Draft 1: Essay 2
Modern Americans have no idea what they are consuming on a daily basis. The food industry in America is no longer focused on producing healthy, nutritional foods. The focus has been shifted to producing the highest magnitude of a product at the smallest price. The issue is now quantity instead of quality. In The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, there is a similar attitude towards the production of food. “Every Spring they did it; and in these barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water- and cart load after cart load of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public’s breakfast.” (Sinclair, 1906) The issue of America’s food industry is brought to the people’s attention through the full length documentary, Food Inc. The trailer for this film gives an inside look at what the movie uncovers about the unhealthy practices that go on during food production. This video shows that the problems with food productions did not end in the early 1900’s as many people believe they did.

There are three main background locations for this clip. They are factories, grocery stores, and farms. These locations are key to this video because the main point is that grocery stores are no longer suppliers of farm-grown goods. The grocery stores are selling goods that have been produced in factories.

In this video the most effective props are the animals that are processed into meat by the factories. They are successful as support for the argument being made because they give an idea of innocence. People feel more sympathy towards living animals than towards the meat they eat. The idea of these animals being butchered at the farm in which they were raised is a more tolerable form of killing, opposed to an assembly line of cows being killed at a rate of nearly 300 cows per hour.

There are distinct emotions of the faces of the people in this video. The main three are of the nutritionists, the factory owners, and the farmers. The faces of the nutritionists are sympathetic and worried. They seem extremely concerned about the health of America. This is effective because they are baring the bad news, and need to be sensitive to the people that this message is affecting. The factory owners aren’t really shown for a long period of time. This is also effective because it shows that they don’t have the time to speak on the issue. This makes the audience think that they are only interested in making money and not in the welfare of the citizens they are feeding. The farmers’ faces are caring and friendly. This gives the idea that they are working for the people of America and that they care. They are happy, with soft expressions. The audience can relate to them and feels a recognizable familiarity towards the farmers.

The main appeal for this video is that American food production has become more about money and the amount of food than about the quality. The aim of the clip is to show the audience that the farmers are on their side, and that they care about their wellbeing. The message is also that Americans are the ones that get to choose what they buy and that they are the ones that can make a change in the food productions process.

The music in this clip controls which side the audience is supposed to take. It does this in the undertones it takes during certain points of the video. During the scenes with the farming perspective is small town, and western sounding. During these parts of the clip the music is familiar and gives a relatable sound to the farms. In the scenes with the factories the music is high paced, and menacing. It shows the audience that the factories are the “bad guys” without coming right out and stating it. In the grocery stores the background music is quiet and mysterious. It gives the idea that the shoppers don’t know something. This alludes to the fact that they really don’t know what they are purchasing.

Once again, there are three main groups that the clothing in the short film represents. First, are the factory owners. These men are dressed in suits and are carrying briefcases. This shows that they are all business and no sympathy. They are not relatable and seem cold. Next are the famers, who are dressed in the traditional blue jeans and button-up shirts. They are dressed in a way that depicts them as farmers which once again is reassuring that the audience has seen them before. Lastly are the supermarket shoppers. These people are dressed like everyday people. This is done this way to show that the shoppers in the grocery stores are everyday people. The customers in the stores could be the audience the video is trying to reach.