Film Analysis: Food Inc.

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.

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 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

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

In 2009 a movie by the name of Food Inc. was released that challenged the production of food we eat. The movie examines everything from the science of seeds all the way through the consumption of the food, the food’s often negative effects on the body. The movie ends with the line “You can change the world with every bite”. This quote embodies the heart behind movie that change starts with the individual, and how they make food choices. This sort of change that Food Inc. invokes implies that top down change that the consumer can bring about change to the seed level. Food Inc. challenges the processes that allow companies like Monsanto to feed the world. We must understand how media like Food Inc. effects this mission to feed the world by examining the movie, the history of Monsanto as a company, and looking at the response from both sides to these challenges made in the public square to better combat and address issues brought forth.

effectively uses rhetorical devices to paint their perceived image of the food industry. In the opening moments of the film, the audience is shown images of corn and wheat fields stretching across acres of land, along with a cattle rancher riding a horse among a grassy landscape surrounded by trees. Narrating over these images, is Eric Schlosser who states that “the way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years, than in the previous 10,000, but the image that is used to sell the food is still the imagery of agrarian America”(Kenner). The immage then transitions to a factory floor with thousands of headless, featherless, dead chickens that are being placed on a conveyer belt by workers. Schlosser then states that the food industry has become more dangerous and both “animals and workers are being abused” (Kenner). The title of the film is shown in front of a background of gloomy dark clouds being pumped out of a dark factory, juxtaposed next to the capitol building. This image is magnified by the statement, “This isn’t just about what we’re eating, this is about: what we’re allowed to say, what we’re allowed to know. It’s not just our health that’s at risk”

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.

those products were cheaper. In addition to existing in the gruesome surroundings of the farms,

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.

1.2. RACISM: IS IT THE ROOT CAUSE FOR THE BLACKS TO BE INVOLVED IN CRIME AND VIOLECE?

The phrase “ you are what you eat” has been used for centuries. The healthier your food the healthier you can be. However, as time goes on, I hope this phrase is no longer true. The documentary Food Inc. shows our food and what farm fresh really means; things are not always what they seem. The documentary is dark and gruesome in the way it displays our food and what goes into making it, but it also opens our eyes to the world of production and similarly what we see and what we should be seeing. Although it is a gut wrenching documentary, there is an educational informative truth behind it to see if food is really food anymore.

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.

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.