Food for thought or feeding frenzy in War of the Worlds
Steven Spielberg has routinely used food to underline themes in his films so it would be foolish to believe that he would overlook at that aspect in War of the Worlds – and, in fact, food becomes one of the central metaphors of the film.
In some ways, Spielberg’s version of War of the Worlds reminds of a classic Science Fiction short story – and 1950s television script – called “To serve man,” which has humanity uncovering an alien text that we foolishly believe holds some message of great important and wisdom. But when translated, we soon discover the text is a recipe and that man is on the alien’s menu.
In many ways, Spielberg gives us a subtext of what is a proper diet, and plays with images to determine what is civilized in our society and what is not.
From nearly the beginning of the film when Ray’s ex wife criticizes Ray for the lack of contents in his refrigerator, we are presented with a conflict over the meaning of food. Ray’s day to day, mouth to mouth existence, relying on pizza delivery (there is a pile of empty pizza boxes on one of the chairs in the kitchen) is hardly adequate as a functioning human or father – although there may even be spiritual implications in the food concept.
One threat that runs through the text of this film is the concept of what is disgusting.
To Ray’s wife, the souring milk in the refrigerator and lack of food is disgusting. To Ray, the pumice the Dakota character purchases of the health food store (John’s in Bayonne) is disgusting. To the Tim Robbins character – in a testimony of snobbery -- peach Schnapps is disgusting. More sympathetically, Ray refers to the disgusting tea the Boston grandmother makes.
But compared to the feeding habits of the aliens whose diet is comprised of human blood, these things pale.
So is the maggot-like feeding off the dead that Spielberg has CBS TV reporters doing when they search for food among the ruins of a jet airliner? Is this a specific comment to specific reporter done on one of the various disasters such as 9/11 or Flight 800, or a general comment, it is hard to say.
The kitchen scene in Ray’s wife’s house seems to have religious connotations. The Dakota character is allergic to peanut butter, hinting of dietary restrictions similar to those faced by the Jewish – although considering all the recipes available for Jewish dishes containing peanut butter, the reference is lost on me.
The fact that the children won’t eat the bread either suggests – and this is my own imposition – that man cannot live off bread alone, a distinct spiritual reference.
What is proper or improper to eat may be relative, until we get to the scenes of the alien feeding off the blood of men. There are limits. Certain behavior just can’t be tolerated.
Food also defines civilization and civilized behavior and we present a scale of behavior as depicted in this film with the blood-sucking aliens forming the least civilized, followed by the maggot-like press, with the Tim Robbins character just beneath the bar that marks acceptable civilized life. Ray seems to hover right on the edge with his wife and others providing more and more acceptable feeding habits.
This is not new to Spielberg films. Jaws used similar themes for food, breaking of bread, drinking of wine, and then the slaughter of innocents in the water. It is also no accident that the food scene in Jurassic Park following the feeding of the dinosaur scene.
In some way, the feeding habits in War of the Worlds seems to serve as a barometer of where people stand on the scale of civilized behavior. Despite the Tim Robbins’ disgust over the peach schnapps, he appears to be regressing back to his primitive state, seeking to adopt the habits of the alien in order to strike back – much in the way the so called civilized west regressed in its attack on the world responding to 9/11 we taking up the uncivilized methods of those we opposed. Robbins, however, realizes the implication of this when he sees the aliens drinking human blood, and symbolically at least understands how vicious life can be. Can humans really become beasts again once they have had any level of civilization?
Over and over we get food images and judgments on diet, such as Ray’s blaming his son for not packing food when there was no food to pack, or the images of aliens fishing people out of the river.
In comparing how each character and each species feeds, we get yet another metaphoric story telling that touches us in a way that is very, very much a part of our lives. This, of course, brings up that old adage: We are what we eat.