Theory Reading #2

 On Friday we watched the movie Babette's Feast, about a family that lived in Jubland, Denmark and had a french lady by the name of babette live with them. The family had a simple way of life and were very religious which made their dining not a luxurious experience like Babette was use to.  The two sisters later found out that Babette was famous chef from Paris', France "Cafe Anglais" where she cooked exquisite dinners to enhance the dining experience.  It was at then the two sisters decide to hold a dinner to commemorate the 100th anniversary of their fathers birth.  Knowing this dinner was of importance to the family Babette begged the sisters to allow her to cook the dinner, however they were quite hesitant since they had never experienced anything different than their culture.  The sisters culture was one of simple traditions and simple meals where they sang hymns and prayed.  They were afraid by allowing this new culture and way of thinking into their homes they would be allowing sin to enter their way of life.

Babbette preparing the dinner

table scape of the dinner

 

After watching this movie i began to think about how culture influences design in both positive and negative ways. Some positive ways of culture and design are the fact that both influence us in a personal way from the way we feel about experiences to the way we experience them.  Without culture and religion all of our day to day activities would be meaningless and unnecessary since there was no reason for why we were doing them. This also has a negative aspect to it because sometimes like in ,Babette Feast, people get so caught up in their own culture they become afraid of other ways of doing things and tend to live in their safe little world not experiencing anything new.  Therefor we must create a happy medium between design and culture so we do not allow ourselves to live in a sheltered little box hiding from the world around us.