Film Analysis: Food Inc.

The “mentality of uniformity, conformity and cheapness applied widely and on a large scale has all kinds of unintended consequences” (Food, Inc.). That is the main situation mentioned in the documentary, Food Inc. Food Inc. is a documentary about the nation’s food industry. Robert Kenner, director of Food Inc., made the film find out where our food comes from and how the food industry has changed over time. The reason behind the documentary is to have people think about where our food comes from and to think about how we could develop a food system that would be sustainable. Over time, the food system has taken over by the industrialization of our food, and the consumers are denied the right to be informed what is in their food and discouraged

It is one’s moral duty to promote the most favorable balance of good over evil for oneself” (Vaughn 70). So an ethical egoist would ask themselves, which action will result in me having the most benefit? This theory should not be compared to selfishness because self-interested acts promote one’s happiness and can avoid deteriorating another’s happiness. One concern in the documentary was what was going on with the food? The corporation advertises their food using the agricultural image, when in reality most of the food is mass production. One of the major food corporations, Tyson, refused the film crew the privilege to tape inside one of their farmer’s chicken houses in attempt to hide facts from the public. Some people would say that the corporations and the farmers that work for these corporations are ethical egoist. Ways ethical egoism incorporates itself in this documentary is the food corporation advertises products through the agricultural point of view because of their own self-interest. Corporations hide information about mass production and how they raise livestock from consumers in order to keep a good image. The corporations are better off hiding certain aspects of production to keep steady income that they receive from customers. Farmers who work for these corporations can be identified as egoist because they agree to the corporation’s requirements because it

“Utilitarianism is when the right action is the action that directly produces the best balance of happiness for all concerned and everyone counts equally” (Vaughn 70). Another concern mentioned in the documentary was the orchestrated, manipulated chickens. The mass production of chickens by growing them in houses has benefited farmers in terms of more profits and the consumers in terms of cheap products. Ways utilitarianism is incorporated in the documentary is that the big corporations justify mass production of chicken and cattle because of its utilitarian method of feeding the country is the corporation’s benefit from mass production in terms of income and consumers benefit by having a readily available supply of inexpensive meat in grocery stores constantly. In addition, the corporation provides their employees, farmers and factory workers, a source of income. So currently, mass production is a method that benefits the producers and