The Need to Find A Compromise Between The Individual And Society in Life

In Stanley Tucci’s Big Night, food plays a crucial role in the film's plot. Between the two brothers, Primo believes that “food is being close to God”. The other brother Secondo believes that food stands for the necessity to find a compromise in life between the individual and society. I would believe that Italians who come to America would want to keep their traditions and hold on to what they are known for. A huge part of their culture is food. I believe that food plays a major role in the life on an Italian.

Several foods are presented throughout the film, to point out the differences between Italian and American culture and cuisine. Timpano makes an appearance in the film, which originally originates in Italy. Customers had a positive response to the dish. This dish has a lot of meaning to Italian culture. Its ingredients have had no change and have stayed the same for as long as it has been around. The dish has that authenticity that Italians crave to keep around no matter where they live.

With Primo, I believe that he finds food more than meaningful in his life. That can be on a spiritual level like getting close to god or just having the want to keep tradition with the Italian culture. His opinion fully stands with keeping things as they are and they do not need change. He does not agree with Americanizing anything but does want to keep the Italian tradition. Primo wants to stay as traditional as possible while his brother remains the opposite.

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Their two opinions cause some conflict between themselves, involving foods from their restaurant. There was a point where they would argue about a dish on the menu and would debate about keeping it on the menu or not. The dish that they were arguing about was riscotto. Riscotto is presented in some Americanized ways and is often chosen over the traditional side it comes from. Secondo wanted to replace this dish with an even more Americanized food, “hot dogs”. This had to make Primo explode on the inside. Secondo told his brother “If you give people time, they learn”. Primo’s response had me alert because I agree with him. “Well, I don’t have time for them to learn. This is a restaurant, not a fucking school” (Big Night).

The differences between the brothers really add to the context of this film. Secondo has proven that he does not care to disrupt the traditional culture of his own. He has a desire for success while being in this new world “America”. This is very common to happen post-immigration. Secondo believes that he has to change his ways in order to succeed in this business. This idea is and has been embraced by many American immigrants. His thoughts and actions fully represent what he values and that he is motivated to have a better future even if that means without his traditions.

Food and tradition are the overall themes of this film and what causes the majority of the conflict. The viewer gets to experience the two different sides of things when Italian Americans come to America. Big Night clearly reveals this where Primo is aware of his values and rich history while Secondo believes there is something better out there for him chasing the Italian-American culture. This also shocks me that we are comparing two people who are related to each other. This is not just two random dudes comparing two different lifestyles. Both of these guys grew up with the same parents, under the same roof, and followed the same traditions. But how one little change can determine following the traditions of your culture blows my mind. You would think that just anyone would want to do what you have grown up doing.

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