Nervous about seeing a film
Steven and I received an invitation (okay, from Chipotle) to attend a free screening of the film Food, Inc. tonight. The only reason I know what this film even is (despite having read many books by its contributors) is because I’ve been reading about it on many food blogs (here, here and here). From what I’ve read, I get the impression that this movie is going to make me feel sick to my stomach. And possibly very upset. And disappointed.
Here is the description of the film that I took from their website:
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms’ Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.
It feels silly to feel nervous about seeing a film. But when I see things like this, I never forget them. It’s like I have a special part of my brain that stores memories of bad/scary/disgusting/freaky things. That’s why I can’t watch films like Saw, or The Silence of the Lambs, or Se7en. That’s why I don’t look at the peta website. These disturbing images stay with me forever.
Who knows though. Maybe I’ll leave the film feeling inspired.
Themocracy
There’s nothing wrong about feeling nervous about seeing the film. I’m sure the images are going to be incredibly graphic and will only reinforce to you why you are trying to eat cleanier and healthier. I saw Fast Food nation too, and was so entirely disgusted by what I saw. There is a book called “Toxin” by Robin Cook, while is a fiction novel, it’s based on actual events. I read the book my freshman year in HS. I didnt eat ground beef for probably 10 years after reading it, and I to this day I wont eat ground beef without having it be organic and cooked well done (with very rare exception.)
I hope you’ll let us know what you think of the film. I’ve read some of Michael Pollan’s stuff and find it fascinating. What drives me crazy is these big corporations being so secretive about how they put food in our stores. It’s not that I think our country’s food chain is broken, per se, but I think there definitely needs to be more transparency so the people can decide what’s best for their own kitchen tables.
I’d be a little anxious seeing that but I think it will be really informative and thought-provoking.
Oh, that’s weird, I own/have read the book by Robin Cook that Scale Warfare mentioned. It was only last year.
I know, it’s bad, but out of shear laziness I turn a blind ear/eye to a lot of these things b/c I’m just too lazy to want to try to adjust my diet all over again. 🙁 I feel like I do the best I can with the resources at my disposal (although admittedly I have a good education now on what is good/bad to eat and I think a lot of people still don’t). I would love to have fresh, locally farm raised fruit, veggies, and meat products but in my life that’s totally unrealistic.
At the same time, though, I take these things with a grain of salt because the point is to persuade you of their point of view. So I’m not always 100% sold that I’m being fed (ha ha) the whole story. Plus humans are always adapting so I really sometimes think it’s not going to turn out as awful as anyone claims.
At least it’s free and if you really feel like you can’t handle it, you can leave or go take a nap in the lobby. 🙂
I’m sooooo totally jealous that you get to see this film! It’s not released in Rockford and probably won’t ever be in the town where I live. So I’ll have to go into Chicago to watch it and I won’t do that.
I can’t look at the PETA website either but I still know what’s going on with the meat industry. Luckily, for the sake of vegetarians out there, this movie deals with more than just animals, it also deals with grain & vegetable farmers too and shows their side.
I would be nervous about seeing this too, especially since I’m not even a vegetarian and don’t buy organic, free-range meat, which I’m sure is bad, bad, bad. I’ll be interested to see what you think of it!
i would be nervous about seeing the film as well!!! i honestly don’t know what my reaction would be to any of those movies that you listed and that’s why i have never watched any of them… i know, turning a blind eye/deaf ear isn’t the best answer but i’m not ready to see that yet… i don’t know what kind of impact it would have on me, and to be honest, that scares me….
=^..^=
p.s… you will have to let us know what you think about it though!!
Ummmm…….. And why is it that you HAVE to go see this film? If films like these disturb you then WHY would you go see it just because you received an invitation?
Yeah it is one of those films that you know is going to be distrubing and may very well motivate you to make some major life changes. Looking forward to your review…
Scale Warfare – That is what I am worried about – that the images will just be incredibly graphic for the shock factor. I have not heard of that book, surprisingly! But it sounds like something I would have a hard time reading.
SoMi’s Nilsa – I liked the book of his I read too, even though it was a bit dry 😉 I think it is crazy how disconnected we are from our food sources! And many people don’t realize how bad certain things are for them.
sizzle – I hope so!
diane – I kind of feel like that too – like everyone has their biased version of the story, and we’ll never really have the truth or know what we can believe! How sad is that opinion?!
Lindsay – I did feel reassured knowing it wasn’t all about factory farming. That would be difficult. It’s too bad you won’t get a chance to see it 🙁
Mica – Right now, I feel like organic is a bit too expensive for me. Although we’ve been wanting to check out our local farmers market for a long time now and haven’t! Maybe we finally will!
CourtneyInControl – That is why I am forcing myself to see it… I can’t keep ignoring these things! I can ignore those silly gross movies though 😉 I’ll let you know what I think.
Denise – I want to see it to hear what kind of information they are putting out there. I am just worried about the way the information is going to be delivered. This is actually a topic I am very interested in, especially if they are going to talk about factory farming. I just have a hard time stomaching some of it.
ShutupandRun – Maybe I need a little bit of motivation 😉
Have you seen King Corn? I saw it over a year ago and it STILL haunts me. I am not sure if I will watch Food Inc….looking forward to your review though.
oy… i don’t actually want to see that movie. the thing is, i KNOW what goes on. i KNOW how awful most of the process is, and how unhealthy, and how profit driven, and how unsanitary, etc etc etc etc. but i don’t have the willpower to go 100% vegan / local / farm raised / etc. and i accept this about myself. i’m trying to improve, but seeing those images and having those points drilled into me over and over will just make me miserable, because i know myself well enough to know i can’t just stop eating all meat and all processed food immediately.
I agree with Diane and your response to her. The truth is somewhere in the middle. I would opt out of the movie. I may watch it if it hits HBO or Showtime, but I would watch it with an open mind.
I know there’s a lot of bad in it all–but I can’t buy a farm and do my own food production, either. Living in a small town, I don’t have a lot of oranic stuff to choose from and what’s here is so overpriced I can’t afford it. I just have to do the best with what I’ve got and try not to worry.
Larry’s daughter Lisa belongs to PETA and is vegan. She sent us 3 YouTube videos about factory farming. She asked us if we would watch them if she sent them to us. We said “yes” but have not had the “guts” to watch them yet. I don’t want to watch them right before I go to bed. I have enough trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep. That may be CS on my part but that’s just my “deal”. We will watch them eventually. Just not ready yet, I guess. She said she wanted us to watch them so we would understand why she is the way she is. Not sure why she thinks we don’t understand, but whatever.
I’m interested to hear what you think about the film…it seems to be quite the buzz on the food blogs these days!
I’m really bad about seeing movies like this one because they make me sick to my stomach too. I’m not usually one to hide away from the reality of things but sometimes when it comes to food, I totally do.
I’ve given some thought to this movie…mostly to the idea of seeing it, and feel somewhat similarly to you, where I am nervous to see something that would make me sick and make me feel the way I think this movie would about some foods. While I do want to be a conscious consumer I don’t want to spend all of my time thinking about my food and where it came from. I tend to be very black and white about things, and I feel like this movie could throw me into a sort of obsessive mindset about food that I don’t want to have.
Just my thoughts on the movie…kind of the same reasons why I haven’t read Skinny Bitch.
And remember if you have to leave because it is upsetting, do what is best for you!
Hotch Potchery – I haven’t seen King Corn. But I just read the imdb synopsis and it sounds like something I would be interested in. I think I should put it in my netflix queue.
Alice – I don’t like to be reminded of how our food is produced either. It creeps me out. You don’t have to change though. This movie wasn’t really promoting vegetarianism, just organic farming. (But, it did make me feel so happy I made the decision to go vegan.)
Jo – That’s what we all have to do – just the best we can. It’s all we can do! I would love to have my own farm with my own fresh produce. Heck… even a garden would be nice…
Denise – Lisa probably feels like people think she is a freak for making that decision, and knows that those videos will bring up compassionate feelings for animals and help you relate to her. But I bet you’ve always been supportive 🙂
Susan – It is all the buzz! I am going to try and write a review for Saturday.
Hilly – Me too. It’s so personal, you don’t want to know the truth!
Julia – Beware of Skinny Bitch. It is intense. This movie was not that intense for me, but maybe because it was a bunch of information I already knew. It just left me perplexed. It would be very easy to become obsessive about it though.
I should tell my dad about this. He and my step-mom are vegan, or at least try to be. I think my dad still eats organic yogurt.
I tried to be a vegetarian for awhile, and when I was a kid and lived with them I didn’t really have a choice. But when I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia, the doctor told me a no meat diet was a bad bad idea for me. My body doesn’t do well with soy either, so I have to get meat protein.
On thing that makes me feel a little better now is that over here in Turkey, all meat is Halal, which is really similar to Kosher, an idea I can get behind.
My co-worker has talked about seeing this film and I am open to seeing it, as well, even if I knew the main idea behind the film was to show the horrible conditions of how some foods, mainly meat products, get produced.
I’m all for better production of food – I think it’s something that everyone – meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans – should unite behind.
I’m curious to see your review of this film.
Jen512 – Your dad and step-mom would probably enjoy the film, even though the focus isn’t on becoming vegan or vegetarian. It’s more about being aware of where your food comes from. That is interesting that the meat there is Halal. Is that a religious thing?
martymankins – I agree – we should all seek the truth, no matter what our food choices are. Jeez, I really need to write this review. I wonder if I started a draft of it somewhere…