Character Analysis Ratatouille

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Ratatouille is a 2007 American film produced by Pixar that follows the journey of Remy, a young rat that aspires to be a chef, and his garbage boy turned chef friend Linguini. The whole film summarized into a sentence is basically that Remy’s dream of being a chef and Linguini 's dream of being a success is only possible in the end with the help of the other one, emphasizing the importance of collaboration. However the important take away is not this heartwarming lesson, but rather the way that global communities stereotype those with a standard American accent, such as the one used by both Remy and Linguini. According to Jessica Love of The American Scholar, European accents are typically perceived as high class and knowledgeable in foreign …show more content…
Due to the fact that those characters are often only explored on the surface level, the audience views whatever obstacles they face as trivial and unimportant. While analytically we could argue that we must realize that surface level analysis will reveal much less monumental problems than a deep analysis that comes with the position of a protagonist, most would say that because this is a film targeted at children, we do not need to worry about this type of deep thought. However, according to the textbook English With an Accent by Rosana Lippi-Green, children “are tireless observers of human behavior, and research indicates that they do indeed take in what they see and put it to use.” Therefore we must be cognizant that children are absorbing this association of a simpler life with the French and a more complicated, strugglesome life with the …show more content…
Ladegaard and Itesh Sachdev, the idea that foreigners don’t want to be American is analyzed. As American’s we often view our country as the best because of our immense patriotism due to our perceived success. However, this loose title of ‘greatest country in the world’ does not necessarily cause foreigners to envy us because they realize the scrutiny that Americans face as they are assumed to be pretentious because of the relatively easy life they live. Interestingly enough, Ratatouille challenges this theory as it claims that foreigners have it easier than American’s, fostering the American defense of ‘we struggle too.’ This claim is clearly articulated primarily through Remy and his inhibitions of never becoming a chef because he is a rat. Remy and all of the rats that speak in the film use standard American accents, which contributes to the films underlying, dark global message that the American dream is not as easily accessible as some may think. You may now think why on earth would this be the central message of a children’s movie. Luckily the message goes deeper than that. By allowing the two Americans to eventually come together and start their own restaurant that allows them both to utilize their individual strengths, it is communicated that while everyone faces struggles despite their

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