience to events which are greatly significant to both the plot and themes of the story.