Food

A necessity for existence, of course— but since this is a completely constructed experience, where food is shown, what type of food is shown, and the context of these things is going to tinge what it means.

We’ve got Wendy’s messaging around food as her main source of connection with her family, but we’ve also got an abundance of foods in No.4, No.6, No.19, No.65, and No.69.

The sentence “One thing’s for sure: you won’t have to worry about food” shows the audience that the issues the Torrance’s will face won’t be like the Donner Party (where the people became the food).

The products and items are significant and often speak to American History, American Culture— like how Wendy and Danny eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or how Danny is served chocolate milk when things get difficult. There’s also references to castration, masturbation, idiomatic references to characters (like in Tony the Tiger or the Calumet baking powder), and idiomatic references to sayings like The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, the wealthy/being rich, and sexual organs.