Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Intertextuality in Ratatouille


Intertextuality is the complex interrelationship between a text and other texts taken as basic to the creation or interpretation of the text. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The following clip explains intertextuality in detail and also gives a great example.



I chose to look at intertextuality in Pixar's Ratatouille. I had recently watched the movie in another class and thought it was a creative masterpiece and also thought it was very interesting that for a "kids" movie no child is actually shown until the very end in a flashback scene. From the slight use of drinking scenes, vulgar language, adultery, and inmates, this movie is very much for adults as it is for children.

For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, here is the trailer: 


Taking a look at some HORIZONTAL intertextual connections: 

  • FLUSHED AWAY (2006)- GENRE: FILM



This is a film of a rat that is humanized, much like Remy in Ratatouille and both movies are from the rats point of view. Both rats go through struggles adapting to a new world when they are separated from their original environment. The sewer scenes in both movies are also very similar. 

  • THE INCREDIBLES (2004)- GENRE:FILM

The coloring in the Pixar movie The Incredibles is similar to that of Ratatouille (although the graphics are much more advanced), it may have something to do with the fact that they have the same Director. The coloring of the food was especially influenced by The Incredibles and Finding Nemo to make the food in Ratatouille look realistic. 

You may also recognize Bomb Voyage (villain in The Incredibles) in the background... 

If you look closely, the pattern on Linguini's boxers is The Incredibles...

Disney and Pixar are famous for hiding characters from other movies in their new movies, here are some more examples in Ratatouille:

The Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story...


 The shadow is of Dug the dog in Pixar's UP...

 Pixar's Cars is on the front of the newspaper..

The Chinese Take-Out boxes featured in A Bugs Life...

And last but not least, the famous "A113" featured in all Pixar films (it may be hard to see in this photo)... It represents a classroom at CalArts which many of the creators at Pixar attended. 
  • REAR WINDOW (1954) GENRE: FILM


Rear Window is about a man who is stuck in his apartment due to an injury, he begins taking interest in watching his neighbors to pass time and is convinced one is a murderer. The viewpoint of Remy is much like that of the main character of rear window, and there is actually a scene in Ratatouille where we see what an apartment complex is like to a rat and it is spot on to Rear Window.


  • COMEDY LEGEND BUSTER KEATON GENRE: FILM
Ratatouille incorporates the "slap stick" comedy used in many of Buster Keaton's films. 


Now taking a look at some HORIZONTAL intertextual connections: 
  • PARIS, FRANCE- GENRE: GEOGRAPHY AND ARCHITECTURE 

From the architecture to culture to accents and food, Paris, France is a strong influence on the movie Ratatouille.
  • "HELLS KITCHEN"(2005-) GENRE: TV SERIES

The idea that the kitchen is a tough place to be and very stressful. In both Ratatouille and in the introduction of this television show the phrase "Welcome to Hell" is used to welcome the new chefs into the kitchen.

    • MICKEY MOUSE GENRE: CHARACTER
    The idea that a mouse or rat is not a rodent and has humanized qualities and abilities.
    • A LA RECHERE DU TEMPS PERDU (REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST) BY MARCEL PROUST GENRE:NOVEL

    The scene at the end of Ratatouille where Ego (the critic) tastes Remy's food and is instantly brought back in time as a child when his mom would cook the same dish is inspired by the "Episode of Madeline" in Proust's A LA RECHERE DU TEMPS PERDU. 




    "No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory – this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me it was me. ... Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it? ... And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it. And all from my cup of tea."
    -A LA RECHERE DU TEMPS PERDU

    PUBLIC TERTIARY TEXTS:

    "Observed mostly from Remy's rat's-eye view, Gusteau's kitchen is a memorable world-in-miniature with its vivid old-fashioned stoves, bright, brassy pots and general air of frenzied industry; never did sliced red onions or simmering soup look so fresh and real."

    PRIVATE TERTIARY TEXTS:




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