Fast Food Nation and Food Inc. [Final BLA Assignment]

We decided to watch Food Inc, directed by Robert Kenner, because it dealt with the different aspects of the food industry just like Fast Food Nation by Eric Scholosser. I felt that Food Inc had a more convincing argument because they said theirs more directly. "Consumers have the power to change the food industry," is the argument that is made in Food Inc. Although, like Fast Food Nation, the argument was stated at the end, the background that they put in the beginning of the movie made it more convincing. Fast Food Nation made the subtle argument about the ways that the Fast Food industry is corrupt or blanketing themselves from the world. From both the movie and the book, I took away that many food industries try to cover up their misconducts with pretty packages, a good message, and the bang-wagon type of attitude in advertisements.

I would not have believed their message if they did not have ethos. The book had ethos with all the detailed background of people in the fast food industry. The movie appealed to ethos by the interview they had with farmers that worked to the large monopoly companies. The people interviewed could tell what it was like to have the high demand that the large companies were looking for. I thought they seemed most credible when they would state all the crude deeds that the companies did and they the companies would not do an interview. They probably did not want anything that could hurt their "perfect" image that they were trying so hard to keep.

Logos makes their arguments more powerful. The author includes many facts and statistics that can back up his claims such as, "The popular outrage inspired by The Jungle led Congress to enact food safety legislation in 1906," on page 153. Without this fact the reader would not know why the gruesome events that still exist in the meat packing industry was so bad.The movie had a similar appeal to logos. They stated that 1 in 3 people will develop diabetes and 1 in 2 minorities will develop diabetes because of the salt, fat, sugar diet that we are all so accustom to. It makes me want to change; There is logical reason to. If we all stopped eating the junky food and started eating the healthy food, industries would be obligated to change because of supply and demand.

Pathos + imagery was the strongest appeal. In the book Mr. Scholosser would describe people getting parts of themselves cut off. His most convincing story was Kenny. He went through damaging affects to his body, needed several surgeries, and always pushed for the best within the Monfort company. Once he could not work any more, they did not care for him at all. Reading this made me feel that these industries need to fix what they are doing. In the movie it was Kevin. He died from E. Coli from a burger that he ate. The company that made that did not anything to the grieving family. Seeing the image of the cute and innocent little boy being condemned by a hamburger he ate was terrible to hear. With these examples from both the book and the movie, it goes to so the audience that their is not ethical ways going on in most companies that have a market within the fast food industry. Their arguments are made convincing by the shocking visual images, detailed backgrounds, statistics, animal abuse, and the stories of the innocent being mistreated. A lot of food companies goals are "faster, fatter, bigger cheaper." I think that this is not the best way of doing business. If I am purchasing something that has abused workers or mass slaughtered animals behind it, I want to know about it. Food Inc and Fast Food Nation showed me that, "you can't judge a book by its cover," it is more than that. One must look beyond the deceitful packaging.

No Eating Necessary (FLP)

Parody on all the medical and fat burning commericals

Funniest SNL

She is like Dora but better

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/tv-funhouse-maraka/84996/

Saturday Night Live - Eternal Spark of Love - Video - NBC.com

This is one funny skit :)

Saturday Night Live - Eternal Spark of Love - Video - NBC.com

We Need to Make a Better Future for All Children (Visual Essay and Analysis)

My visual essay is arguing/claiming that we should make all childrens' lives have better futures. They should be in happier environments with positive influences rather then in depressing ones with negative influences. My audience is ignorant people who do not know how some children live. I start off my clip little boy in the ski mask holding a gun to introduce the clip with a child in a negative environment. I didn't want to jump into the clip with a starving child because the audience would probably know what to expect. There have been many starving children clips out there and I wanted mine to be about something more than just that. In the background of the little boy the lyrics are going, "People kill and people dying" which goes with the picture. The killing has to start at some age but why with children? My argument is questioning that. I include two children with guns to show that children with guns did not just happen in one instance but in two. It is not right. "Children hurt, and hear them crying," is the lyrics that the second photo is playing on.

The kids are getting hurt not only physically but mentally. They are brought up to think that killing and hurting people is OK. With the mentality the violence will most likely continue throughout their lives. Each picture is going off on a certain beat which makes the overall clip run smoother and keeps the audience focused on the clip rather then the editing mistakes. "Can you practice what you preach," is shown with a blond haired, blue eyed girl which in today's society is viewed as pure and innocent. Including this girl over the selected lyrics and zooming into her eyes builds more pathos. People will sympathize with this little girl and be more inclined to do something to change the environment for children like her. It also is a good transition between the boy with the gun and the more depressed kids following her picture.

To also build pathos for the other races, I include one kid from every skin type. "Would you turn the other cheek," I included a boy sitting in a fetal position in depressing colors. I didn't want to include bright colors for this part because I felt that a dreary overlay would create a feeling of more desperation within my piece.

To connect more to the audience, after the sad boy in the corner I include pictures of kids all looking at the audience. This includes pathos as well. Eye contact in life is crucial for getting one's point across. This gets the point that these kids need someone's help. It is hard to "turn the other cheek" when the kids are staring right at the audience. "Father Father Father help us. We need some guidance from above," I show a group of kids on the ground looking at the audience. This shows the "we" instead of showing a solo kid as the "I". "People got me got me questioning. Where is the love?" This part includes a starving boy with others staring at him. Instead of showing his skin and bones on his body first, I show his face so that the shock factor comes later. I also wanted the lyrics to be on "love" to put more of an emphasis on the image.

The second to last picture shows the desperate eyes of a child. "Where is the love?" is the rhetorical question in the background. Where is it? That is what I am trying to get across to the audience. Where is the love for these kids? To wrap up my clip I include a crying boy with his arm extended towards the audience and then his picture fading from white into black. His picture makes a bigger impact because rather than just going along with the slide show, there is a pause for the audience to think about the previous images and then comes one of the boldest images that will stay in their brains longer. I wanted him to be in full color so his image would stand out from the duller colored pictures a little before this picture. "Where is the love?" by the Black Eyed Peas is the song that I used because I think that It matches my argument. The images are displayed in a way that makes the song have more impact as well. Altogether, The clip makes a bold argument that lets the audience know that these kids need help for their futures.

Sources:

http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-3372060864

http://blog.youthsays.com/stand-up-against-poverty-photo-mosaic-contest/http://orphansmom.com/index.php?p=1_10_Photos

http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=6684

http://snappedshot.com/archives/3346-Signs-Id-Love-to-See-at-a-Peace-Rally.html

http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=331211

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/600967-millions-will-starve-to-death-in-crisis

http://truthrocker.livejournal.com/tag/south%20asia

Weather Changes

Blink…Blimp…Blomp…Blint. I looked out the window one morning and discovered that it is raining outside. The rain was washing away the pure white snow that had been on the ground for days. The snow piles were gigantic. They were the size of me, which is five feet and one and a half inches. When I tried to go over one of the snow piles I was submerged in the frigid icy snow. It felt like I was a human popsicle. I squirmed around, pushing this way and that, and I finally was free from the snow pile monster. I was wet then. Not only was I wet from the melting snow, but also from the rain that was falling from the sky. I felt uncomfortable in my fuzzy blue sweater that was now drenched with liquid. So I decided to go inside my house to change clothes and settle by the nice warm fire.

There was a problem. The garage door was not working. This wouldn't be a problem if I had remembered my house key but that was tucked away in the left pocket of my backpack up in the living room. I had no choice. I had to knock on the door. The thing was, my mother was sleeping inside and if I woke her up I knew she would be upset. Knock, knock knock….No answer. Knockety knock knock. Still no answer, so i tried one more time. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! I saw a glimpse some fabric. It was the fabric to my mom's shirt. She slowly opened the door and I could see the tired look on her face. We didn't say a word to each other for a moment. "You forgot your key again…didn't you?" she said. "Yes" I respond in a quiet voice. She went back up to her room and I to mine. I was luck that time. She was too tired to respond angrily because I woke her up. That made me happy. I continued on with my day after I changed my clothes. What was a wet cold day turned into a dry warm luxury. I like when weather changes but I especially like when I can change the temperature myself.

Everyone is a Part of Something

I was not excited to see this guy named C. S. Lewis at my college today. It is only because I have heard so many lectures about life; what is is, what it isn't, or what is should be. I got settled in the snug, cushioned forum room chair and waited for Mr. Lewis to start his redundant speech. As it turned out, Mr. Lewis brought up points that I had not heard before. He said life is made up of Rings, and people "desire to be inside the local Ring and [have] terror [if] left outside [of it]...It is unavoidable."For myself, this means that I have the desire to be apart of something. I learned that it is better to not force myself to be in a certain group because I will naturally fall somewhere. I just need to focus on what I enjoy, and I will fall inside some sort of Ring. For me the Inner Ring means acceptance or inclusion.

Case in point; I attend this group called Easy Good Grub or (EGG). We make food for families that do not have enough to afford food everyday. Everyone in EGG has a similar mindset. We all want to help people and we all love to make food. Mr. Lewis brought up the point that we exclude people who only in the Ring to be in the know or apart of something special. We had this guy try to join our group once. His name was Turner. Turner had no idea how to cook and he hated people who had to be on welfare. He was immediately excluded because he couldn't contribute anything to the group. He just wanted to be in it to learn how to cook and learn why we liked serving poorer people. He wasn't meant for our Inner Ring. He should have just stayed with the rich kid Ring. That one suited him better.

I think that Mr. Lewis is a respectable man. He presented his speech with an advising tone. He even referenced how he was middle-aged and that we might not even care. It is a good thing he came up with an enticing way to present his speech. I listened. I realized that Rings make up our lives and it does not look like they will ever go away.