On Wednesday night, a few of my classmates and I viewed the film “King Corn,” which is a documentary that two best friends made when they found out that there were traces of corn in their hair and they wanted to further investigate. I was really looking forward to this film because I thought it would be very interesting, but unfortunately I quickly lost interest and became bored.
The two friends plant an acre of corn and then trace where the corn goes after it is made and found that a lot goes into the food that we eat every day, especially in the form of high fructose corn syrup. I liked how they traced the history of corn and how it has been harvested and how that has changed over the years. An amazing fact is that currently farmers can produce four times the amount of corn in the same area than just a couple decades ago. Increased technology and knowledge has really improved the corn industry. I was very surprised when one farmer stated that he and his family do not even use the corn that they harvest because it is such poor quality because they have to produce it so quickly because of the high demanding American society. Farmers only make the corn to send it off and make a living off of the money that they make.
In a review in the Chicago Tribune by Michael Phillips (http://chicago.metromix.com/movies/movie_review/movie-review-king-corn/247658/content), the film received 3.5/4 stars. Although I did not think the film was especially interesting or funny, such as the article suggests, I would agree with the rating because of the fact that it is very informative about the corn industry and made its viewers think twice about going out to order a Big Mac or drink pop. It definitely made me rethink the foods that I eat and made me more aware of the unhealthiness of many foods that I eat that contain this high fructose corn syrup. This film really informs its viewers so they can make healthier food choices and be more appreciative of where their food comes from!
It is truly quite sad that a farmer in Iowa can no longer feed his family with the crops he grows because they are specifically designed for feed or corn syrup. It is important for our generation to understand the food crisis that we are in the midst of, and to decide to do something about it. The movie certainly was very informative and thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts, Kailey. It's interesting to note in the film how trapped farmers feel within the system that only pays them to produce a terrible product.
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