Fast
Food Nation Makes Headlines
By Mickey Z.
20 Novmeber, 2006
Countercurrents.org
In almost every movie ever made,
at some point, a character will consume animal products: a cheeseburger,
a steak, a tuna sandwich, an omelet, a slice of pizza, a milk shake...whatever.
Often, the script will even have characters specifically voice their
love for such fare. In the reviews of these films, of course, you will
see no mention of this. No film reviewer would ever condemn a movie
simply because the protagonist ate and enjoyed, say, a grilled cheese
sandwich. However, if you were to release a movie that directly addressed
the standard American diet and animal consumption, every wiseass writer
would be poised and ready to get glib and trivialize the message. It's
all part of the subtle, daily conditioning we endure. If you don't believe
me, check out some of the headlines for ³Fast Food Nation²
reviews:
"'Fast Food' serves a lot to chew on" (San Jose Mercury News)
"It's a whopper!"
(Edmonton Sun)
"Beefing Up 'Fast Food
Nation'" (Washington Post)
"Mistake on a bun"
(Toronto Star)
"'Fast Food Nation'
bites off too little as a drama" (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
"'Fast Food Nation'
serves up revolting food for thought" (Los Angeles Daily)
"Linklater spoon-feeds
audience 'Fast Food Nation'" (Reno Gazette-Journal)
"Order of 'Fast Food'
difficult to stomach" (Boston Herald)
Then we have A.O. Scott, film reviewer for the newspaper of record,
the New York Times. Scott's review ("Will 'Fast Food Nation' spoil
your appetite?") wastes no time in mocking the movie's mission.
In the first sentence, Scott broaches "the subject of spinach."
To Scott, ³Fast Food Nation² "dwells on conditions in
the feed lots and slaughterhouses" where cows are "future
hamburgers." Thus, he says, one cannot help but indulge the "impulse
to point out that contaminated leafy greens have recently sickened more
people than dirty meat." Scott evens add: "So there."
Following that, this polemic disguised as a review still doesn't talk
about the film itself. Instead, Scott gleefully points out that, at
Cannes, "American journalists bragged (or at least joked) about
heading for the local McDonald's after the ³Fast Food Nation²
screening, as if to prove they had resisted its lessons." Did Scott
finally discuss the movie after this? Nope. He chose instead to quote
Bruce Willis (who appears in the film) as saying, "Most people
don't like to be told what's best for them."
Eventually, Scott gets around to saying a few positive things about
³Fast Food Nation,² but how many folks were still reading
the review at that point? It isn't until the last paragraph that he
mentions the "mute, helpless suffering of the cows," and calls
the film "necessary and nourishing."
If I was a pithy headline writer, I might say: "New York Times:
Junk Food Journalism."
Mickey Z. can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.
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