Food Inc Documentary Analysis

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.

• Those who work for a Smithfield hog processing plant say the company has the same mentality towards workers as they do the hogs

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.

American agriculture can produce more food on less land and at cheaper cost than any other nation. Did anyone ever wonder why or how? The documentary Food Inc., produced by Robert Kenner, is designed to put the spotlight on the unsafe preparation of food products, the inhuman treatment of animals being used, and the unethical treatment of workers in corporate farming. Robert Kenner uses multiple rhetorical analysis to get his aspect across to his viewers. Throughout the movie, there are several claims to appeal of ethos, pathos, and logos in order to uncover the true secrets of the American food during its journey to the table.

The organic food industry has seen a huge spike in growth that is expected to continue into the future due to an increase in consumption. This will provide Whole Foods Market with huge opportunities. In addition, a wave of ethical and responsible consumption has swept across America. Whole Foods’ decision to pursue sustainable activities will certainly give consumers an added incentive to purchase its organic products.

They say if you don’t like heights but enjoy the thrill, don’t look down. This is the same mentality that director Robert Kenner tries to prevent in his film Food Inc., where he sheds light on the corporations that control the way our food is being grown, processed and sold to the American people. With the help of Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, and Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore 's Dilemma, Robert takes a shot at all corners of the food industry from meat packaging, to corn reprocessing, even Monsanto’s seed copyrights. While Kenner’s goals for change certainly lead to a better America, they tend to lean on the side of unrealistic.

However, some believe, that a shift in the way we produce food may have some unintended consequences. They contend that poverty in nations such as Africa and Asia, is caused by the low productivity of the unindustrialized farm labor. The U.S. Agriculture Department projects, without reform, there will be over a thirty percent increase in the numbers of the ‘food insecure’ people in those nations over the next decade (Paarlberg 179).

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.

As the world expands through time and business, the natural process of developing food is forced to adapt to the growing demands of civilization. Henceforth, the modern-day food industry is capable of producing a plethora amount of nutrients that sustains mass populations. However, is the modern tradition and technique of mass food production hiding a burdened truth behind the curtains of society’s unawareness? Is such truth more sinister than productive? Filmmaker Robert Kenner directed a documentary in 2008 where the methods of processing meats and harvesting crops were analyzed with their effects. As a result, Kenner’s documentary, Food Inc., has revealed that the ways foods are processed have consequently made them perilous for society. Through the use of

Food, Inc. is a documentary film made by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser. In this documentary they took a look at the practices of food production in the United States. There are several things that I learned from this documentary that was horrifying to me. For this paper I will focus on the following three topics covered in the documentary: fast food to all food, the dollar menu, and hidden costs.

Body mass index, or BMI, is used by doctors and health physicians to measure excessively high levels of body fat in relation to lean body mass in an individual. Having a BMI ratio that is considered above average or too high normally denotes persons at risk to several health adversities such as heart attacks, liver damage, diabetes, and even more widespread, obesity. In 2005, the United States Department of Health and Human Services estimated that over half of the adult American population was either overweight or obese, and many of these health concerns were correlated with a person’s diet and type of food consumption. In an attempt to assign blame for the cause, political and social commentators’ claim that long standing farm subsidies on particular food commodities correlate with rising obesity trends in America. In a documentary titled Food, Inc., opened to audience in 2008, award winning filmmaker Robert Kenner argues that current agricultural policies on these subsidized food commodities are allowing major food corporations to mass produce products that negatively affect the health of consumers nationwide. He contends that commodity crops such as corn, wheat, and soybeans are heavily subsidized by the government to produce snack foods that are high in calorie content but low in cost, becoming the prime choice for Americans looking for cheap and readily available foods to eat. Kenner believes that government subsidies need to either be

Food, Inc., a documentary film produced by Robert Kenner, is designed to inform the American people of the food industry’s darker side. The film shows the food industry in a more realistic light than the advertised and perceived image of a Farming America. Food, Inc. not only uses images, such as hundreds of baby chickens being raised in spaces no larger than a cabinet drawer, but also includes the stories and testimonies of farmers, businessmen, government officials, and victims of the food industry. As the film is being played, the audience sees the immorality of the food industry, feels disgust towards the unethical greed for wealth over the health of the customers, as well as feeling the helpless of the oppressed farmers, workers, and

Everyone has the right to know what's in the food that they are eating. It's upsetting how these massive corporations dominate American citizens. If everyone knew how much brutality was required to meet the demands of the fast food industry, I like to think the public would simply not tolerate it and demand that animals stop being designated property in law. I find it impossible to believe that if people knew the reality that they would not want animals to have recourse to legal protections from enduring lifetimes of nothing but abuse.

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.

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.