Unveiling the Dark Side of Corporate Farming

Food Inc. was a documentary produced by Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein that was about the dark sides of corporate farming and revealed how most of our food is produced. The film uses pathos, ethos, and logos to strongly get the points across throughout the film. The main point was that there is something wrong with our food and agricultural systems. The main speaker was Michael Pollan, an American author and journalism professor at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. He attended Columbia University, Bennington College, and University of Oxford. Eric Schlosser also played a key role in the documentary. Schlosser is an investigative detective and American journalist who attended Princeton University, University of Oxford, and

Food Inc. mentions, “In the 1970s, the top five beef-packers controlled only about 25% of the market. Today, the top four control more than 80% of the market.” The main point during this section is trying to get across is that big corporations care mostly about making money and that to them, quantity above quality. From a political standpoint, many people like presidents of these major companies also work for the FDA and the USDA, allowing them to have a say on regulations. The audience for the documentary is the average American consumer. Since the food and agriculture systems affect all Americans, the producers tried to connect with everyone. By interviewing a low income family, a small farm, as well as larger farms, this documentary connected easily with people. By having such a large audience, they were able to spread awareness faster and easier and make change in the food

The producers only showed the downsides of industrialized farming such as the way the farmers were at a disadvantage when signing a contract with big companies such as Tyson. What they failed to show was that industrialized farming produces food faster at a lower price making it easier to feed our growing population. The speakers often spoke with anger or sadness when referring to how are food is produced. The producers used images such as smoke-filled skies with factories in the background and businessmen in suits walking towards it. When they went to smaller farms, they showed sunrises and played peaceful, happy