Skip the Movie; Read the Book
Man, "Fast Food Nation" BLOWS
Rant about film below cut
Not only did it blow because the narrative was all over the place and much of it had nothing to do with the actual (very good) book it was based on nor the (very compelling and already dense) topic it was purporting to cover, but it also just blew because it was difficult to say what Richard Linklater (whom I usually admire) was actually trying to say.
The only storyline that went anywhere coherent was with this group of immigrants from Mexico. That storyline was good, but it ended up having very little to do with the stuff in Schlosser's book. Even the really horrible stuff, like the cleaning job at the slaughterhouse and the kill floor at the slaughterhouse, which some reviewers were "shocked" by, was totally sanitized for the film. It was way cleaner and slower than any slaughterhouse footage I've read about or seen anywhere. I get the impression that a lot of people could walk away from this movie thinking, "It's not so bad after all; I'm going to go grab a burger," which is not the impression one gets from the book, which doesn't even have visuals on its side. So I feel like Schlosser and Linklater really failed to translate this book to film.
What's worse, though, were some of the really pointless scenes. Especially this storyline with a bunch of fakey college "activists" who were portrayed as being so stupid that they thought "freeing" a bunch of cattle would be a good idea. Yes, cattle ranching is incredibly environmentally destructive, and the animals are treated like shit (though not nearly as badly as any other farmed animal), but freeing the cattle? Freeing them where? Where are they supposed to go in this country? Walmart? Anyway, there's this whole scene with these stereotypical dumb-ass "activists" and they go and try to "free" the cattle, and the cattle don't want to go anywhere, so they call the cattle "stupid". In the end, one of the "activists" says, "I guess cows aren't the brightest of animals." I just wanted to yell, "No dumbass, you are not the brightest of animals!" Thankfully, no one mentioned Veganism, because that's just what we need, people thinking we're a bunch of imbeciles that go around releasing cows and belittling them for not running away. Animal liberation doesn't equal freeing cattle into the roads, it means not considering animals to be the property of humans to treat like objects, instead considering them to be sentient beings. Veganism aims to stop the mass breeding of animals for use by humans. There wouldn't be that many cattle around if veganism was widespread, and the cattle there would be, well, in that utopic vision, they'd finish their life on a Farm Sanctuary, not left to their own devices somewhere on the highways of America.
Anyway... They could have shown some ACTUAL animal activists taking undercover videos of slaughterhouses or rescuing chickens from battery cages or talking about veganism and its many benefits, but no, I guess it's safer to make a film pretending to advocate making a difference, but ultimately sending the message that it's all pointless.
And I really feel like that's the message this film sent, which is the exact opposite message from the book, which really encourages people to go out there and boycott these corporations and demand to know where their food comes from and all the unethical practices that go into preparing it on every end, and make an informed decision. The book says that these decisions do make a difference, and they do! This film gives the impression that the machine will continue unabated. Well, yes it will, if no one makes any changes in their lives.
Alright. End of rant. But seriously, this is not just a bad film, in my opinion - it's a toxic film!
It just makes me all the more hungry to do some vegan activism.
Rant about film below cut
Not only did it blow because the narrative was all over the place and much of it had nothing to do with the actual (very good) book it was based on nor the (very compelling and already dense) topic it was purporting to cover, but it also just blew because it was difficult to say what Richard Linklater (whom I usually admire) was actually trying to say.
The only storyline that went anywhere coherent was with this group of immigrants from Mexico. That storyline was good, but it ended up having very little to do with the stuff in Schlosser's book. Even the really horrible stuff, like the cleaning job at the slaughterhouse and the kill floor at the slaughterhouse, which some reviewers were "shocked" by, was totally sanitized for the film. It was way cleaner and slower than any slaughterhouse footage I've read about or seen anywhere. I get the impression that a lot of people could walk away from this movie thinking, "It's not so bad after all; I'm going to go grab a burger," which is not the impression one gets from the book, which doesn't even have visuals on its side. So I feel like Schlosser and Linklater really failed to translate this book to film.
What's worse, though, were some of the really pointless scenes. Especially this storyline with a bunch of fakey college "activists" who were portrayed as being so stupid that they thought "freeing" a bunch of cattle would be a good idea. Yes, cattle ranching is incredibly environmentally destructive, and the animals are treated like shit (though not nearly as badly as any other farmed animal), but freeing the cattle? Freeing them where? Where are they supposed to go in this country? Walmart? Anyway, there's this whole scene with these stereotypical dumb-ass "activists" and they go and try to "free" the cattle, and the cattle don't want to go anywhere, so they call the cattle "stupid". In the end, one of the "activists" says, "I guess cows aren't the brightest of animals." I just wanted to yell, "No dumbass, you are not the brightest of animals!" Thankfully, no one mentioned Veganism, because that's just what we need, people thinking we're a bunch of imbeciles that go around releasing cows and belittling them for not running away. Animal liberation doesn't equal freeing cattle into the roads, it means not considering animals to be the property of humans to treat like objects, instead considering them to be sentient beings. Veganism aims to stop the mass breeding of animals for use by humans. There wouldn't be that many cattle around if veganism was widespread, and the cattle there would be, well, in that utopic vision, they'd finish their life on a Farm Sanctuary, not left to their own devices somewhere on the highways of America.
Anyway... They could have shown some ACTUAL animal activists taking undercover videos of slaughterhouses or rescuing chickens from battery cages or talking about veganism and its many benefits, but no, I guess it's safer to make a film pretending to advocate making a difference, but ultimately sending the message that it's all pointless.
And I really feel like that's the message this film sent, which is the exact opposite message from the book, which really encourages people to go out there and boycott these corporations and demand to know where their food comes from and all the unethical practices that go into preparing it on every end, and make an informed decision. The book says that these decisions do make a difference, and they do! This film gives the impression that the machine will continue unabated. Well, yes it will, if no one makes any changes in their lives.
Alright. End of rant. But seriously, this is not just a bad film, in my opinion - it's a toxic film!
It just makes me all the more hungry to do some vegan activism.