King Corn. The title alone suggest the importance of corn. I knew there was a lot of corn out there. What I did not know is how prevalent it is, it's all over. Throughout the movie I was surprised time and time again at where the two guys who made the documentary were finding corn. Possibly the most shocking was when the found corn in their hair!
http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/movies/12corn.html
Here is a review that the New York Times did on this documentary. In the review the writer suggest that the film was not well done. That there was no sense of urgency from the film makers. No way to avoid this thing we call corn. It leaves the audience with a response like, "okay corn is everywhere better get used to it."
I fully agree with the reviewer in the New York Times. While the movie did a good job showing that corn is almost in everything we eat or buy it did not offer a solution or give any real good arguments. This is an issue that needs to be dealt with. We can't just say oh boy there is a lot of corn in our stuff. We need to be proactive do something about it. This movie offered no such solutions. Leaving me feeling empty at the end of the film. I would not crown King Corn a good documentary.
I felt very similar about the ending of my film, too. It was too generic. I feel like most documentaries nowadays just tell us that only we can do something about and provide no further instruction. Frustration can definitely creep in for the viewer when the film maker doesn’t provide a clear resolution. Yes, what they are trying to tell us about is evident in our society, but nonspecific answers to the problem make watching the whole film useless and won't help the thing that is wrong with with reality.
ReplyDeleteI agree. While the perspective was useful, the presentation ended in want of a real solution. The shock value of the film was used to great effect, though. How can we be proactive? I changed my eating habits as soon as the screen stopped. That did nothing to affect the food services available. It would have been interesting if they could offer a perspective towards a future outside this system. Unfortunately, they seem as blinded as the communities around it are to any way out of the cycle.
ReplyDeleteI wish the King Corn web site weren't under construction because they did have some good action ideas there. Which of the documentary films we watched do you feel achieved that balance of informing and giving a good direction for action? I think that's a tricky tension for filmmakers to navigate. How much do you "preach" about a solution at the end? In the case of making the film, do filmmakers usually find the problems they're addressing to be too complex to give easy answers?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to note that King Corn doesn't use some of the devices other documentaries used to be "emotionally manipulative"--the scary narration voice, the dramatic music--and yet they did make a convincing case that the state of things with corn today is not just an accident, but was intentionally crafted by generations past for political and economic purposes.
By the way, here's an interesting series of commercials about corn syrup--the first two are serious, and the third is a spoof from the King Corn guys:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl9vZYj-aJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W40yHDFxkAY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRicUInkYQM