(2021). “Luca Brasi Sleeps with the Fishes”: The Gastromythology of The Godfather Trilogy. In Simi Malhotra, Kanika Sharma and Sakshi Dogra (eds.), Food Culture Studies in India. Singapore: Springer, 67-83.

Abstract

Taking the founding principles of Abhinavagupta’s concept, rasadhvani, this paper defines the mysterious gastromythological code of The Godfather trilogy. I argue that, through an underlying Eucharistic code, gastromythology determines the rationale of ritualistic killings, and how they are represented in the mafia plotline of an otherwise conventional tragedy of an American family. Like The Godfather trilogy is critically taken as a constitutive whole, the gastromythological code of the series not only adds to symbolic value to the film but is, in fact, indispensable to understanding the psychology of the Corleone family and its associates. From the symbolism of the fishes in the message sent by Solozzo with Luca Brasi’s dead body, to the ominous oranges that precede the films’ tragic turning points, to the anorexia of Kay and Connie, to the dietary abstemiousness of Vito and Michael Corleone, to the several banquet scenes and the deadly cannoli, The Godfather trilogy and its hermeneutics are ruled by aesthetic rhythms and attitudes (rasadhvani) evoked by gastronomical metaphors.