Chef and Sloth

    I have already written a blogpost on the vice of sloth, but following my viewing of the 2014 film Chef directed by Jon Favreau, it is impossible not to write one more on sloth. The film follows the life of an extremely prestigious chef who goes by the name El Jefe. He truly is a fantastic chef, but he really hits an obstacle pertaining to creative differences and an overall emotion of happiness. On behalf, and/or because of these two bland feelings sloth is represented in a traditional sense as well as Rebecca DeYoung’s sense in Glittering Vices.

    El Jefe has been working at the same popular restaurant in Los Angeles for the last few years because he was scouted in Miami, but he begins to have the need and want to branch out of the restaurant’s menu’s comfort zone. In order to be happy and impress the biggest critic in town, as he did in Miami, he has to cook some new and delicious dishes. However, the owner of the restaurant is a stubborn man and refuses to allow his restaurant to be changed for fear of losing business. El Jefe, as hard as he works, is forced to quit and wallow in despair. Now, this is where sloth comes in. While El Jefe was working as hard as he could to get new results out of the same dishes he was finding that he never had time to do anything but attempt to impress the critic in a nearly impossible fashion. By being consistently busy with work El Jefe neglected his son Percy’s happiness by always failing to perform on promises, otherwise known by DeYoung as being slothful. Once El Jefe quits his job one would anticipate his slothful attitude to be taken care of, but that’s most certainly not the case. After he quits, as I said, he wallows in despair not knowing what to do with his life at this point and falls into the act of being slothful in a traditional sense. He’s a forty-something year old divorced man and he feels his life has ended, so he decides to smoke weed and cook for either himself or his ex fellow employee, aka the traditional definition of being slothful. 

    The film does indeed turn things around in a complete and satisfying manner, even though I haven't in this blogpost, but there is absolutely no doubting that El Jefe was the poster child for sloth during the majority of the film. It sure does sound depressing, but after one sees this film I guarantee he/she will love it as I did.