Max Weber, in “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,” looks at religion not in the sense of its founders and followers and its spiritual function, but instead in the sense of how religion has an economic function. Weber talks about religion in a different context in which it is usually talked about, and thus makes his perspective unique and seemingly more objective. But my reading of Weber made me believe that his observances were far from objective and that he was interjecting his personal opinions on the cultural divide of northern Europe and southern Europe.
The basis of Weber’s argument lies in the differences he notes about Protestant and Catholic work ethic. Weber observes that in countries where is his a mixed religious population, business leaders and owners tend to be more Protestant, and attributed this to historical factors, including the fact that richer districts converted to Protestantism. Weber also wrote that Catholic and Protestant parents tend to educate their children differently, and that this education and environment often determines their choice of occupation. Catholics, according to Weber, are more likely to go into handicrafts than to go into industry.
Throughout history, religion has been a great means of division amongst nations and within populations. The conflicting religious beliefs have already created division amongst European nations, and has created feelings of superiority. Weber’s use of religion to explain capitalism further deepens this divide between the European North and South. Protestantism is to the European north as Catholicism is to the European south. There are obvious major differences between these regions, one in particular causing a majority of this strife. Southern countries are often seen as relaxed and/or lazy in comparison to the northern countries. And although this myth has been continually disproven, it is still a major stereotype of southern nations. I think that Weber plays into this stereotype by basically affirming that northern countries, labeled as Protestants, have more impact in capitalism than Catholics. Although Weber does not explicitly delve into the cultural tensions and divisions between Europe’s north and south, he does ultimately further the tension by bringing religion into the economic sphere. It is a domino effect that Weber is contributing to. Religion is a basis for cultural differences that cause tensions between countries, and attributing one religion as economically superior adds another layer to the tension already instilled between the European north and south.
The role of religion in creating and dividing society that you mentioned here, as well as its role in politics, is certainly an important point concerning modern Europe in spite of (or perhaps even especially) because of the perception of the “secularization” of Europe in recent decades. There are numerous PEW researches that have demonstrated this pattern of secularization, among them, the phenomenon that fewer Europeans identify that religion is a central part of their identity and the phenomenon that younger generations are practicing religion less than their older counterparts. Today, the idea of building any policy on the basis of religion is highly improbable, especially in the Western world, where such connection between religion and government are often viewed as even outdated and backwards. And yet, just like with the Protestant work ethic and the voice of the religious groups in the Greek financial crisis have demonstrated, separation between church and state—or between church and anything, for that matter—is not as clear-cut as many of us would like to believe it is when it comes to Europe. Just as you had mentioned in your post, Europe’s history is rooted in religion. But, what exactly is the role of religion in present-day Europe? We first saw this intersection between religion and politics through the exclusion of Turkey from the European Union a few weeks ago. We saw it again in Kessareas’s analysis of the Greek debt crisis through a theological lens, which reveals the underlying current of religious fundamentalism that remain relevant even in modern day European politics and economics matters. Even in Bread and Chocolate, a comedy about the personal politics of southern European workers who have to navigate the effects of the macro-level politics and policies between nations as well as the prejudices that have been the result of years of history—a film that is not at all about religion—we see the images like that of the more affluent Swiss frolicking in the forest while the Italians look out at them from the chicken coop. The image the audience gets highly resembles the biblical image of the garden of Edens. Here, although religion is not one of the factors portrayed as central sources of tension and division between Northern and Southern Europe, this scene with religious undertones is still one of the most memorable from the movie. Despite Europe’s religious history, in the modern era, we often take the concept of the separation of church and state for granted, considering religion as a realm unrelated to that of politics and other matters of society. However, with religion making its way into both popular cultural products and beliefs about economic successes and crises, as this week’s films and readings have shown, perhaps, it is time for us to examine just the strength of religious undercurrents in today’s “secular” Europe and question, what other modern events might religion have played a role in being the driving force of?
In “Bread and Chocolate,” the scene with the naked Swiss youth illustrates the racial component of a European identity. Nino finds his way to an Italian family that lives in a chicken coup on a farm. He becomes disturbed by the life this family lives, and asks who he is? Nino asks them if they think he is like them just because they’re all Italian. He is disturbed in being grouped with people who he perceives to be uncultured, stupid, and poor.
Right afterwards, one of the family members notifies them that Swiss people are passing by and stopping to relax and take a bath in the lake. The Italian men stare at the Swiss in awe, both in terms of sexual attraction as well as envy for what they perceive to be the difference in quality of their lives.
This scene poses some questions about race and how it’s viewed in Western Europe. The Swiss youth are all blonde and fair skinned, while the Italians have olive skin and dark wavy hair. This scene comes up right after Nino starts asking questions about his identity as an Italian. What does he think as he stares at the Swiss youngins? Does he think that race is what separates him from them?
Right after this, we see that the answer is, at least partially, yes. He dyes his hair blonde. This likely signifies that he longer wants to associate with Italians, and he thinks his looks prevent him from disassociating from that identity. He needs to “look” more Germanic in order to integrate into their society. As we walks through the streets, he seems to feel more comfortable and integrated, rather than like an outsider. That is, until he’s had enough of it.
We know that pre-WWII, Europeans very much valued the racial component in defining their national identity. Even though European nations sought to purge the racist ideologies from the masses after the atrocities racism had caused, many beliefs about race and its importance in defining national identity seems to have remained. This film was made in 1974, and we see that ideas about the racial component of a European identity still remained strong. I wonder how much of this unspoken bias on race remains in peoples thoughts today when it comes to defining a European identity.
I agree with Talha that the symbolism of Nino dying his hair blonde in order to pass off as Swiss raises a key question about how individuals view their appearance in relation to their nationality. However, while Talha believes that race is the divisive factor, I believe that there are certainly other contributing factors that cause division within a nation as Nino not only dyes his hair blonde but also changes the mannerisms by which he approaches Swiss nationals in order to appear more like them. To that end, who can say if division between nationalities is mostly based on appearance, language, mannerism, religion, class, or a combination of all of these? This theme of an identity-balancing act has a clear progression throughout the movie. Initially, Nino considers himself very Italian and is very proud of that sentiment, but also recognizes the inferiority of the Italian stigma in Swiss culture. As the movie progresses, he becomes more removed from his Italian heritage, both in linguistic and visual cues. When the movie finally escalates to Nino posing the question “who am I?” he receives the one answer that he fears the most: that he is exactly the same as the Clandestine Italian immigrants who are living in a chicken coup and appear less than human to Nino.
The association of these Italian immigrants and chickens, though, is quite confusing to me. It is unclear to me if Nino is viewing these individuals as chickens because that is how he is afraid of appearing to Swiss individuals, or if the idea of “chicken”, in that it refers to individuals who are scared, refers to the fact these Italian immigrants have stooped so low to live in chicken like conditions because they are too afraid of returning to Italy and what awaits them there? This association between these clandestine Italian immigrants and chicken also raises interesting thoughts about whether individuals from similar societies can sometimes be the people most foreign to individuals as they often represent every stigma that one might dread being associated with themselves. Nevertheless, I believe Nino’s interaction with these clandestine immigrants are shockingly juxtaposed with the beautiful, Swiss youth who seemingly have no cares, particularly as the scene with them in the lake almost appears to have Biblical allusions to the garden of Adam and Even. Even though Nino idolizes these wealthy Swiss individuals, and alters his appearance to try to mimic them, he finds that language is still a barrier, class is still a barriers, and identity of race (which is interesting as many individuals today associate Europe as being largely Caucasian) is not enough to change the core foundation of who he is.
Having discussed in class today the idea that many cultural products were promoted through the US agenda of encouraging unity through diversity in the reconstruction period after WWII, I find evidence of such a sentiment throughout “Bread and Chocolate”, not in the interactions that Nino has with Swiss nationals but rather in the comradery that he forms with other expats. Nino finds compassion in Elena, who has been forced to leave Greece due to intellectual persecution, and also in a Spanish woman who too is trying to pass of as Swiss in a bar. To me, I interpret this as the director seeing that individuals from similar socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to find unity, perhaps less in their cultural identities but more in their shared economic struggle, as Gialis and Leontidou suggest that Greece, Spain, and Italy are often characterized as more economically depressed than Northern Europe nations. As to why Nino doesn’t find more unity amongst Swiss nationals, I suppose this is the director suggesting that unity through diversity only works in areas where there is economic equality, and since Switzerland is more wealthy than migrant nations, the Swiss nationals interpret any sort of diversity as inferior as it is correlated with economic depression.
Moreover, Goethe’s idea that translation can be used as a tool to break these cultural barriers is prevalent in this movie as we see that Elena is the one who most successfully integrates into Swiss cultural despite not “appearing” Swiss because she can easily communicate in German, particularly with the Swiss immigration officer. However, she also maintains her empathy for Nino as she can speak Italian as well, which indicates that perhaps multilingualism is how societies can focus on creating more unification in the presence of diversity.
Weber’s introduction to Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism raises some points which to me appear in conflict with one another and that I’d like to explore and spin off of using today’s class discussion as a starting point. As part of his argument following up the section on Benjamin Franklin, Weber states “Man is dominated by the making of money, by acquisition as the ultimate purpose of his life”(18), and in addition, that to successfully do so indicates a sense of virtue and proficiency. This idea is contrasted with his later statement that “A man does not “by nature” wish to earn more and more money, but simply to live as he is accustomed to live and to earn as much as is necessary for that purpose”(24). Both philosophies, extreme as they are, may be explained and supported with examples showing both persuasions, as Weber does throughout his text. However, I think it is interesting how each have differing implications, specifically about how each mindset affects the way one would relate to one’s own culture and perhaps to that of others.
The first perspective would imply that each individual has a purely economic focus as the origin for their decisions. This in turn would potentially leave very little room for the free investment in cultural products, unless of course such cultural products were used as a means by which to make a profit. Cultural products, both of one’s own nation and of others, are in this way turned into a means to an economic end, rather than a reflection of a people’s liberated expression of a way of life and use of free time.
The alternative statement that Weber makes – about earning only so much as is necessary – places followers of this theory as complacent with their current station and not driven by an external economic force. This may provide the space within which the development and experience of one’s own culture becomes more dominant in the lives of those who fall into the category outlined by Weber’s second statement. These are just some interesting implications of Weber’s conflicting notions of man’s inherent economic nature, but I still struggle to reconcile why he included such disparate viewpoints without specifically clarifying them in relation to one another. Perhaps these concepts developed at different times, or as responses to different historical circumstances and schools of thought?
He acknowledges differences among nations in their relation to labor and capitalism, but in a way that is reminiscent of describing “Europe and it’s ‘Other’” by stating that “…the lack of coscienziosità of the labourers of such countries, for instance Italy as compared with Germany, …is one of the principal obstacles to their capitalistic development.”(21) Coscienziosita as translated to mean, conscientiousness? This seems to come across as an unfortunate blow against Italy as being undisciplined or to some extent unaware. Does he see this as a result of religious differences only? How do cultural differences contribute to this perceived delta in his mind? In any case, I found it interesting how this point directly relates to this week’s discussion title as Europe, North and South.
I believe Bread and Chocolate by Franco Brusati draws numerous significant parallels to cultural products we have discussed, along with my own experiences.
What particularly struck me in the film was the identity conflict of Nino, an Italian immigrant residing in Switzerland as a guest worker. This conflict is expressed throughout several scenes in Bread and Chocolate, including Nino losing his work permit but remaining in Switzerland as an illegal immigrant, dying his hair blonde to blend in with the locals, being exposed, arrested, and deported due to celebrating an Italian soccer goal, and finally deciding to exit the train at the first station with the intention of remaining an illegal immigrant.
Nino’s internal conflict addresses multiple important topics. Firstly, it emphasizes the cultural clash immigrants may experience. Nino leaves Italy because he believes life will be better in Switzerland, but he does not leave his Italian culture and identity behind. This love and connection to Italy is illustrated when he celebrates the Italian soccer goal. However, he realizes that life is indeed better in Switzerland, and is inspired to a degree by Swiss culture that he wishes the integrate himself in Swiss society, thus dying his hair blonde and remaining in Switzerland as an illegal immigrant. I can relate to this as a Norwegian living in the U.S.; the urge of integrating myself in American society while preserving my Norwegian values and traditions. Additionally, I believe the identity and cultural conflict emphasized by Brusati is similar to the one we experienced in Fatih Akin’s films, where we were exposed to Turkish guest workers in Germany and the cultural implications of these nations interacting at such an intimate level.
Nino’s conflict is also important to explore in a political aspect, namely the notion of diversity in unity as discussed in our previous class. Nino shows the audience how European nations brought closer together may experience complicated cultural consequences. As immigrants integrate in a new society, they may gradually lose parts of their own original identity. Furthermore, the country that takes on the influx of immigrants may be influenced by their culture. Does this mean that flexible borders that allow for easy movement within Europe reduces the diversity of European cultures? And is this necessarily a bad trend? These questions are complicated in nature, but I believe that the debate they spur is partly the reason for the rise in right-wing parties and anti-immigration movements in Europe.
Thinking about the financial crisis in terms of religion, eastern orthodoxy, and god is fascinating. While “western” and “Protestant” narratives place blame on Greece’s laziness, financial instability, government corruption, and bloated federal spending, few ever note the religious element and divide between Protestant Germans, Catholic Italians, and Orthodox Greeks. One of this week’s readings, “The Greek Debt Crisis as theodicy” outlines some of the religious complications with the crisis. The reading depicts a view in Greece that the crisis was “brought by god” and frames austerity as an “opportunity for salvation.” The text further outlines how many people in Greece viewed the crisis as a chance to reignite traditional orthodox values. This lesser known view on the crisis poses the question of the importance of religion in European society today. While Europe deems itself to be secular and progressive, the justification of austerity on religious grounds shows how alive and functioning religious sentiment still is in Europe.
Framing the crisis on a religious ground ties directly to Max Weber’s 1905 text, “The Protestant Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism.” Weber’s text provides detailed theories on how Protestantism, and specifically, Calvinism played a defining role in the emergence of capitalism. Weber notes throughout the text that while Catholics lack work ethic, are greedy, and seek huge wealth, Calvinists are motivated in a religious fundamentalism that allows for strong work ethic and a functioning capitalist society.
When thinking about the modern-day Greek crisis, Weber if alive would likely look towards the religious differences that led some countries mainly in Northern Europe to have balanced budgets while Southern Countries faced ballooning government debt. While Weber notes his text is not complete and only a partial justification, it begs the question: “what role does religion really play today in dividing fiscal Europe?” Western presentation of the European economy frame Germany as a manufacturing export-based economy while Southern Europe as more agricultural and import based. How does religion, however, play into this difference? Was Germany’s crisis response and desire to “punish” the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) countries rooted more in economic difference or was there religious spite as well?
It is impossible to exclude religion from any analysis of the financial crisis and Western sources have done a good job of doing just that. Both the causes of the crisis and each country’s response to the crisis is fascinating to analyze in the religious context. Germany’s belief in punishing austerity and how the different Catholic and Orthodox countries responded suit and justified their government’s actions cannot be ignored. The final question I’ll pose is “why don’t western sources talk about religion’s role in the crisis?” Perhaps talking about religion isn’t as politically trendy as catch phrases like “strict austerity” and “balanced budgets.” Perhaps also, however, Europe’s failure to acknowledge the glaring religious differences between counties exacerbated the crisis and slowed the recovery.
In Bread and Chocolate, the relationship between European nations is embodied by its characters. This is most evident in the scene where Nino and the other Italians are crouched in the chicken coop and watching the Swiss children relax in the water. The Italians, as Valery writes, “watch… anxiously and curiously, sulk, [and] admire.” Before watching the film, I had difficulty understanding this point. The feelings that Valery describes are so different and at times directly contradictory. However, the combination of these feelings makes perfect sense through the lens of Nino. He hates the discrimination he faces but is also eager to be accepted by the same institutions that discriminate against him. It is here that he does the second part outlined by Valery and “[imitates] some detail but [despises] the whole” by dying his hair blonde. He initially wants to blend in by copying the detail that he believes makes the other Europeans better than him. He seems happy being an imposter, but this happiness is short lived as he quickly gets in a fight by showing his patriotism when Italy scores a goal. But he has every reason to be proud of the accomplishments of his country. In the previous scenes, Nino is envious of the Swiss. But envious of what? The Swiss are shown as elegant, beautiful, blonde, but have no real reason to be considered superior to Nino or the Italians. So Nino decides that he cannot contain his pride anymore, because he has a reason to proud. It is through these complex, contradictory feelings that Brusati is able to convey the tension between the European nations that Valery describes.
The film “Bread and Chocolate” kinda scared me when Nino moved in to the chicken coup. It felt really weird there. All the dudes watched the Swiss youth bathing while they watched from a chicken coup. Meanwhile, the women and wives of the men sat at the table just staring forlorn at the ground. They weren’t good enough for the men to really lust over, evidently. The idealization of the Blonde Swiss youth is explicated here.
There are themes of re-invention throughout the film. Nino re-imagines himself as a German briefly. He also jumps from job to job, including stints as a waiter, butler, and chicken farmer. He needs to reinvent himself to survive. And he’s not the only one. Elena restarted her life in Switzerland with a secret child. Nino meets a Spanish woman disguised as a blonde, ironically when he too is disguised as a blonde German. Everyone wants to become like the wealthy Swiss and other Northern European countries. The Italian millionaire’s children, Nino notes, even look foreign. When the waiter asks Nino whether he wants light or dark (of some drink), Nino can’t decide and the waiter remarks that Nino doesn’t know what he wants. Nino is quite acutely grappling with this tension.
An interesting theme at play throughout the film was wealth and wealth disparity. The millionaire Italian told Nino that you can’t make money without having money to which Nino asked what about those without money to begin with. Then the millionaire killed himself for running out of money. Maybe he was running a ponzi scheme? I didn’t quite understand what happened, but somehow he went broke. It is interesting that the Italian went broke. No one ever seems to make it in Switzerland if they’re from the Mediterranean. There’s a particularly strong emphasis on the Mediterranean with their songs always referencing the sea. They all just get by, but sing music about the sea to stay happy.
The North-South divide is quite clear in this movie from the 70s, but it is still quite present and clear today. There remains a stereotyping of Southern countries in Europe. When the eurozone crisis hit, many even blamed it on those lazy Greeks (or Italians, or Spaniards) as one of our assigned readings noted. How can there be a united Europe when there are such prominent North-South (and East-West, for that matter) divides.
The contradictory, sometimes irrational nature of the Greek Orthodox religious fundamentalist assessment of the Greek debt crisis is most fascinating given the strength and rapidity with which their logic was spread and supported. Ultimately, this theology seems to punish the Greeks for economic prosperity, which in this moment of the debt crisis, they largely lack.
First and foremost, the religious fundamentalist explanation of the crisis is that the Greeks need to return to the roots of their original identity, which consist, as the reading tells us, of Fatherland, Religion, and Family. However, it becomes clear throughout the reading that these religious fundamentalists themselves did not seem to care for those on the Fatherland or for Family (if the term is extended). Rather, “their great agony was first and foremost the general loss of the traditional way of life,” rather than “the disastrous consequences of the crisis on people’s lives.” How can they place so much emphasis on the land and family, if their worry is not focused on the suffering that these families are enduring?
There is irrationality in the anger that these religious fundamentalists held toward the Greek population because they were no longer living a “frugal lifestyle” due to their efforts to increase their economic prosperity. How can this anger exist, though, if the Greek population itself is in the middle of a debt crisis? Further, as the reading states, in the eyes of the religious fundamentalist logic, “austerity and even the condition of poverty were framed as the genuine Orthodox road to salvation in contrast to wealth, consumerism and materialism.” Essentially, the religious fundamentalists are attempting to convince the Greek population that submitting to a condition of poverty will be what saves them from…their current condition of debt, which has already led many of them into poverty. While indeed, the religious fundamentalist logic wants to keep the Greek population from even pursuing “wealth, consumerism and materialism,” how can this strongly stand as a fundamental point in their argument if the Greek economic system itself is largely missing these elements as part of their debt crisis?
The one conclusion that is not grounded in contradiction is the religious fundamentalist’s understanding of this crisis as an opportunity. As the beginning of the reading mentions, when people are in a crisis, “they search for remedies for their misfortunes.” In desperate times, people will try something they may have snubbed for their entire life, desperate for any form of solution. Though this viewpoint of the religious fundamentalists seems somewhat disturbed given the immense suffering plaguing many Greeks, the logic behind using a scenario like this to pull people into religion who had rejected it before is rather sound, though perhaps not so moral.
Side note to our lovely profs: If we could go over the other reading on flexibilization in class, that would be very helpful, as I had a more difficult time digesting it, specifically the second half.
The film “Bread and Chocolate” follows Nino as he tries to assimilate into the Swiss culture; it gives the viewers a true depiction of what life is like for many immigrants. There were four very important elements of immigrant life depicted in the movie: fear of police/deportation, jobs/employment, national identity, and class.
For most immigrants, there is a constant fear of the police and/or deportation because it does not take much for immigrants on work visas to be deported. Nino found a dead body in the woods, and his first thought was to get away as fast as he could; I know when I watched it I instantly thought they were going to blame the murder on him. He was taken in for questioning and was subsequently set free since the real murderer admitted to his actions, but he was soon deported for urinating in public. He was deported for something as small as public urination, showing that it never takes much for residency to be revoked. Throughout the movie (well, until the end scene), he is in constant fear of being deported and must find a job, any job, as fast as possible in order to stay in Switzerland.
Finding a job can also be very difficult for immigrants, this is something that I think the movie shows really well. Nino holds, or begins, three jobs, unless the drag scene also counts as a job in which case he holds four jobs, throughout the movie. He starts as a waiter in a restaurant (though he is not yet a full-time waiter), where he has to work for lower wages until he can prove himself to be better than the Turkish waiter who is also applying for the position. After the public urination incident, he is fired and goes to work as a butler for an Italian businessman. He is technically employed for a matter of hours when he discovers that all of his money is gone and his employer is dead. The last real job he starts is at the chicken processing farm, which he quickly discovers it is not a place he wants to work. I would say that all of the jobs he held took great advantage of him in some way, which is not uncommon for the jobs immigrants work. Usually, immigrants take jobs where their work is exploitable, most are desperate and will take any job they can find.
A very interesting issue that I would say is not explicitly dealt with until the very end is national identity. This is a topic we have discussed multiple times in class, but I really liked the way the movie dealt with it. After Nino sees the group of Swiss teens, he bleaches his hair to fit in more, which is the most drastic thing he did to assimilate into Swiss culture. When he goes to the bar, he sits down and watches the soccer game with a room full of Switzerland fans and cheers against Italy. Once Italy scores he realizes that it is okay to be proud of his country, it is a part of him, and nothing will change that. I am assuming that the goal the Italian team scores represents the potential for success and that being Italian should not, and does not, hinder that potential. Nino definitely has trouble finding a balance between his Italian identity and his desire to be Swiss. This is something that I think a lot of immigrants can relate to; especially, if they are second or third generation immigrants who usually feel a stronger connection with their home country than the country of their parents/grandparents, although general society may still view them as an ‘other.’
The last element I would like to mention is class, specifically the class disparities between a home country and the new/chosen nation and the possible consequences of such inequalities. The title of the movie represents the differences in class very well. The bread referred to in the title is referring to the person who has to work very hard to keep food on the table. The chocolate is in reference to the delicacy that is Swiss chocolate, something that is often viewed as a luxury. Relatively speaking, immigrants are from poor countries and move elsewhere in search for better opportunities mainly because of safety or financial reasons, sometimes both. Transitioning from a poor country to one that has more/better resources can be very difficult and can lead to extreme stereotypes. The movie deals less with the consequences of these economic disparities and more on pointing them out, but a conversation about these disparities is essential for understanding why assimilating to new cultures can be very difficult and discouraging.
While reading the paper that discusses religious fundamentalism and the Greek debt crisis, one thing that stuck out at me was the connection between religious fundamentalism and nationalism.
It seemed like a lot of what was fueling Grecian nationalism was this religious idea that Greek identity is tightly intertwined with Greek Orthodoxy in the sense that Orthodoxy makes Greece a sacred nation blessed by God that is God’s chosen medium for teaching the rest of the world about salvation. One Greek religious figure stated that “the Greek was born by the favor of divine providence teacher for humanity; this task was assigned to him; this was his mission.” This idea of the Greek nation being “chosen” by God makes it seem more special than/metaphorically “above” other nations, which creates a sort of us vs. them mentality, a mentality that seems to go hand in hand with nationalism. This is seen in some quotes/opinions from Greek religious figures who framed other nations as being evil and out to get Greece – for example, one such person likened Angela Merkel to Hitler. Another compared the Protestant (important to note the religious difference here) West to a monster in Greek mythology. It seems pretty easy to have excessive pride in one’s nation when you view other nations as Nazis and monsters relative to your own.
While drafting up my blog post for this week I wasn’t sure whether to word my question as “to what extent does religious fundamentalism fuel the flames of nationalism?” (in this post I talked mainly about how religious beliefs helped give rise to nationalist sentiments, but I think it definitely can go the other way as well) or “to what extend does nationalism contribute to religious extremism?” I’m not sure which influences which, or if they both influence each other, and if we have time in class today I think it would be an interesting discussion to have.
The movie Bread and Chocolate dealt with issues of identity and nationalism in a very interesting way. Garofalo, an Italian migrant worker in Switzerland, is constantly ashamed of his Italian heritage and came to Switzerland to find a better life for him and his family. Throughout this film you can see the constant struggle within Garofalo who is both ashamed and proud of being Italian. He surrounds himself with Italians the entire movie, partly because he only speaks Italian, but also because he is most comfortable with them. While working at the restaurant it is very clear he thinks himself better than the Turkish worker. However, he also tells his busboy that its obvious the Swiss wouldn’t like Italians because there’s an invasion of them and Italians don’t even like each other. He also reprimands him for fighting to defend his Italian heritage, however, at the end of the film although he is passing of as a Swiss man, he can’t help rooting for the Italian soccer team, and even gets in a fight over it. This shows that he still identifies as an Italian as much as he dislikes it. However, whenever surrounded by his countrymen singing about the sea and the sun, he is so ashamed that he can never stay on the train and head back to a life of poverty and misery. This battle of identity is one of the major issues of uniting the European Union and this movie does an excellent job personalizing this struggle. It also brings up the issue of regionalism, when Garofalo talks about discrimination in Italy of the south by the north, and he seems to show it with the different people he interacts with on the train. Overall the movie personifies the struggle of uniting for economic gain, but having to overcome cultural differences, stereotypes, and persecution and the role that identity plays in all this.
Bread and Chocolate was quite the interesting film. It was different than what we were used to because this is the first film with a North/South divide of Europe. This divide is often undermined because we are so used to all Europeans being just that, European. Living in America, we consider Italians, Swiss people, Germans, and most other countries as White. However, based on this film we can clearly see racial divides between those who live in Europe.
A scene that I would like to point out that further shows racial divides between Europeans. When Nino is in the chicken coup, staring through the window at the young, blonde people skinny dipping in the pond outside. This shows the inequality suffered by the immigrant guest workers, despite all being European. This disparity between the wealthy Swiss and the poor Italian is shown through them being able to play and enjoy the sun, while he is confined in his dirty chicken coup that he calls home.
This difference causes him to envy them and wishes he was more like them, which eventually results in him dying his hair and leaving the coup. This is a prime example of those who are treated unfairly attempting to be more like the privileged in order to feel better about themselves.
Assimilation is prevalent in this movie. Attempting to be like those around you, and fitting into a culture that you were not originally part of is a major theme. I think the reason for the desire to assimilate is all the unfair treatment that Nino receives as an immigrant. His constant fear of being blamed for crimes he didn’t commit, or deportation ultimately leads him to believe that his identity that he was born with is not good enough.
This film left me with tons of questions and I think completely differently than I did prior. To me, most Europeans were white and I couldn’t imagine discrimination from one European to another. I question how the divides ultimately determined which counties were better off. Were countries with less racial tension functioning better as a society? Were the economies positively or negatively affected by the divides?
Max Weber, in “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,” looks at religion not in the sense of its founders and followers and its spiritual function, but instead in the sense of how religion has an economic function. Weber talks about religion in a different context in which it is usually talked about, and thus makes his perspective unique and seemingly more objective. But my reading of Weber made me believe that his observances were far from objective and that he was interjecting his personal opinions on the cultural divide of northern Europe and southern Europe.
The basis of Weber’s argument lies in the differences he notes about Protestant and Catholic work ethic. Weber observes that in countries where is his a mixed religious population, business leaders and owners tend to be more Protestant, and attributed this to historical factors, including the fact that richer districts converted to Protestantism. Weber also wrote that Catholic and Protestant parents tend to educate their children differently, and that this education and environment often determines their choice of occupation. Catholics, according to Weber, are more likely to go into handicrafts than to go into industry.
Throughout history, religion has been a great means of division amongst nations and within populations. The conflicting religious beliefs have already created division amongst European nations, and has created feelings of superiority. Weber’s use of religion to explain capitalism further deepens this divide between the European North and South. Protestantism is to the European north as Catholicism is to the European south. There are obvious major differences between these regions, one in particular causing a majority of this strife. Southern countries are often seen as relaxed and/or lazy in comparison to the northern countries. And although this myth has been continually disproven, it is still a major stereotype of southern nations. I think that Weber plays into this stereotype by basically affirming that northern countries, labeled as Protestants, have more impact in capitalism than Catholics. Although Weber does not explicitly delve into the cultural tensions and divisions between Europe’s north and south, he does ultimately further the tension by bringing religion into the economic sphere. It is a domino effect that Weber is contributing to. Religion is a basis for cultural differences that cause tensions between countries, and attributing one religion as economically superior adds another layer to the tension already instilled between the European north and south.
The role of religion in creating and dividing society that you mentioned here, as well as its role in politics, is certainly an important point concerning modern Europe in spite of (or perhaps even especially) because of the perception of the “secularization” of Europe in recent decades. There are numerous PEW researches that have demonstrated this pattern of secularization, among them, the phenomenon that fewer Europeans identify that religion is a central part of their identity and the phenomenon that younger generations are practicing religion less than their older counterparts. Today, the idea of building any policy on the basis of religion is highly improbable, especially in the Western world, where such connection between religion and government are often viewed as even outdated and backwards. And yet, just like with the Protestant work ethic and the voice of the religious groups in the Greek financial crisis have demonstrated, separation between church and state—or between church and anything, for that matter—is not as clear-cut as many of us would like to believe it is when it comes to Europe. Just as you had mentioned in your post, Europe’s history is rooted in religion. But, what exactly is the role of religion in present-day Europe? We first saw this intersection between religion and politics through the exclusion of Turkey from the European Union a few weeks ago. We saw it again in Kessareas’s analysis of the Greek debt crisis through a theological lens, which reveals the underlying current of religious fundamentalism that remain relevant even in modern day European politics and economics matters. Even in Bread and Chocolate, a comedy about the personal politics of southern European workers who have to navigate the effects of the macro-level politics and policies between nations as well as the prejudices that have been the result of years of history—a film that is not at all about religion—we see the images like that of the more affluent Swiss frolicking in the forest while the Italians look out at them from the chicken coop. The image the audience gets highly resembles the biblical image of the garden of Edens. Here, although religion is not one of the factors portrayed as central sources of tension and division between Northern and Southern Europe, this scene with religious undertones is still one of the most memorable from the movie. Despite Europe’s religious history, in the modern era, we often take the concept of the separation of church and state for granted, considering religion as a realm unrelated to that of politics and other matters of society. However, with religion making its way into both popular cultural products and beliefs about economic successes and crises, as this week’s films and readings have shown, perhaps, it is time for us to examine just the strength of religious undercurrents in today’s “secular” Europe and question, what other modern events might religion have played a role in being the driving force of?
In “Bread and Chocolate,” the scene with the naked Swiss youth illustrates the racial component of a European identity. Nino finds his way to an Italian family that lives in a chicken coup on a farm. He becomes disturbed by the life this family lives, and asks who he is? Nino asks them if they think he is like them just because they’re all Italian. He is disturbed in being grouped with people who he perceives to be uncultured, stupid, and poor.
Right afterwards, one of the family members notifies them that Swiss people are passing by and stopping to relax and take a bath in the lake. The Italian men stare at the Swiss in awe, both in terms of sexual attraction as well as envy for what they perceive to be the difference in quality of their lives.
This scene poses some questions about race and how it’s viewed in Western Europe. The Swiss youth are all blonde and fair skinned, while the Italians have olive skin and dark wavy hair. This scene comes up right after Nino starts asking questions about his identity as an Italian. What does he think as he stares at the Swiss youngins? Does he think that race is what separates him from them?
Right after this, we see that the answer is, at least partially, yes. He dyes his hair blonde. This likely signifies that he longer wants to associate with Italians, and he thinks his looks prevent him from disassociating from that identity. He needs to “look” more Germanic in order to integrate into their society. As we walks through the streets, he seems to feel more comfortable and integrated, rather than like an outsider. That is, until he’s had enough of it.
We know that pre-WWII, Europeans very much valued the racial component in defining their national identity. Even though European nations sought to purge the racist ideologies from the masses after the atrocities racism had caused, many beliefs about race and its importance in defining national identity seems to have remained. This film was made in 1974, and we see that ideas about the racial component of a European identity still remained strong. I wonder how much of this unspoken bias on race remains in peoples thoughts today when it comes to defining a European identity.
I agree with Talha that the symbolism of Nino dying his hair blonde in order to pass off as Swiss raises a key question about how individuals view their appearance in relation to their nationality. However, while Talha believes that race is the divisive factor, I believe that there are certainly other contributing factors that cause division within a nation as Nino not only dyes his hair blonde but also changes the mannerisms by which he approaches Swiss nationals in order to appear more like them. To that end, who can say if division between nationalities is mostly based on appearance, language, mannerism, religion, class, or a combination of all of these? This theme of an identity-balancing act has a clear progression throughout the movie. Initially, Nino considers himself very Italian and is very proud of that sentiment, but also recognizes the inferiority of the Italian stigma in Swiss culture. As the movie progresses, he becomes more removed from his Italian heritage, both in linguistic and visual cues. When the movie finally escalates to Nino posing the question “who am I?” he receives the one answer that he fears the most: that he is exactly the same as the Clandestine Italian immigrants who are living in a chicken coup and appear less than human to Nino.
The association of these Italian immigrants and chickens, though, is quite confusing to me. It is unclear to me if Nino is viewing these individuals as chickens because that is how he is afraid of appearing to Swiss individuals, or if the idea of “chicken”, in that it refers to individuals who are scared, refers to the fact these Italian immigrants have stooped so low to live in chicken like conditions because they are too afraid of returning to Italy and what awaits them there? This association between these clandestine Italian immigrants and chicken also raises interesting thoughts about whether individuals from similar societies can sometimes be the people most foreign to individuals as they often represent every stigma that one might dread being associated with themselves. Nevertheless, I believe Nino’s interaction with these clandestine immigrants are shockingly juxtaposed with the beautiful, Swiss youth who seemingly have no cares, particularly as the scene with them in the lake almost appears to have Biblical allusions to the garden of Adam and Even. Even though Nino idolizes these wealthy Swiss individuals, and alters his appearance to try to mimic them, he finds that language is still a barrier, class is still a barriers, and identity of race (which is interesting as many individuals today associate Europe as being largely Caucasian) is not enough to change the core foundation of who he is.
Having discussed in class today the idea that many cultural products were promoted through the US agenda of encouraging unity through diversity in the reconstruction period after WWII, I find evidence of such a sentiment throughout “Bread and Chocolate”, not in the interactions that Nino has with Swiss nationals but rather in the comradery that he forms with other expats. Nino finds compassion in Elena, who has been forced to leave Greece due to intellectual persecution, and also in a Spanish woman who too is trying to pass of as Swiss in a bar. To me, I interpret this as the director seeing that individuals from similar socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to find unity, perhaps less in their cultural identities but more in their shared economic struggle, as Gialis and Leontidou suggest that Greece, Spain, and Italy are often characterized as more economically depressed than Northern Europe nations. As to why Nino doesn’t find more unity amongst Swiss nationals, I suppose this is the director suggesting that unity through diversity only works in areas where there is economic equality, and since Switzerland is more wealthy than migrant nations, the Swiss nationals interpret any sort of diversity as inferior as it is correlated with economic depression.
Moreover, Goethe’s idea that translation can be used as a tool to break these cultural barriers is prevalent in this movie as we see that Elena is the one who most successfully integrates into Swiss cultural despite not “appearing” Swiss because she can easily communicate in German, particularly with the Swiss immigration officer. However, she also maintains her empathy for Nino as she can speak Italian as well, which indicates that perhaps multilingualism is how societies can focus on creating more unification in the presence of diversity.
Weber’s introduction to Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism raises some points which to me appear in conflict with one another and that I’d like to explore and spin off of using today’s class discussion as a starting point. As part of his argument following up the section on Benjamin Franklin, Weber states “Man is dominated by the making of money, by acquisition as the ultimate purpose of his life”(18), and in addition, that to successfully do so indicates a sense of virtue and proficiency. This idea is contrasted with his later statement that “A man does not “by nature” wish to earn more and more money, but simply to live as he is accustomed to live and to earn as much as is necessary for that purpose”(24). Both philosophies, extreme as they are, may be explained and supported with examples showing both persuasions, as Weber does throughout his text. However, I think it is interesting how each have differing implications, specifically about how each mindset affects the way one would relate to one’s own culture and perhaps to that of others.
The first perspective would imply that each individual has a purely economic focus as the origin for their decisions. This in turn would potentially leave very little room for the free investment in cultural products, unless of course such cultural products were used as a means by which to make a profit. Cultural products, both of one’s own nation and of others, are in this way turned into a means to an economic end, rather than a reflection of a people’s liberated expression of a way of life and use of free time.
The alternative statement that Weber makes – about earning only so much as is necessary – places followers of this theory as complacent with their current station and not driven by an external economic force. This may provide the space within which the development and experience of one’s own culture becomes more dominant in the lives of those who fall into the category outlined by Weber’s second statement. These are just some interesting implications of Weber’s conflicting notions of man’s inherent economic nature, but I still struggle to reconcile why he included such disparate viewpoints without specifically clarifying them in relation to one another. Perhaps these concepts developed at different times, or as responses to different historical circumstances and schools of thought?
He acknowledges differences among nations in their relation to labor and capitalism, but in a way that is reminiscent of describing “Europe and it’s ‘Other’” by stating that “…the lack of coscienziosità of the labourers of such countries, for instance Italy as compared with Germany, …is one of the principal obstacles to their capitalistic development.”(21) Coscienziosita as translated to mean, conscientiousness? This seems to come across as an unfortunate blow against Italy as being undisciplined or to some extent unaware. Does he see this as a result of religious differences only? How do cultural differences contribute to this perceived delta in his mind? In any case, I found it interesting how this point directly relates to this week’s discussion title as Europe, North and South.
I believe Bread and Chocolate by Franco Brusati draws numerous significant parallels to cultural products we have discussed, along with my own experiences.
What particularly struck me in the film was the identity conflict of Nino, an Italian immigrant residing in Switzerland as a guest worker. This conflict is expressed throughout several scenes in Bread and Chocolate, including Nino losing his work permit but remaining in Switzerland as an illegal immigrant, dying his hair blonde to blend in with the locals, being exposed, arrested, and deported due to celebrating an Italian soccer goal, and finally deciding to exit the train at the first station with the intention of remaining an illegal immigrant.
Nino’s internal conflict addresses multiple important topics. Firstly, it emphasizes the cultural clash immigrants may experience. Nino leaves Italy because he believes life will be better in Switzerland, but he does not leave his Italian culture and identity behind. This love and connection to Italy is illustrated when he celebrates the Italian soccer goal. However, he realizes that life is indeed better in Switzerland, and is inspired to a degree by Swiss culture that he wishes the integrate himself in Swiss society, thus dying his hair blonde and remaining in Switzerland as an illegal immigrant. I can relate to this as a Norwegian living in the U.S.; the urge of integrating myself in American society while preserving my Norwegian values and traditions. Additionally, I believe the identity and cultural conflict emphasized by Brusati is similar to the one we experienced in Fatih Akin’s films, where we were exposed to Turkish guest workers in Germany and the cultural implications of these nations interacting at such an intimate level.
Nino’s conflict is also important to explore in a political aspect, namely the notion of diversity in unity as discussed in our previous class. Nino shows the audience how European nations brought closer together may experience complicated cultural consequences. As immigrants integrate in a new society, they may gradually lose parts of their own original identity. Furthermore, the country that takes on the influx of immigrants may be influenced by their culture. Does this mean that flexible borders that allow for easy movement within Europe reduces the diversity of European cultures? And is this necessarily a bad trend? These questions are complicated in nature, but I believe that the debate they spur is partly the reason for the rise in right-wing parties and anti-immigration movements in Europe.
Thinking about the financial crisis in terms of religion, eastern orthodoxy, and god is fascinating. While “western” and “Protestant” narratives place blame on Greece’s laziness, financial instability, government corruption, and bloated federal spending, few ever note the religious element and divide between Protestant Germans, Catholic Italians, and Orthodox Greeks. One of this week’s readings, “The Greek Debt Crisis as theodicy” outlines some of the religious complications with the crisis. The reading depicts a view in Greece that the crisis was “brought by god” and frames austerity as an “opportunity for salvation.” The text further outlines how many people in Greece viewed the crisis as a chance to reignite traditional orthodox values. This lesser known view on the crisis poses the question of the importance of religion in European society today. While Europe deems itself to be secular and progressive, the justification of austerity on religious grounds shows how alive and functioning religious sentiment still is in Europe.
Framing the crisis on a religious ground ties directly to Max Weber’s 1905 text, “The Protestant Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism.” Weber’s text provides detailed theories on how Protestantism, and specifically, Calvinism played a defining role in the emergence of capitalism. Weber notes throughout the text that while Catholics lack work ethic, are greedy, and seek huge wealth, Calvinists are motivated in a religious fundamentalism that allows for strong work ethic and a functioning capitalist society.
When thinking about the modern-day Greek crisis, Weber if alive would likely look towards the religious differences that led some countries mainly in Northern Europe to have balanced budgets while Southern Countries faced ballooning government debt. While Weber notes his text is not complete and only a partial justification, it begs the question: “what role does religion really play today in dividing fiscal Europe?” Western presentation of the European economy frame Germany as a manufacturing export-based economy while Southern Europe as more agricultural and import based. How does religion, however, play into this difference? Was Germany’s crisis response and desire to “punish” the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) countries rooted more in economic difference or was there religious spite as well?
It is impossible to exclude religion from any analysis of the financial crisis and Western sources have done a good job of doing just that. Both the causes of the crisis and each country’s response to the crisis is fascinating to analyze in the religious context. Germany’s belief in punishing austerity and how the different Catholic and Orthodox countries responded suit and justified their government’s actions cannot be ignored. The final question I’ll pose is “why don’t western sources talk about religion’s role in the crisis?” Perhaps talking about religion isn’t as politically trendy as catch phrases like “strict austerity” and “balanced budgets.” Perhaps also, however, Europe’s failure to acknowledge the glaring religious differences between counties exacerbated the crisis and slowed the recovery.
In Bread and Chocolate, the relationship between European nations is embodied by its characters. This is most evident in the scene where Nino and the other Italians are crouched in the chicken coop and watching the Swiss children relax in the water. The Italians, as Valery writes, “watch… anxiously and curiously, sulk, [and] admire.” Before watching the film, I had difficulty understanding this point. The feelings that Valery describes are so different and at times directly contradictory. However, the combination of these feelings makes perfect sense through the lens of Nino. He hates the discrimination he faces but is also eager to be accepted by the same institutions that discriminate against him. It is here that he does the second part outlined by Valery and “[imitates] some detail but [despises] the whole” by dying his hair blonde. He initially wants to blend in by copying the detail that he believes makes the other Europeans better than him. He seems happy being an imposter, but this happiness is short lived as he quickly gets in a fight by showing his patriotism when Italy scores a goal. But he has every reason to be proud of the accomplishments of his country. In the previous scenes, Nino is envious of the Swiss. But envious of what? The Swiss are shown as elegant, beautiful, blonde, but have no real reason to be considered superior to Nino or the Italians. So Nino decides that he cannot contain his pride anymore, because he has a reason to proud. It is through these complex, contradictory feelings that Brusati is able to convey the tension between the European nations that Valery describes.
The film “Bread and Chocolate” kinda scared me when Nino moved in to the chicken coup. It felt really weird there. All the dudes watched the Swiss youth bathing while they watched from a chicken coup. Meanwhile, the women and wives of the men sat at the table just staring forlorn at the ground. They weren’t good enough for the men to really lust over, evidently. The idealization of the Blonde Swiss youth is explicated here.
There are themes of re-invention throughout the film. Nino re-imagines himself as a German briefly. He also jumps from job to job, including stints as a waiter, butler, and chicken farmer. He needs to reinvent himself to survive. And he’s not the only one. Elena restarted her life in Switzerland with a secret child. Nino meets a Spanish woman disguised as a blonde, ironically when he too is disguised as a blonde German. Everyone wants to become like the wealthy Swiss and other Northern European countries. The Italian millionaire’s children, Nino notes, even look foreign. When the waiter asks Nino whether he wants light or dark (of some drink), Nino can’t decide and the waiter remarks that Nino doesn’t know what he wants. Nino is quite acutely grappling with this tension.
An interesting theme at play throughout the film was wealth and wealth disparity. The millionaire Italian told Nino that you can’t make money without having money to which Nino asked what about those without money to begin with. Then the millionaire killed himself for running out of money. Maybe he was running a ponzi scheme? I didn’t quite understand what happened, but somehow he went broke. It is interesting that the Italian went broke. No one ever seems to make it in Switzerland if they’re from the Mediterranean. There’s a particularly strong emphasis on the Mediterranean with their songs always referencing the sea. They all just get by, but sing music about the sea to stay happy.
The North-South divide is quite clear in this movie from the 70s, but it is still quite present and clear today. There remains a stereotyping of Southern countries in Europe. When the eurozone crisis hit, many even blamed it on those lazy Greeks (or Italians, or Spaniards) as one of our assigned readings noted. How can there be a united Europe when there are such prominent North-South (and East-West, for that matter) divides.
The contradictory, sometimes irrational nature of the Greek Orthodox religious fundamentalist assessment of the Greek debt crisis is most fascinating given the strength and rapidity with which their logic was spread and supported. Ultimately, this theology seems to punish the Greeks for economic prosperity, which in this moment of the debt crisis, they largely lack.
First and foremost, the religious fundamentalist explanation of the crisis is that the Greeks need to return to the roots of their original identity, which consist, as the reading tells us, of Fatherland, Religion, and Family. However, it becomes clear throughout the reading that these religious fundamentalists themselves did not seem to care for those on the Fatherland or for Family (if the term is extended). Rather, “their great agony was first and foremost the general loss of the traditional way of life,” rather than “the disastrous consequences of the crisis on people’s lives.” How can they place so much emphasis on the land and family, if their worry is not focused on the suffering that these families are enduring?
There is irrationality in the anger that these religious fundamentalists held toward the Greek population because they were no longer living a “frugal lifestyle” due to their efforts to increase their economic prosperity. How can this anger exist, though, if the Greek population itself is in the middle of a debt crisis? Further, as the reading states, in the eyes of the religious fundamentalist logic, “austerity and even the condition of poverty were framed as the genuine Orthodox road to salvation in contrast to wealth, consumerism and materialism.” Essentially, the religious fundamentalists are attempting to convince the Greek population that submitting to a condition of poverty will be what saves them from…their current condition of debt, which has already led many of them into poverty. While indeed, the religious fundamentalist logic wants to keep the Greek population from even pursuing “wealth, consumerism and materialism,” how can this strongly stand as a fundamental point in their argument if the Greek economic system itself is largely missing these elements as part of their debt crisis?
The one conclusion that is not grounded in contradiction is the religious fundamentalist’s understanding of this crisis as an opportunity. As the beginning of the reading mentions, when people are in a crisis, “they search for remedies for their misfortunes.” In desperate times, people will try something they may have snubbed for their entire life, desperate for any form of solution. Though this viewpoint of the religious fundamentalists seems somewhat disturbed given the immense suffering plaguing many Greeks, the logic behind using a scenario like this to pull people into religion who had rejected it before is rather sound, though perhaps not so moral.
Side note to our lovely profs: If we could go over the other reading on flexibilization in class, that would be very helpful, as I had a more difficult time digesting it, specifically the second half.
The film “Bread and Chocolate” follows Nino as he tries to assimilate into the Swiss culture; it gives the viewers a true depiction of what life is like for many immigrants. There were four very important elements of immigrant life depicted in the movie: fear of police/deportation, jobs/employment, national identity, and class.
For most immigrants, there is a constant fear of the police and/or deportation because it does not take much for immigrants on work visas to be deported. Nino found a dead body in the woods, and his first thought was to get away as fast as he could; I know when I watched it I instantly thought they were going to blame the murder on him. He was taken in for questioning and was subsequently set free since the real murderer admitted to his actions, but he was soon deported for urinating in public. He was deported for something as small as public urination, showing that it never takes much for residency to be revoked. Throughout the movie (well, until the end scene), he is in constant fear of being deported and must find a job, any job, as fast as possible in order to stay in Switzerland.
Finding a job can also be very difficult for immigrants, this is something that I think the movie shows really well. Nino holds, or begins, three jobs, unless the drag scene also counts as a job in which case he holds four jobs, throughout the movie. He starts as a waiter in a restaurant (though he is not yet a full-time waiter), where he has to work for lower wages until he can prove himself to be better than the Turkish waiter who is also applying for the position. After the public urination incident, he is fired and goes to work as a butler for an Italian businessman. He is technically employed for a matter of hours when he discovers that all of his money is gone and his employer is dead. The last real job he starts is at the chicken processing farm, which he quickly discovers it is not a place he wants to work. I would say that all of the jobs he held took great advantage of him in some way, which is not uncommon for the jobs immigrants work. Usually, immigrants take jobs where their work is exploitable, most are desperate and will take any job they can find.
A very interesting issue that I would say is not explicitly dealt with until the very end is national identity. This is a topic we have discussed multiple times in class, but I really liked the way the movie dealt with it. After Nino sees the group of Swiss teens, he bleaches his hair to fit in more, which is the most drastic thing he did to assimilate into Swiss culture. When he goes to the bar, he sits down and watches the soccer game with a room full of Switzerland fans and cheers against Italy. Once Italy scores he realizes that it is okay to be proud of his country, it is a part of him, and nothing will change that. I am assuming that the goal the Italian team scores represents the potential for success and that being Italian should not, and does not, hinder that potential. Nino definitely has trouble finding a balance between his Italian identity and his desire to be Swiss. This is something that I think a lot of immigrants can relate to; especially, if they are second or third generation immigrants who usually feel a stronger connection with their home country than the country of their parents/grandparents, although general society may still view them as an ‘other.’
The last element I would like to mention is class, specifically the class disparities between a home country and the new/chosen nation and the possible consequences of such inequalities. The title of the movie represents the differences in class very well. The bread referred to in the title is referring to the person who has to work very hard to keep food on the table. The chocolate is in reference to the delicacy that is Swiss chocolate, something that is often viewed as a luxury. Relatively speaking, immigrants are from poor countries and move elsewhere in search for better opportunities mainly because of safety or financial reasons, sometimes both. Transitioning from a poor country to one that has more/better resources can be very difficult and can lead to extreme stereotypes. The movie deals less with the consequences of these economic disparities and more on pointing them out, but a conversation about these disparities is essential for understanding why assimilating to new cultures can be very difficult and discouraging.
While reading the paper that discusses religious fundamentalism and the Greek debt crisis, one thing that stuck out at me was the connection between religious fundamentalism and nationalism.
It seemed like a lot of what was fueling Grecian nationalism was this religious idea that Greek identity is tightly intertwined with Greek Orthodoxy in the sense that Orthodoxy makes Greece a sacred nation blessed by God that is God’s chosen medium for teaching the rest of the world about salvation. One Greek religious figure stated that “the Greek was born by the favor of divine providence teacher for humanity; this task was assigned to him; this was his mission.” This idea of the Greek nation being “chosen” by God makes it seem more special than/metaphorically “above” other nations, which creates a sort of us vs. them mentality, a mentality that seems to go hand in hand with nationalism. This is seen in some quotes/opinions from Greek religious figures who framed other nations as being evil and out to get Greece – for example, one such person likened Angela Merkel to Hitler. Another compared the Protestant (important to note the religious difference here) West to a monster in Greek mythology. It seems pretty easy to have excessive pride in one’s nation when you view other nations as Nazis and monsters relative to your own.
While drafting up my blog post for this week I wasn’t sure whether to word my question as “to what extent does religious fundamentalism fuel the flames of nationalism?” (in this post I talked mainly about how religious beliefs helped give rise to nationalist sentiments, but I think it definitely can go the other way as well) or “to what extend does nationalism contribute to religious extremism?” I’m not sure which influences which, or if they both influence each other, and if we have time in class today I think it would be an interesting discussion to have.
The movie Bread and Chocolate dealt with issues of identity and nationalism in a very interesting way. Garofalo, an Italian migrant worker in Switzerland, is constantly ashamed of his Italian heritage and came to Switzerland to find a better life for him and his family. Throughout this film you can see the constant struggle within Garofalo who is both ashamed and proud of being Italian. He surrounds himself with Italians the entire movie, partly because he only speaks Italian, but also because he is most comfortable with them. While working at the restaurant it is very clear he thinks himself better than the Turkish worker. However, he also tells his busboy that its obvious the Swiss wouldn’t like Italians because there’s an invasion of them and Italians don’t even like each other. He also reprimands him for fighting to defend his Italian heritage, however, at the end of the film although he is passing of as a Swiss man, he can’t help rooting for the Italian soccer team, and even gets in a fight over it. This shows that he still identifies as an Italian as much as he dislikes it. However, whenever surrounded by his countrymen singing about the sea and the sun, he is so ashamed that he can never stay on the train and head back to a life of poverty and misery. This battle of identity is one of the major issues of uniting the European Union and this movie does an excellent job personalizing this struggle. It also brings up the issue of regionalism, when Garofalo talks about discrimination in Italy of the south by the north, and he seems to show it with the different people he interacts with on the train. Overall the movie personifies the struggle of uniting for economic gain, but having to overcome cultural differences, stereotypes, and persecution and the role that identity plays in all this.
Bread and Chocolate was quite the interesting film. It was different than what we were used to because this is the first film with a North/South divide of Europe. This divide is often undermined because we are so used to all Europeans being just that, European. Living in America, we consider Italians, Swiss people, Germans, and most other countries as White. However, based on this film we can clearly see racial divides between those who live in Europe.
A scene that I would like to point out that further shows racial divides between Europeans. When Nino is in the chicken coup, staring through the window at the young, blonde people skinny dipping in the pond outside. This shows the inequality suffered by the immigrant guest workers, despite all being European. This disparity between the wealthy Swiss and the poor Italian is shown through them being able to play and enjoy the sun, while he is confined in his dirty chicken coup that he calls home.
This difference causes him to envy them and wishes he was more like them, which eventually results in him dying his hair and leaving the coup. This is a prime example of those who are treated unfairly attempting to be more like the privileged in order to feel better about themselves.
Assimilation is prevalent in this movie. Attempting to be like those around you, and fitting into a culture that you were not originally part of is a major theme. I think the reason for the desire to assimilate is all the unfair treatment that Nino receives as an immigrant. His constant fear of being blamed for crimes he didn’t commit, or deportation ultimately leads him to believe that his identity that he was born with is not good enough.
This film left me with tons of questions and I think completely differently than I did prior. To me, most Europeans were white and I couldn’t imagine discrimination from one European to another. I question how the divides ultimately determined which counties were better off. Were countries with less racial tension functioning better as a society? Were the economies positively or negatively affected by the divides?