Food, Inc. Documentary Analysis

Food, Inc. Documentary

Critical Evaluation: Food, Inc. Documentary

The conclusion of the documentary film Food, Inc. is that the large number of factory farms in the United States that produce food for the masses are doing so in an way that is unhealthy for the environment, the animals, and the employees. The concern is not that animals are being killed for food, but the way in which they are killed and the way in which they are required to live in terrible, cruel conditions before their deaths. There are facts, opinions, and reasoned judgments in the film. Facts are provable statements that can be backed up with statistics or other information that is not refutable. One of the facts presented in the documentary is that organic food is becoming more popular with the current health food movement. This is something verifiable, and not just one person's opinion. There are studies and other statistical documents showing the increased production and consumption of organic foods by the American public in recent years.

There are, however, also many opinions in the documentary, including the belief that unhealthy food consumptions habits are being promoted in America. That would seem to conflict with the fact that more organic food is being sold, so if unhealthy habits are being promoted that promotion is failing. There is no real proof of this promotion, so it is opinion only. Another type of information provided in the documentary is reasoned judgment, and this would include the statement that the current methods of meat, grain, and vegetable production are not environmentally sustainable. While this is somewhat of an opinion, it is also reasonable based on the way farmland is being used up and how the environment is changing both because of factory farming and because of other factors (such as climate change). Eventually, it is quite possible that the type of farming done now will no longer be available, so the judgment is a reasonable one to make.

The thing that surprised me most in the documentary was how balanced it was. Of course, it was trying to make a point that factory farming and the way crops and animals are raised today are bad, but it did so in a way that presented honest evidence along with opinions. I was expecting it to simply attack the way things are done today and make them sound horrible, without focusing on why they are truly bad or actually making people think about what they are eating. Those kinds of tactics are often used, but they rarely get results because people only see someone (or a group of people) being argumentative. Instead, people need to be presented with valid opinions and logical arguments so they can form their own correct opinions regarding what is factual and what is important to them. This documentary provided the opportunity for people who watched it to do that, and felt less like it had a specific agenda than many documentaries do when they are provided to the public.