Religion, Culture and Change

The movie Chocolat tells the story of a small conservative French town in 1959 and it's inhabitants' struggle to find peace between their faith and the temptations of modern life. In the beginning everyone knew their place and what was expected of them, this all changed when striking Vianne (my baby cousin is named after this character) opens an unusual chocolate shop and the towns people are swept away in desire and temptation as she bakes out unusual mouth-watering delicacies. Her different style and openness is very contradictory to the towns conservative Catholic society and many conflicts arise with the change. In our world it is widely known that a person or town's faith shapes their values, ideals and the way they raise their children; but it also deeply affects how a society will accept change and new ideals. Sometimes with a strict code and standard difference and new styles are often not encouraged like in the movie. Along with religion, culture also shapes values. For instance when I went to Rome people were very loud, and friendly they were terrible drivers and often ran red lights and cussed out other drivers that got in their way. In England it was very different, they had more of a quiet politeness and courtesy. Within those different cultures there are many individuals who each have their own style, opinion and personality but no matter how different they may be, they are similar in their underlying culture that is always changing and redefining itself with every new idea and individual that is added. And the acceptance of new ideas, religions and cultures is essential to the societies' ability to compete in this fast changing world. This movie was very well done with superb acting and story telling. It shows that we are not defined by what we don't do or who we don't include; but rather by what we take in and build upon our own religion and culture.
Chocolat. Dir. Lasse Hallstrom. Perf. Juliette Binoche, Jonny Depp, and Judi Dench. DVD. Miramax Films, 2000.