Persuasive Food Films (W7)

In my opinion, I believe that most (if not all) documentary filmmakers want to change the world with their movie. I feel like movies such as Food Inc. and Supersize Me are meant to scare people with the facts about what their food is made of and what it can do to a person. If a person really saw all the drugs that the meat they are consuming had been injected with while the animals were alive or all the chemicals that goes in later in the process, they may second guess what they are eating. If a person were to watch Morgan continuously eating fast food and his health decline rapidly, they may reconsider. Yet, with every person that may be swayed and decide to choose the healthier choices, there are reasons that would not allow others to change and some people who would not change at all.

Even if a person is completely persuaded by what a film has to say, that does not mean that a person will change their lifestyle. Of course the main reason is the fact that people may not have the time or money in order to by food that is healthy for them. Although they might be completely disgusted by what they see, if a person does not have the means to buy organic or healthy food, it is not going to matter how persuasive a movie is. Another reason is that if people have grown up and lived their life a certain way, a movie may not change their minds at all. If they have been conditioned and think that the food they are eating is delicious and convenient.

However, there is also the case that if people have that mentality, they also may believe that movies like Food Inc. and Supersize Me are complete fabrications; that the facts are not real and the footage used is exaggerated. People today like to believe that conspiracies are everywhere and anything that would speak against what they have known for years would be nothing more than slanderous lies. Plus, people would not like to know that they have been consuming lies for their entire lives.

So although persuasive movies have good intentions (especially when it comes to food documentaries), there are many that would not buy into it. If for some reason they do, they may not change at all for various reasons.