Everyone loves chocolate – including Hollywood! Producers know just how to capture and relate to their audience and it’s especially easy if it involves America’s beloved tasty treat! From movies to shows, chocolate has been America’s favorite star. Numerous screenplays center on chocolate from Like Water for Chocolate to Chocolat to The Chocolate War, proving that chocolate is an incredibly powerful force guiding human lives. Whether inducing tears, melancholy, love or joy, chocolate sends a special message to audiences everywhere.
(Scene from Chocolat)When talking about movies that center around chocolate, We can’t overlook Warner Brother’s 1970 classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Nothing inspires children like the scene where Charlie barely folds back the chocolate wrapper to expose a wonderful winning ticket. Chocolate really is gold, and was only further evidenced by the 2005 remake Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, making the world of chocolate even more fun and fantastical. As the famous movies taught us, a little bit of chocolate and “pure imagination” can shape the world.
We can’t forget Forrest Gump’s famous line: “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.” The 1994 film simply and eloquently puts the world into perspective – surprises will happen, and all will be sweet. Through the medium of chocolate, Forrest teaches audiences that life is to be savored even if full of unexpected twists and turns, each being as sweet as you make it.
And then, there’s the friendship that chocolate brings. In 2001, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley’s bond instantly solidifies as the chocolate frog leaps out the train window on the students way to Hogwarts.
(Chocolate Frog from Harry Potter) Chocolate provides comical relief as well in the 1950s television series I Love Lucy. Lucy clumsily grabs chocolates off the conveyor belt, cramming them into her hat, her shirt, and apron while simultaneously gobbling them up. The black and white comedy makes chocolate hilariously memorable. Chocolate breaks the TV ice with chaos, and in mockery of itself becomes just as fun to watch as it is to eat!
Continuing to look back in time, Don Draper becomes surprisingly nostalgic to Hershey’s executives in the 2015 Mad Men finale. It’s chocolate that breaks down the stoic antihero, allowing the audience to see real emotion for the first time. Chocolate is a television vehicle for bonding and true connection between one another and ourselves.
Chocolate is timeless. It moves people on and off the screen, through all stages of life. It shrouds actors and viewers in passion and warmth, joy and sadness. Chocolate breaks the barriers between people, providing important that important link between each other, on and off the silver screen.