Since their advent, documentaries’ purpose has been to inform, and to make us think about things in new ways. In the quest to gather and record history, forever capturing moments in time, documentarians have travelled the globe. Of course, one doesn’t need to hop on a plane to the other side of the globe to find material interesting enough to warrant a documentary – it’s easy to locate newsworthy topics here in the United States.
One such topic might be the spread of many conveniences we enjoy today, which have created some major crises for both Americans and people abroad. There are a handful of documentaries and filmmakers who have decided to turn a critical eye towards the viewer and their consumption habits. Let’s take a look at a few of those who were bold enough to call into question our current way of life.
4. Super Size Me
The argument could be made that Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me was one of the first documentaries to truly criticize Americans’ excessive consumption habits. The primary subject of his documentary was the McDonald’s corporation, a mainstay of many American diets and one of the biggest companies in the world. Fed up and disheartened by the obesity epidemic facing the country, Spurlock decided to take on the company and prove its cheap, fast, and fattening food was even unhealthier than previously believed.
For his part in the film, Spurlock challenged himself to eat only McDonald’s for 30 days, recording his body’s various reactions to the food. The cameras saw him increase his daily calorie count up to 5,000, his weight skyrocket 24.5 pounds, and his cholesterol spike. He also gained slew of further problems like mood swings, loss of sex drive, development of heart palpitations, and an accumulation of fat in his liver. A notable scene in the film that stuck with many viewers was Spurlock placing various sandwiches and french fries in containers, leaving them to spoil over time. While the sandwiches took on various moldy lives of their own (after a couple of weeks) the fries, even after 10 weeks, had yet to even grow one spore of mold. Spurlock asked readers to ponder on what the fries, which wouldn’t decompose after two and a half months, could be doing inside their bodies.
Spurlock has gone on to create even more fantastic documentaries criticising the American way of life including Mansome, Freakonomics, and his most recent project for Showtime, a series called 7 Deadly Sins (which is still available on demand and is extremely fascinating).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOvrkkj_T-I
3. Pump
When compared to the excessive consumption of gasoline in America, nearly everything else pales in comparison. Despite the growing concern for the environment, the majority of Americans still drive gas guzzlers with blissful abandon.
In Pump, directors Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell dive into the current state of the oil industry both through archival footage and current day interviews. While they do toe the line between red and blue, blame and general concern, the couple presents a clear and factual argument for why we need to dramatically reduce our oil consumption. Perhaps its best contribution to the argument is its ability to connect the dots between the oil industry and American foreign policy, the current state of Detroit, and the campaigns to destroy environmentally friendly transportation options like natural gas, the electric car and the electric trolley system. For those who are willing to open their minds, Pump offers a powerful argument against our current way of life.
2. Food Inc.
Building on Spurlock’s film, as well as the skyrocketing rates of obesity both in the United States and abroad, filmmaker Robert Kenner took on the entire American food industry. He looked at the factory farms that produce much of America’s meat and, in turn, their contribution to the rapid damage of our environment. His examination of the common practice of injecting animals with antibiotics, steroids, and various hormones, which consumers then consume, raised a great deal of uproar around the meat production industry.
He also looked at the producers of produce and grains, more specifically, their rampant use of genetic modification despite little knowledge of its effects on consumers. Another subject of his critical lens was the heavy use of pesticide, herbicide, and fertilizer, all of which are toxic to humans, but deemed safe to put on our food.
The film put some major corporations on the defense, such as Monsanto, who dedicated an entire section of their website in an attempt to rebuke the film’s claims, and the American Meat Institute, who also created a website to combat Kenner’s claims in the film. Keller’s film did much to enlighten the average American as to where their food comes from, and made consumers aware of the misinformation and false advertising that surrounds many “healthy” foods.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eKYyD14d_0
1. Sicko
Michael Moore is perhaps the king of the modern documentary given his wildly successful track record on a diverse series of topics. One of Moore’s most successful documentaries, Sicko, examined the current state of the American healthcare and insurance system, particularly when compared to that of Canada. Our neighbors to the north seem to offer a startling counterpoint in the film, and Moore spends significant time interviewing Canadian doctors, advocates, and patients. He also explored the health care systems of European countries, such as the United Kingdom and France.
Moore explains clearly the history opposition to universal health care, which dates back to the 50’s when a socialized healthcare system was, not surprisingly, compared to communism. Of course, he also hones in on the current healthcare lobbyists in Washington D.C. whose money, power, and influence are, he argues, what truly what dictate the state of healthcare in this country.
The film served as a wake up call for millions of viewers, spurring a swift campaign for change. Some could even argue that the film was a large influence and possible cause for the (controversial) Obamacare program that was recently created for uninsured American citizens.
While Sicko, like Moore’s other films, is really more like an editorial than a documentary since he seems to seek less to present the facts and the let the viewer decide than to guide the viewer toward his preferred conclusions, it is undeniably compelling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UReMPrjMT9E
About the Author
