Forks Over Knives Essay

Forks Over Knives

In a 2011 film directed by Lee Fulkerson, Forks Over Knives, demonstrated how Americans should switch to eating plant-based diets. Researchers say that by eliminating meat and dairy in our menus, several diseases could be decreased or eradicated. Although the purpose of the film was to persuade that a plant-based diet is best, it was only effective to a certain point. It sounded credible with personal stories and statistics but it didn't have enough information from the opposing side.

Ethical appeals were used throughout the film to help show their credibility. T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D and Caldwell Esselstyn, M.D were the main researchers who had similar backgrounds in dairy and/or beef cattle farms. Through research and

traveling, they shifted to advocating for an all plant-based diet. They portrayed an either/or logical fallacy about the topic; People either eat a plant-based diet and be healthy or not eat the diet and be unhealthy. With only one researcher from the opposing side of the diet, it doesn't give sufficient information in order to make the best decision for a person’s diet. The opposition claimed that when you get rid of animals you get rid of proteins and amino acids; this was never challenged by the plant-based diet advocates.
Additionally, Ethical appeals were used to show their reliability. The old commercials showed how things started to become artificial and more convenient. The ads, only showing meat as fried, processed, quick-serve meals and not any healthy alternatives, made it seem like the facts for a non-plant-based diet were outdated and less persuasive. The film should have shown examples of a healthy fulfilling meal and what the diet consist of to show how easy it is to switch over and maintain the diet.
Emotional appeals in the film highlight the personal stories that a plant-based diet has claimed to have helped.

San’Dera Nation with diabetes, Evelyn Oswick who had a heart attack and Rip Esselstyn with high cholesterol, all insisted to have had their health improve after eating the diet. The structure of the film was valuable because they showed the people gradually becoming more and more healthy as they ate the plant-based diet. In addition, people who moved from Japan to Hawaii firsthand tended to be a more healthy generation than the next. The children who were more likely to be overweight and sick were shown at Burger King and McDonalds, not eating any healthy meat from butcher shops. Likewise, before Anthony Yen came to the United States, he ate a small piece of meat with a large quantity of vegetables as a meal. When he moved to the United States, he became unhealthy and relied on quick-serve meals. This story could have been an introduction to an opposing argument on proportioning foods but they never went further than saying his health deteriorated.

Even further, emotional appeals use language to persuade the audience. In the film, they are very careful with their word choices. For example, they never say the word “vegan” but rather call it a plant-based diet. Also, when Dr. Esselstyn had doubts about his medicine he called his patients “victims”. He said, "Some people think the ‘plant based whole food diet’ is extreme. Half a million a year will have their chests

opened up and a vein taken from their leg and sewn onto a coronary artery. Some people would call that extreme” (Dr. Esselstyn).
In the film, a rational appeal is shown through analogies and representations. The title, Forks Over Knives, portrays the diet as food over medicine. As Dr. Esselstyn said, many people would simply choose changing their diets rather than taking pills and having surgery. Also, several diagrams were used to help show how things worked in our bodies when meat and dairy are eliminated from our diet. In particular, a stomach receptor diagram illustrated that when it is filled with processed food, it tells our brain that we are full, even when we are not.
Furthermore, rational appeals are displayed through statistics and case studies.

In an experiment, when they injected either 5% or 20% Casin into rats, they found that with more Casin injected, they had higher rates of cancer than the other rats. When they went back and altered their intake, the researcher explained how “we could turn on and off cancer growth”. This gives important imagery to people who are still doubting the effects of the diet. On the other hand, when graphing the mortality of circulatory disease in Norway from 1927-1948, only citizens who ate the plant-based diet were mentioned, not the soldiers who ate the meat during that time. It would have been interesting to see the comparison between the two

diets.
Additionally, rational appeals are exhibited through logical reasoning. The case showing the USDA having relations with processed food companies, displays bias in the people who make the policies for schools and suggested diets in media. In addition, the film reveals that the problem of fossil fuels can be linked to our food choices. Recently, fossil fuels have become more of a problem in our environment, meaning that our meat consumption adds to the problem.
Forks Over Knives displayed ethos, pathos and logos throughout the film. For an ethical appeal, Campbell and Esselstyn showed their credibility through their profession and the old commercials showed the films lack of reliability. Personal stories and it’s compelling use of language were biased and applied to the appeal of emotion. Lastly, to show the analytical view of the film, statistics and logical reasoning were well illustrated but still one-sided. Overall, the film was only effective to a certain point because it needed more information from the opposing side about the non-plant-based diet.