Food Inc Imagery

Today’s modern society focuses on the need for bigger, better, and faster things. For filmmaker Robert Kenner there is no place this trait of greedy progress is more obvious than the modern food system. Robert Kenner’s film, food Inc., uncovers the unwanted truth behind the effects of the industrial food system, ranging from the abuse of the animals and workers to the destruction of the environment and public health. Kenner uses striking imagery and distinct comparisons to create and defend his claim that the industrialization of the farming process has negatively affected the animals, the workers, and the general public.

Imagery is used to appeal to the 5 senses, in this case, Kenner uses it to appeal to the audience's emotions. Imagery

is immediately introduced to the audience in the opening scene of the movie and continues throughout. For example, when looking at the picture perfect farm the music is slightly cheerful and upbeat. With the sudden change to graphic images of the disgusting reality of a farm, Keeners choice in music becomes more harsh, using minor chords to put the audience on edge. This causes the audience to connect the uncomfortable on edge feeling, caused by the choice of music, with the negative images of farms. When the music changes the scene changes to disturbing images of the disgusting living conditions of the animals. The use of these images affects how the audience views the companies that produce meat. Overall these examples of imagery evoke pathos in the audience and help strengthen Kenners overall argument by making the audience feel sympathetic to the animals, and hateful towards the industrial companies that are mass producing meat.
To truly show the depth of the issues faced in the food industries Kenner does not only show the images of the harsh environments but also compares and contrasts these images with positive examples of organic free range farms.

Featured in this film for exactly this reason is Joel Salatin, the owner of an organic farm,. His family’s farm, Polyface Farm, is a dreamlike place, full of idyllic green fields and healthy normal animals. The use of these images strengthens Kenner’s claim because there is a significant difference between the images of bright colors, greenery, and cleanliness and the prior images of death, metal, and darkness. There is also a difference in the background music played. The softer and happier music played behind the footage of Salatin’s farm contrasts with the unsettling music played behind the footage of the mass producing slaughterhouses. The sights of happy workers and animals, with the sounds of open farmland and upbeat cheerful music amplify the anger and shock felt by the audience when these clips follow very closely to the alarming footage of slaughterhouses and disgusting images of animals being mistreated. This juxtaposition creates logos for the argument as it presents evidence that the violent slaughterhouses are not the only option. That there is a way to avoid the abuse of animals, workers, and the public health, that the mass producing industrial farms cause. It is these images that cause viewers to question the necessity of the current system when there is obviously another, better way to do

it.
The documentary film Food Inc. employs the rhetorical strategies of imagery and compare and contrast to support and prove that the modern mass producing industrial farming system is terrible in the treatment of animals, workers, and the general public. After viewing this film the audience is left with little trust in the supermarket foods they are used to. But Kenner ends the film with a small piece of hope for the audience, reminding them that they have the ability to shape tomorrow through the purchases they make today.