Food, Inc. accomplishes exposing an, almost, forced monopolization of food providers through strong artistic imagery, revealing the health risks of eating processed foods, and through testimonies of the victims directly affected by this. There is a stroke of brilliance from Robert Kenner, the creator of the revelatory documentary, Food, Inc.. Kenner is no “newbie” to the film world with 9 previous works he has written and directed, most of which are documentaries created to raise awareness to specific, world changing issues. This feature familiarizes the watchers with the risks of eating processed foods while exposing the proposed, monopolized food industry. It is clear when watching that the writers of Food, Inc. intended this film to be viewed by anyone that eats food, as you probably have already guessed, this includes every living person. The producer’s strategy utilizes strong biased opinions from people who have been directly affected by the direction major food corporations have taken their operations to prove the point of this film. Artistically, this film takes advantage of the viewer’s emotions using strong color palettes and music to shape the audience with feelings that are specific to what the producers present.…
To begin with, the film argues against the corporate interests and works to make its audience view the companies as exploitative of being the ones who are exploiting the farmers and taking them away from their traditions. For example, at one point, one of the farmers who was interviewed said, “theyThey not only changed the chicken, they changed the farmer...today chicken farmers no longer control their birds. A company like Tyson owns the birds from the day they are dropped off to the day they are slaughtered.” This statement makes companies like Tyson look like they are completely responsible for the way that farmers now farm and for the lack of control that a farmer has over the way that he choseschooses to raise his chickens. This logical fallacy doesn’t state how such companies control the chickens and how they have “changed the…
In today’s world we witness horrible epidemics and tragedies on a seemingly daily basis. There are groups of people out there, groups that Jayson Lusk refers to as the “food police” in his book so aptly titled, “The Food Police,” who choose to focus their energies on creating pseudo-controversies by using false or flawed research and drawing conclusions based on emotion rather than on logic. The food police have managed to influence the thinking of our media, schools, and even our government. By constantly spewing propaganda supporting their questionable claims, the food elite have made it clear that they seek a sort of totalitarianism when it comes to the food that you and I are buying and consuming.…
The video footage of slaughterhouses and processing plants made me nauseous to know I ingest food from industries such as those in the film. Aside from seeing firsthand how food is handled, I was also disappointed to realize how unhealthy all types of cheese is for you. Although I did already know cheese isn’t very healthy for your body, I did not fully grasp how much saturated fat and cholesterol is in it until after watching. Cheese is one of my favorite go-to indulgent foods, so I was upset to understand I should probably cut back on my intake. I was also set back by the description of chicken’s affect on the body as well as how it is a “cause of cancer.…
In the documentary, Food Inc., we are given access into the world of industrialized American food production. Because of our modern agricultural farming practices and policies, the quality of food being massed produced in our country has taken a toll on consumer’s health particularly those in lower income brackets. The idea the McDonald brothers put forth on the delivery of fast food by standardizing large volumes of food production is now proving disastrous. I saw this documentary a few years ago when I was working on changing my dietary lifestyle to improve my health. The most compelling things I learned then had to do with the realization that there are only a handful of companies controlling the majority of our food supply with limited regulations and being exempt from serious consequences.…
I had actually already seen this movie. It was a great companion to Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food: The Dark Side of the American Meal. The director and Sclosser wanted to turn Fast Food into a movie, and I think Food Inc covered much of the same material. With my research into obesity and reading the book nothing in the film was surprising. The film I think served to re-ignite a passion in me that I had lost. The film also put visuals to much of the book, and the visuals are disturbing.…
“Food Inc.” focuses more on the factory and production side of food and less on it’s effects on consumers. One particularly moving story from “Fed Up” is from a young girl who is obese and struggling with school and life. She says that she is trying to make healthier decisions, but doesn’t know how to make better choices. At school the food that is…
The United States has grown so much in the food industry from the past. One of the industries which accounts for most of the market in the US is the meat packing industry. The top 5 meat industries controlled 25% of the market back in 1970, and now that number has risen to an outstanding 80% of the market (“100 Days of Real Food”). This is indeed a great accomplishment for our country; however what is the secret behind these companies success? The answer is simple; Make and sell cheap food products and end up getting enormous income! When companies use this method, the food that they are selling is not of best quality and is always unhealthy for the consumers. Michael Pollan a food expert says, “Cows are not designed by evolution to eat corn. They’re designed by evolution to eat grass. And the only reason we feed them corn is because corn is really cheap and corn makes them fat quickly … The industrial food system is always looking for greater efficiency. But each new step in efficiency leads to problems. If you take feedlot cattle off their corn diet, give them grass or five days, they will shed eighty percent of the E. coli in their gut” (Foodincmovie). There have been many cases where children have died just by eating food that has been processed by the food industries. Barbara Kowalcyk, a woman whose 2-year old son went from a perfectly healthy boy to...…
The main idea explored throughout the documentary was the animal cruelty caused by humans due to modifying the development of animals. They ways in which they present this ideas is mainly through footage of the animals suffering and the juxtaposition of the animals before they were modified and how the animals are now. The footage of the crowded cows helpless and unable to move creates a setting which portrays a negative feel and creatively making us feel sympathetic towards the animals. The shots of the chickens not being able to walk due to the genetic modifications of the animal, creates the idea of humans purposely provoking animal cruelty. They are changing the ways in which an animal develops for their own needs and generally to make more money. This is clearly shown through the juxtaposition of the “old” chicken and the “new” chicken. This Juxtaposition makes us question how it is possible to grow a chicken in half the time yet be double the size? It therefore makes the documentary more engaging as we are starting to question the farmers ourselves and therefore are dragged into believing what the documentary is trying to portray.…
This film definitely reminded me that the “bad” food is cheaper and more abundant than it has ever been and we have detached ourselves from how food ends up on our plates. I’ve always thought of food as it is marketed to us, coming from a little farm with a white fence and rolling hills, but this film taught me that all this is simply an illusion. The food actually comes from mega factory farms, I learned. Our society has cheaper food but there have been more E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks in the past twenty years than ever before and obesity and the rate of diabetes are through the roof. One of the things that truly touched me was the story of the child who died from eating a burger. It was very sad to see a healthy little boy die from mistakes in the food industry. It definitely makes you wonder just how many times has this happened before without the public knowing. This was definitely the one issue that stood out for me among other obvious topics.…
The last section of this film talks about the seed corporation. During this section they discussed how farmers were getting the short end of the stick with trying to battle with Monsanto, which is the largest seed producing company in America. It is bad that farmers only have one place to go for seed for crops and after Monsanto buys all the other seed companies…
Robert Kenner’s documentary, Food Inc., gives insight into operations in the food industry. The documentary depicts the people’s desire for money, with resultant implications characterized by mass production through varying approaches. Indeed, Kenner seeks to sensitize the society on the manner in which animals are exposed to inhumane conditions, severe health conditions that result from mass production in the food industry, and unmoral circumstances under which farmers operate. Whereas various flaws are depicted in the movie, it remains important in relation to societal operations and development. This positional essay provides a critique of Robert…
This documentary is more or less broken down in a ¬¬form of chapters, using supportive authors of several books on food industry, interviewing knowledgeable individuals, safety advocates, and farmers to advocate the reality of food industry. The documentary first illustrations a supermarket filled with different food items. As the camera focuses on the fruits and vegetable the speaker states “The tomatoes you buy in the grocery store are picked when green and then ripened with ethylene gas.” The process of food production has changed in the eyes of many, over the years. Many of us don’t know where the food comes from. Since 1950’s the fast food industry have had transformed the current method of raw food production. The goal is, “production of large quantities of food at low direct inputs (most often subsidized) resulting in enormous profits, which in turn results in greater control of the global supply of food sources within these few companies.” Only top four companies are handling the meat industry, which are implacable to the animals, workers and environment. The consumption of meat by an average American has raised tremendously so has the demand of fast foods. The methods of production have whole new level. First, thirty percent of American land is based on corn. The government policy pays farmers more to overproduce this easy-to-store crop. The corn is then modified in different chemical forms, which is used ninety percent in most of our industrial foods. The farm animals are feed corn to increase their weight for high dense meat. The cows, chicken, pigs and more over…
Most off our food is handled and processed by somebody else. The truth is Americans don’t have the time to farm and nor do the dirty bits. In America, whoever does the best in the fourth quarter controls how things will run, with the ever growing hunger for wealth there is no limit to what can be achieved. An American Filmmaker, Robert Kenner, released a documentary Food Inc, a perfect example of greed and disregard for what can be considered ethical in the food industry. Kenner was inspired to make this film after reading Fast Food Nation to show how portray the whole supermarket has become industrialized almost resembling the fast-food industries. The documentary Food Inc. is about slaughter houses, food manufacturing, and other food related subsets. The film relies heavily on visuals and also the commentary used statistics and facts creating attitude.…
As I watched the movie entitled “Food inc.”, it made me realized that what the producers of the food are trying to forecast within their commercials aren't true. I thought that the foods that we eat really came from the harvested foods in the farm either from the poultry and piggery within the farm but obviously, it is a big NO! Food with cheaper cost tends to be the dangerous food. Since, they are trying to minimize their cost by minimizing the cost of the foods that their animals are eating. E. coli have been the trending disease in America before and in some part of the world. It is because of using a lot of technologies as the manufacturers manufactures their products. One of which is the corn, they had found out that the corn has been positive for E. Coli and yet, it is the food that the animals within their factory farms are eating. Another thing, I was being disgusted when they showed that even though the animal to be manufactured is a positive E. coli they will still use it.…