Food, Inc.
My philosophy teacher just had us watch it. All the poor little chickens that can't stand up because they weigh too much, and they live in the dark. A cow with a hole connected to the first chamber in its stomach which apparently "doesn't hurt". Assembly lines of thousands of dead carcasses. A two year old boy who died from a mutant e coli strand. Oh and the grain industry making patented mutant gmo soy beans and suing anyone not buying that bean. Smithfield has an agreement saying immigration can arrest a certain number of illegal immigrants a day. The USDA can't close repeat food born illness establishments. Etc, etc, etc...
Be warned it is an extremely graphic and disturbing film. I wish my teacher warned us though just so I could have mentally prepared myself for it.
The sad thing is, they didn't even show the worst stuff... going for 'mainstream watchability', that was actually the kinder gentler version (!) of the realities involved... :(
I agree it's a darkly thought provoking documentary, especially for folks who had never thought about food as an ethics issue before. I often recommend Food, Inc as a sort of 'starting point', when folks are curious about what I eat (or don't) and why, and are still curious after the standard broad-stroke short answers I keep on hand... knowledge is power! and I think this film does a pretty good job of painting the big picture, without being so graphic as to make most viewers turn it off before it's over.
This also sorta follows l2a post on Monsanto. I do agree that it gets the point across without being too grotesque. Everyone stared at me like I was a freak when I started crying when they were sticking chickens in these funnel things to crack their necks :'(.
I've never watched any of those movies. I'm way too sensitive. I'd be upset if an instructor sprung such a movie on me.
We watched it in my mass media class last semester and I was glad we did. I like the fact that they're showing it in schools and such, I was insane surprised of the amount of people in there who had no idea of anything in the film.
dude, food inc is the PG version of the issues going on... i didn't find it very disturbing i guess cause i've seen much worse... i think this is an awesome movie to get people's minds moving... i wish everyone had to watch such a "light" version on the subject, hell Pollan still eats meat... well "fancy" meat not from factory farms supposedly
sorry it upset you =/
Then maybe I could have watched it. I've saw a clip (from another film) about pigs not dying, so they were scalded alive. I would have preferred not to see it.
I remember AML suggested Earthlings and I watched it. That movie will give you nightmares.
I refuse to watch Earthlings, but Food, Inc. wasn't bad at all and I'm medium on the sensitivity continuum.
I remember AML suggested Earthlings and I watched it. That movie will give you nightmares.
yep, if you can sit through Earthlings, you can stomach just about anything after that for reals... i doubt an omni could sit through that and still stuff animals in their faces!
food inc mine as well be an animated cartoon in comparison :)
I remember seeing an interview with Michael Pollan & director Robert Kenner, around the time of Food Inc's release, and the interviewer said basically 'Some of these scenes are quite emotionally disturbing...' and they said, essentially, 'Yeah, well, you should have seen what got edited out!' They talked about walking a fine line between showing the reality of the situation, without grossing people out so much as to lose their audience... isn't that sick, and sad? that the reality of what most people eat is so disgusting that they can't bear to look at it... and then think the problem goes away if only they don't see it. :-\
I know I'm preaching to the choir, here, but that really does boggle my noodle.
i'm noodle boggled as well :P
you did summarize it nicely though as usual
That's crazy, HCM!! Isn't there a quote that says something about 'if factories had walls, everyone would be vegetarian'? So true.
Amy - I'm not sure how I made it thru that Earthlings movie.
EggAllergy - Have you seen any other animal/meat factory movies besides Food, Inc?
-Josh
"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian."
– Sir Paul McCartney
I saw it a while ago, but I think Food, Inc is pretty "tame" versus other documentaries with factory farming in them. The most disturbing are probably Meet Your Meat and, as others have said, Earthlings.
I see what you mean about wanting to be warned, particularly if you're the sort of person who is easily haunted by what you see...but on the other hand if they did warn people a lot of people would skip that class because they simply don't want to know. And some people need to be shocked out of their complacency, and not just about the food on their plate. It amazes me how some people drift through life completely unaware that there are people on this earth who don't have all the comforts they themselves enjoy--and never have had, and never will.
Way too much emotionalism on this thread. People have a right to torture animals if they so choose. And we have a right to be vegans and ostracize them.
For those unfamiliar, responding to AL's posts has been referred to as 'feeding the trolls'... it just gives him stuff to do, like posting videos 'just for fun' of people being ugly to kittens... He's going for a reaction. Resist; it's a poor use of the thread (whatever thread it might be). FYI.
yep, if you can sit through Earthlings, you can stomach just about anything after that for reals... i doubt an omni could sit through that and still stuff animals in their faces!
food inc mine as well be an animated cartoon in comparison :)
LOL- well put! Farm to Fridge was pretty damn awful too- 12 minutes of heart pounding visual agony.
yep, if you can sit through Earthlings, you can stomach just about anything after that for reals... i doubt an omni could sit through that and still stuff animals in their faces!
food inc mine as well be an animated cartoon in comparison :)
LOL- well put! Farm to Fridge was pretty damn awful too- 12 minutes of heart pounding visual agony.
Farm to Fridge: one minute twelve seconds. Had to stop after that... nope, couldn't do it. Earthings = completely out of the question!
For those unfamiliar, responding to AL's posts has been referred to as 'feeding the trolls'... it just gives him stuff to do, like posting videos 'just for fun' of people being ugly to kittens... He's going for a reaction. Resist; it's a poor use of the thread (whatever thread it might be). FYI.
Yes. Whatever you do - don't think. There's only one side to every issue, and the point of having discussions on Internet forums is to explore only that one side. Keep your minds tightly closed at all times. Or the heretics terrorists trolls win! :-X
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