sexy-psycho-killer:

thatdiscovampirething:

I feel like someone with more patience than me could do a whole essay on Gotham’s use of food and eating in relation to life and death and relationships…

It would probably end up being largely Oswald centric, but there’s a pretty strong thread there with Ed too…

Oswald killed two people for sandwiches (admittedly it was a secondary motive the second time but still, he did very much stab a dude then buy a sandwich with the money he looted off the corpse), and got his second chance in the underworld via a job at a restaurant. He poisons his co-conspirators with cannoli, and eats an apple while watching a guy get tortured for information. He makes a sandwich in Loeb’s kitchen as a power display, and when he’s lost everything it’s stealing another sandwich from Ed’s corpse-burying picnic that leads to him being saved. In Arkham he’s beaten up over ice cream, and in his brainwashed state he brings the trio cupcakes as a peace offering. Grace insults his mother’s recipes and shortly thereafter he serves her her own children butchered and roasted…

Then there’s Ed – with his mildly creepy food offerings to Kristen (cupcake with a bullet in it, watermelon left over from where he was testing a theory on how a guy’s skull got caved in…), and his gourmet cooking and advanced fondue knowledge. Plus you have the fact that his dark half hid Kristen’s hand in a snack machine and the… creepy as fuck song chosen to accompany that whole thing on the soundtrack comparing women to literal pieces of meat. 

And of course Nygmobblepot is basically built on Chinese take out, spicy mustard and ginger tea…

Side note; I think I’ve mentioned it before but there’s a LOT of cannibalism in season 2. Like, three unrelated Arkham inmates, plus Eduardo Flamingo, plus Oswald getting his Titus Andronicus on with his step siblings… it’s a thing.

That’s not even all of it, and there’s plenty more with other characters, but yeah. Food in Gotham, it’s a topic.

This may not be that good of an addition, but psychologically speaking, when eating food, your brain unconsciously registers that you are safe/relaxed, as you would not be eating if you were panicked. That’s one of the reasons people ‘comfort eat’ and whatnot. So in a nutshell, when people see/eat food, they feel safe.

It is clear that Oswald’s mother is the only person in his whole life that have loved him and cared for him, and has kept him safe, and it’s I think it’s fair to assume that as an Eastern European woman, Mrs. Kappleput offering food to guests is a sign of good faith and welcoming. This is usually known as offering ‘Bread and salt’. With Oswald’s loyalty and love towards his mother, it is likely he would also see food offering as a way of showing people his welcoming attitude. It is always a way to flaunt wealth, but considering Oswald doesn’t really care about money, I doubt that that is his objective.

But being the prick he is, he uses this fake use of trust as a way to attack his enemies before they even know they are his enemies, mainly referring to the cannoli scene.

Secondly, gaining a job as a dish washer to gain access to Maroni, was probably more motivated by the fact that he could blend a lot more easily into the background as a dishwasher, so he could slither his way up Maroni’s gang. That being said, Although Oswald has no direct link to the food, he is using the psychology of ‘I am safe when I eat’. When Maroni and his gang are sitting, eating, and discussing their plans, they are not in a state of alert, allowing Os to be there without gaining their unwanted attention.

Also, just to point out, (not that I know from experience), but sometimes fighting and being shot and shoved into a lake and travelling makes you hungry. You ever see that snickers ad? ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’. That describes Oswald. Plus, as mentioned, food = safety/relaxation, this can show his state of casualness. Especially in a position of power, eating is a hell of a lot more intimidating. ie. “This crazy person is casually eating an apple while I am here scared out of my mind and shitting my pants… If that’s him at casual, I don’t wanna see him angry.”

And on that note, I believe you are completely right about the power play while making a sandwich at Leob’s. As I did mention before, offering food is a sign of wealth and greeting, but when someone comes in and takes it… It undermines Leob’s status as an authority figure, and a man of wealth, stealing both of those things from him in the swift motion of making a sandwich (and I’m sure Victor holding a gun to Leob’s head probably had something to do with that too).

In Arkham, when he is given ice cream, this is directly after he’s been tortured, so he clearly wasn’t in the right state of mind, as was intended to show. This would be the first time (I’m going to assume) that Oswald’s offering of food has ended with him getting hurt. Being genuinely kind did not go well for Oswald; being kind is not who he is supposed to be.

Once he meets his father, and he has dinner with his ‘new family’, it brings back that sense of security and safety for Oswald. Even after his father dies, he still continues to cook as to be a part of the illusion of that safe family environment. He even uses a recipe that his mother would have made. Since he’s already gained her trust by having already cooked multiple meals, it makes it easy to get his revenge by messing with the food- something that he has clearly already done before. Oswald was able to have a taste of what life would have been with his father before he died, so why not show his step-mother what her children taste like before she dies 😉

So it comes full circle: Oswald growing up with his mother’s cooking, a woman that would’ve used food as a gesture of good faith, and, when grown up, Oswald uses that facade of good faith to murder or maim (via the food or not), or uses other’s phycological belief that they are safe when eating, and strikes when their guard is down.

I know this isn’t the best essay, and most of it is just personal opinion and observation (and it is nearly 12am, and I’m tired as heck), but when you mentioned about Oswald and food, I thought that was a very interesting subject to bring up. Ed on the other hand, I think is just a crazy motherfucker (Also, too tired to analyse his crazy food ethics right now). But I hope you gain a little enjoyment and/or insight 🙂 Please add to or correct anything I have said.