This morning, I noticed a poster for the new Disney-Pixar animation movie Ratatouille, the story of a rat who dreams of becoming a top Parisian chef. There underneath the title, Ratatouille, was a phonetic transliteration: “rat-a-too-ee.” I checked out the film on the internet and, with every appearance of the film’s logo, there it was again: the title, and under it that phrase: “rat-a-too-ee.” I can’t help but find this amusing—and a bit depressing. No doubt the film has noble intentions—to alert children to the concept of gastronomy, to Parisian sophistication and the idea of eating healthily and well. But at the same time, those marketing it assume that no child could possibly be able to pronounce the word “ratatouille,” let alone know what it means, and hence regard a phonetic title as esssential. I don’t know—perhaps my reaction is largely a snobbish one (I knew what ratatouille meant as a child!), but I do think that patronising anyone, even children, is a bad idea.
(My colleague Tom Chatfield informs me, though, that the film itself is excellent—”the best film I’ve seen this year” were his precise words.)
The snobbishness gets even worse when you think - as I happen to do - that Ratatouille is not really a children’s movie at all …
It is an excellent film. With the exclamation point thrown in I understood it more as an invitation to roll the word around in your mouth and savour it.
But of course they also want kids to see it, including very small ones. There WAS a time when you didn’t know what it is :)
When we were six we lived just outside St Trop,( correct name :
Saint Tropez ) where we had to eat this home-made muck every day.
We also had a vile French mistress who would slowly screw up
pieces of work that she considered a phonetic transliteration,
as it were, and stuff it into the mouths of any errant students
Need less to say not this one, whom she would have had to catch first etc - thereby were sown the seeds of an Olympian truant
( Frog food was delic ; however, fish fingers-and-ketchup kiddos
did not know how lucky they were. Upon returning to old blighty,
our nursery chant was for macaroni cheese please, without bits in )
What is it about these tyranical ‘grown-ups’ resenting childrens freedom to choose what to eat ( obviously, within healthy food groups ) and how to pronounce it ?
Would that Somalians enjoyed this aspirational twaddle too - or is
the bullying of infants just a western concept of civilisation ?
No.. I wouldn’t expect my 5 year old to understand French pronunciation. Obviously you have vilely precocious children or you are a delusional father.
I suppose St. Trinians is one of those parents who force their children to eat all the food on their plates by saying “Think of the starving Somalians”. To which the only possible answer is “Well send it to them then”.
Sally
Au contraire - our virtual ( thus gorgeous ) children are too innately intelligent to respond to force in terms of conflict resolution - as indeed their virtual ( thus gorgeous ) parents
are to be intimidated by the hilariously aspirational cuisine
of socially insecure progressives who squander their new found
liberty bonding with an Aga
The Somalians would, however, doubtless welcome any left-overs
you care to arrange - remember they are not just for Christmas