I chose the film Food Inc. for this assignment. My decision to use the film for the assignment was based on the fact that I had watched it before and was highly influenced by it. Additionally, I found it very relevant for the assignment. The film is among the most perspective-altering documentaries ever produced. It exposes how agricultural production has been revolutionized from small family farms to big agribusinesses with dire consequences to consumers. I learned many valuable lessons from the film. The most important and shocking lesson I learned from the film is that food is a political issue in our country. Policy makers and those who are meant to protect us do not protect us. Instead, they work in collusion with the owners of the agribusinesses. I have also learned that all is not lost. We can correct our mistake my boycotting unhealthy products and promoting those produced naturally. …show more content…
I have relied on quality assurance labels on products as a means of approving their safety before purchasing for many years. However, after watching the film, I have come to realize that those standards are not genuine. The stringency that once characterized regulations and inspections has been eroded and agricultural products that are below acceptable quality reach shelves. As such, I have made it my responsibility to buy products from small scale farmers but not those of big brands. I have decided to boycott products of companies involved in poor agricultural practices since only diminishing demand for their products can change the situation. I was influenced greatly by the power the film gives to consumers like me in the end. It shows us that despite the conspiracies surrounding agribusiness in the country, we can still make a difference by boycotting products disguised as low cost products in the market because they are unhealthy for human
In the prestigious documentary film, Food Inc., produced by Robert Kenner and founded upon an Eric Schlosser’s book, Fast Food Nation, Mr. Kenner has an intriguing impact on the American consumers of many food products and industries. Throughout the film, viewers and everyday consumers of these various products, visualize what takes place behind the scenes in food factories, contrary to what they may see through forms of advertisement. The documentary generates an image of an “Agrarian America” in a naturalistic way to convey the message of what food production truly consists of. The film uses ethos, pathos, and logos as rhetorical devices to enhance the horrendousness of food production to its audience in multiple ways. Food Inc. provides not only a visual effect on the audience's emotion to portray its message, but uses a variety of commentary scenes from several experts and members within the food industry.
For example, the film presents the counterproductive result of feeding cows with contained brains of infected cows that spread a deadly disease through the cattle known as ‘the mad cow disease’. This type of intensive farming is characterized by its use of antibiotics and pesticides that cost higher prices for farmers. Some farmers turn into the industrial farming not always by choice but for companies that own or influence those intense farming practices. There is two agribusiness that has a monopoly the market by selling agricultural technologies to farmers such as pesticides, GMO, and fertilizers that often influence the public policy and farming practices. This system is unsustainable and produces cheap food products which cost is not included in the market but people end up paying for due to the externalities on health, social and environmental problems. As the documentary highly at the start, Americans hate the most the inconvenience of things and therefore some people take for granted their food and prefer to consumed processed products that are toxic, other people who live in food deserts do not have much choice to consumed these toxic products but is the system that limits their accessibility to affordable fresh
The first introduction in the film is multiple images of farms, and agriculture of all kinds. Then the author quickly states that farms do not look like they use to. The message, and start of this film is to inform the viewer about the changes in agriculture, and present ideas about where our food actually comes from. The purpose of the film is to introduce to consumers the risk of eating foods that are owned by large corporations. This film addresses issues with large corporations owning all food sources, treatment of animals, and food-borne illnesses.
Food Inc, produced by Robert Kenner is a documentary designed to expose big industry for corrupting our food system in order to sway the audience into supporting organics and small business. Throughout the film Keener effectively convinces his audience that large companies have indeed corrupted our food system by showing the viewer their role in the obesity epidemic along with exposing their mistreatment of animals and workers through the use of logos, pathos, and ethos rhetoric.
I learned that the food production has changed over the past years. Some of the food that we consume contain GMO's ( Genetically Modified Organisms) which are living organisms that make our food bigger. Which isn't good for our health, it is extremely dangerous. For example, in the movie they introduced a little boy who was so young that he passed away from food poisoning. It all started with him eating a hamburger, and that hamburger contained some chemicals that made the little boy sick. The food industry doesn't want us to know the truth about what we are consuming because if we did, we probably wouldn't consume it. A food scientist in the movie said he would guess that 90% of the processed food products in the grocery store contain either
First, the title certainly attracts readers. Attention Whole Foods Shoppers may not have much to do with the rest of the essay, but it catches the attention of readers and makes them interested in reading the essay. The body of the essay is organized well, and the use of headings breaks up the text, making the information easier to read and comprehend. The information is organized into chronological order and marked by the headings. The section “Original Sins” chronicles the Green Revolution between the 1940’s and 1970’s, which included many advances in worldwide agricultural production, such as the development of high-producing wheat and rice seeds (Lunsford et al. 612-614). “Organic Myths” focuses on current issues regarding organic farming, and includes a lot of information on the negative environmental effects of organic farming, such as mass deforestation and the issues with organic farms relying on organic fertilizer (Lunsford et al. 614-616). “Seeding the Future” lays out the future consequences for the world hunger epidemic if industrial level farming is not funded and supported in developing nations (Lunsford et al.
In the documentary, Food Inc., we get an inside look at the secrets and horrors of the food industry. The director, Robert Kenner, argues that most Americans have no idea where their food comes from or what happens to it before they put it in their bodies. To him, this is a major issue and a great danger to society as a whole. One of the conclusions of this documentary is that we should not blindly trust the food companies, and we should ultimately be more concerned with what we are eating and feeding to our children. Through his investigations, he hopes to lift the veil from the hidden world of food.
The complications of the U.S. food industry, the unethical approaches of the industry, and the indifference shown on the part of the industry’s leadership to address the unethical issues – all have constituted the basic subject matter of the documentary film. It must be noted that, on one hand the documentary is a critical commentary on the U.S. food industry and the American food culture, and on the other hand, it is a didactic movie in which the filmmaker has tried to make the American populace understand that, that people has the ability to change the system through ushering a change in their choice of foods and in the sphere of their food
The film Food Inc., like many other films of its category is not so much of an informative documentary, rather more of a slanderous exposé which blows the lid off of the food industry and its operations. To say that the film is neutral and tends towards more of an educative approach would be a misinterpretation to say the least. Throughout the entire movie it is always evident that the movie aims not solely to educate its audience about the truth of their food, but to convert the misinformed and inspire a rebellion against food industry practices. The movie does this through a tactful approach of bombarding its audience with gruesome clips, facts and testimonial story lines. The film asserts it claim through a thrilling critique of the horrific meat production process which is most prevalent in the U.S food industry and its impact on humans and the environment, while extoling alternative practices which seem to be more sustainable and humane, yet are underutilized. The film goes on to highlight the different players in the food politics arena, emphasizing the role that government agencies play. Also the film divulges the reality that is the monopolization of the food industry by big multinational corporations such as Monsanto Company, Tyson Food, Perdue Farms, Smithfield Foods, etc.
I am so ashamed that I had not known most of the information that was shared in Food, Inc. I definitely agree that we need to have a policy change regarding our food, it should be cheaper to buy carrots than chips at the grocery store. I, like many college students, want to eat healthy but it is expensive and most of us are on a “ramen budget”. There also needs to be tighter laws regarding the illnesses that can come from improper handling of the meat and crops. I believe that there needs to be a huge change in the agricultural world, the farmers should not have to be scared of losing money or being sued because of big companies, such as Monsanto. The huge companies are going to be making money no matter what without much work. Whereas a farmer puts in work day in and day out and sadly they do not make much money. I also believe that the film had an extremely negative outlook on how modern farming practices in agriculture are. I believe that Food, Inc. focused on the negative outlook of modern farming but did not mention about the different practices or how they have also positively impacted our
Although this movie has both persuasive pros as well as large flaws, I feel that the overall idea that there was/is a desperate need for reform in all aspects of the food industry was successfully conveyed, and, at least in my opinion, is also an easy thesis to agree
1.2. RACISM: IS IT THE ROOT CAUSE FOR THE BLACKS TO BE INVOLVED IN CRIME AND VIOLECE?
Food is an essential part of our lives. We consume it every day and absolutely need it to live and thrive successfully. With something so significant to us, why should we risk the source of where our food comes from? Robert Kenner created a powerhouse documentary film called Food Inc. that gives an accurate description of the horrible realities of corporate farming by providing evidence of the harm affecting both humans and animals. Robert Kenner is a film director and producer. Kenner claims that today; food can be potentially harmful to the health of any consumer and the process of creating certain foods is detrimental to the lives of the animals and humans involved in the procedure. Kenner
Watching the documentary Food Inc, there were a few points that stood out most to me. I think one of the most important concerns that were brought up is the consumers not knowing the truth behind the food. Whether there is actual harm in our food or not, we still need to know what is going into our food. The harm that may actually be inside our food can be caused by how easy it is to produce crap food now days. Making mass produced food is a lot easier than it has been in the past because genetics have changed animals into growing faster and fatter. This causes harm to the environment by creating factories for these foods to be made, which causes pollution by emitting many CO2 gasses. However this isn’t a concern for the producer. The producer is mainly focused on money they receive even if it causes harm to the environment or the consumers. The use of pesticides and other substances are used in foods, whether it’s in the production of corn growing or in the food in general to help keep germs out. This also causes harm to the consumer and environment that we should be aware of.
The movie that I chose to watch is Food Inc. The reason I chose this movie is because I think not a lot of people do not know what’s in the food that they are eating. The film is an American documentary which examines the manufacturing production of meat, vegetables and grains. I think the main idea behind the documentary is do you know about the food that you are consuming? The food that we eat has a lot more history to it than we know. The way we eat has changed drastically in the last fifty years than in the previous 10,000 years. The embedded energy required for plant based foods is very low compared to meat based foods. Meat based foods requires a lot of machinery which in turn requires electricity. The workers are also being ill-treated by the owners because they work long hours for a very small salary. The farmers have no choice but to work for these large meat companies because they are bounded by debt to the companies. The film shows how fast food places are hiring workers to do one task over and over again for the minimum wage; the result was the fast food wonder that flounced the United States.