Chocolat: A Look at Community

             What draws a person to a community? For some it is the people who reside there, for others, it is the values, norms, and traditions that take place within a community. A prime example of a community is the village in the movie Chocolat. This community has many values and norms, fits the Empirical Model, exhibits the qualities of communitarianism, and changes from a counterfeit to a genuine community.
             No community is exactly the same. They all have different values and norms.
             When analyzing the community presented in Chocolat, one must take into consideration the values of the people. From the first few minutes of the movie, it is clear that religion, traditions, family, and marriage are very important to the community. Religion and tradition seem to go hand in hand in Chocolat because most of the traditions that take place in the community revolve around their church and religion. Everyone is expected to attend church as well as follow certain biblical ceremonies like Lent. Vianne and Anouk move to the village during Lent and when the Comte De Reynaud invites them to worship, Vianne instantly declines. Vianne explains that they will enjoy living so close to the church because they like to sing with the bells. The Comte frowns upon this and says that the bells "are not for entertainment, they are a call to worship" (Chocolat 2001). The Comte emphasizes the importance of family when goes to pick up rent from the beauty salon. He refers to Vianne's child as "illegitimate" and that his "heart goes out to her" (Chocolat 2001). It is obvious that having a child out of wedlock is unheard of in this village. The importance of marriage is shown in the scene when the Comte De Reynaud goes to Vianne's house to get Josephine who has left her husband because he mistreats her. When he arrives he is very angry and exclaims that Vianne is "housing a stowaway" (Chocolat 2001). ...

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Chocolat: A Look at Community. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 10:09, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/28349.html