The movie created by Richard Linklater raises several significant questions about which the society prefers not to talk. Without any disguise, Fast Food Nation tells a story of how producers of meat exploit employees, slaughter animals, and disregard hygienic and sanitary norms the adherence to which is of utmost importance in the sphere that concerns food consumption. The film raises a range of feelings, the major ones being aversion, hatred, sympathy, and shock. Fast Food Nation may be regarded as a confession from the fast food producers that they will never have the courage to make. This is a story of how one of the most favorite things in the country is destroying people’s health and undermining the belief that the world is a friendly and kind place where people love their neighbors.
The most shocking issue in the movie is the revelation of work processes at the meatpacking processing plant. While the primary reason for performing an examination of the plant’s work is to find fecal masses in meat, many more appalling factors are discovered by Don Anderson, the marketing director of Mickey’s hamburger chain. There is no concern for safety regulations. Employees do not have enough time to check whether the waste stays away from the meat. The smell in the plant department is unbearable, and there is a scene when a new employee is recommended “to breathe through the mouth” (Fast Food Nation). Such issues must not be silenced, and their occurrence should be not eliminated but eradicated.
Personally, I found the scene where animals are being slaughtered the most intense one. I do realize that to get meat, animals have to be killed. However, I did not assume that they are killed in such a brutal manner. Moreover, the conditions in which people are working are impossible to accept. They look at the masses of dead animal corpses, the blood of dead the animals in everywhere, including employees’ clothes and faces, and it seems impossible to work in these conditions. Probably, the only reason that does not allow these people to leave the job is that they have no alternative. The majority of the plant’s employees are illegal immigrants who agree to work anywhere and in any conditions only to obtain the possibility of providing for their families. This state of affairs is a global problem, and it involves many organizations, but Linklater is one of the few courageous individuals to speak about it out loud.
The movie makes a strong impression on viewers. Although it is not a documentary, there is little doubt that many fast food makers do not put their interests first, disregarding consumers’ health and not caring about the conditions in which employees work. Fast Food Nation makes people think over their food preferences carefully and inspires them to refuse from consuming fast food. While those who sell fast food may be furious and try to refute the issues shown in the film, it is undoubted that people will approach the question of choosing what to eat more cautiously. Thus, Fast Food Nation may be regarded as an eye-opener for the society the preferences of which have such a long history that some individuals may be afraid to alter anything. The movie shows that a change is not only possible but compulsory.
Work Cited
Fast Food Nation. Directed by Richard Linklater, performances by Greg Kinnear, Bruce Willis, and Catalina Sandino Moreno, Participant Media, 2006.