Screenwriter Tip #86 : Famous Food & Drink in Movies & TV
by Liv | Published on June 25th, 2010, 11:28 am | Arts
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Okay, apparently if you're going to write a popular screenplay for television of film it has to have food in it. It does make sense to me. Eating is a pretty large part of the human experience, right? What's more is I think it connect the viewer to the characters in some sort of fashion in which TV cannot. This is why every time I watch 'Gavin & Stacey', a British sitcom based in Wales and Gwen makes omelets... I immediately crave one. Or, watching Dexter I either have to have doughnuts because he brings a box to the station everyday or fried eggs and ham in the opening title sequence. When I watch 'Life on Mars' (UK) I went through several bottles of Scotch right along with Gene Hunt. Then there's the darn Twinkies in Zombieland:
Tallahassee: [Searching for Twinkies] Where are you, you spongy, yellow, delicious bastards?
What about the "Royale Deluxe" in 'Pulp Fiction' and 'From Paris With Love'?
Now the question is, can you have a good movie or television show without one of its characters having a favorite food? It's possible, but something from the experience is lost. Then the art becomes just visual, just a image on a screen; void of taste, and smell. I mean who would want to watch Torchwood without Pizza or 007 without a martini "shaken not stirred", or meatballs in 'Wedding Singer'?
We're not talking product placement either, we're talking character development. I mean I don't even know what's in a Scooby Snack but I sure as hell want one after watching the show. Sure some of these were definitely revenue builders for the movies/series, but in the end it still just worked. Here's a list of a few more:
Shrimp - Forrest Gump
Pastrami on Rye - When Harry Met Sally
Grays Papaya Hot Dogs - Fools Rush In
Reese's Pieces - ET
Sunflower Seeds - X Files
Watermelon - Dirty Dancing : "I carried a watermelon"
3 Musketeers - The Holiday
Pancakes - City of Angels
Doughnuts - Simpsons
Milkshakes - Grease
Tony Packo's - MASH
Fried Green Tomatoes - Fried Green Tomatoes
Philadelphia Cheesesteak - Rocky
Oatmeal - Matrix
Cheesy Poofs - South Park
Frito Pie - King of The Hill
Popcorn - Real Genius
Coors Beer - Smokey & The Bandit
Champagne - Casablanca
Chinese Take-Away - Ghostbusters
Jackie Brown - Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles
Pepsi "Free" - Back To The Future
Demolition Man - Taco Bell
Junior Mints - Seinfeld
I suppose I could go on all day, but I'll stop and let others share....
