Social Psychology Assignment 2

‘Chocolat’ or Chocolate in French is a movie about an expert Chocolatier, Vianne, and her
rebellion. Set in 1995, the film follows Vianne, our protagonist, who is able to see things differently
and act on her own conscience. She doesn’t let her values and her understanding of right and wrong
get influenced by anyone in the village and ends up helping people like a lonely old woman and a
woman who was a victim of domestic violence in this process. This leads to conflict between her and
the Mayor, Comte de Reynauds who believes that chocolate will corrupt people's minds and self-
control. By the end of the movie, we see this happening as the sentiments of the people change, and
they begin to indulge in simple pleasures like chocolate and abandon the idea of living a life of just
abstinence. In a few words, Chocolat can be described as the story of a non compliant and non
comforming woman and her effects on the lives of the people who live by conforming to ideals and
by being compliant to an almost despotic Mayor.

The movie begins during the period of ‘Lent,’ a period of abstinence and self-denial of any
pleasures, including chocolate. He approaches Vianne and critiques her for opening a chocolatier
shop during Lent. Even though almost all the people conform to the will of their Church, or atleast
try to, she doesn’t bend towards the will of the Mayor and comply with his instructions and
proceeds to get her shop ready to open. Initially, the other villagers in the movie judged her and her
behaviours. However as time passed, a lot of them became her regular customers. This is an
example of conformity during public compliance. The villagers who were in majority scared that if
they don’t conform to the standards set by the Mayor, they’ll be alienated or abandoned. However,
as the number of Vianne’s customers grew, it led to a snow ball effect of sorts. More and more
villagers became regulars. This occurrence of her customer base increasing is an example of how
people in the majority group ( here the villagers who comply with the Mayor and the Church) were
just hesitant to do what they truly wanted to do. However, the minority opinions (here the views of
Vianne) led them to carry out careful examination of the situation and allowed them to do what they
truly desired. This change in the villagers minds only occurred because of informational social
influence as it is how minorities can get members of the majority to agree with them. (cite)

In another scene, we see Vianne marching up to the Mayor, and confronting him about the
rumours he had been spreading about her. The rumours talk about how she is a single mother and
how her child is illegitimate and that she’s running a chocolterie during Lent. These rumours lead to
people not going to her store. This is because of the prejudice against women who choose to have
and raise a child without ever being married as intercourse outside of marriage is wrong, especially
according to holy texts and the town this movie is set in is a very religious town. Vianne refused to
go to church. She was also seen as the out group member as she refused to be religious or be
compliant to the Mayor. This behaviour of the villagers is a classic example of stereotyping and
prejudice. Another character who was stereotyped was Luc’s grandmother. At the beginning of the
movie we learn that she is an outcaste who her own daughter looks down upon and doesn’t even let
her Grandson near the Grandma. This too is caused by stereotyping as people of the village had
been convinced that only a certain type of person (Church going and compliant) is good and should
be allowed to be with children. However, later in the movie we see that the mother eventually
realized that the grandmother was in fact a good influence.

Another important aspect of the events that occurred in the movie is attitude formation.
When the Mayor goes to a salon and tells the people there that Vianne has an illegitimate child, all
of the women at the salon react to this new negatively. They stop their children from going to the
chocolaterie. The reason for this is the attitude towards single mother and so called ‘illegitimate
children’. Attitude can often be formed by repeated praise or positive outcomes. In the village,
everyone who obeyed the commands or wishes of the Mayor was given a place in the community.
This can be an example of instrumental conditioning which is a way in which attitudes are formed.
The values one must have would be repeatedly spoken about on Sunday mass and following those
values would help the villagers be accepted. This led to the attitude formation towards single
mothers and mothers who haven’t been married and have had children like Vianne and she was
avoided by the villagers.

In the end, this movie talks about a lot of issues which occur in society such as
discrimination, prejudices, compliance, and conformity. But it also makes us understand how
ridiculous these beliefs are and how we mustn’t simply accept them. The movie also uses the
protagonist i.e. Vianne who didn’t fit into the image of a stereotypical woman but was still a good
person.
Bibliography

Barón Robert A. Social Psychology (thirteenth edition). Pearson India Education Services,
2018.