Food Inc Rhetorical Analysis

Food Inc. is an informative and revealing documentary film, aimed to expose the dirty truth of the industrial food industry in America. Directed by Robert Kenner and produced by Michael Pollan, this film informs the American people exactly what they are eating and how it’s affecting them, by painting a more realistic picture of the food industry, than that of an agricultural society. With the use compelling images, such as cattle being raised in grassless, manure infested fields with industrial factories in the background, and stories and interviews from farmers, government officials and victims throughout the film, Food Inc. reveals the horrifying immorality of the food industry, to ignite anger and disgust from the audience toward the unethical

With the use of effective visual elements coupled with commentary, Food Inc. aims to expose the corrupted side of the food industry. Heart-wrenching images of hundreds of baby chickens being raised in spaces no larger than a dresser drawer, hundreds of pigs being mashed to death in a single motion on the ‘kill floor’, and the industrialized slaughtering of cattle with dark music in the background, is depressing and an appeal to pity among the audience. These explicit scenes of the animal killings are intended to highlight the inhumane cruelty towards animals. Another example is the interview with Barbara Kowalcyk, mother a the young boy who died from e.coli poising, contracted by eating tainted meat, tainted by the way in which it was processed in the industrial factory. This story is a powerful way to appeal to the viewer’s emotions and illustrate the seriousness of the corruption within the food

provides several examples of logos, the appeal to logic. Using facts and statistics, such as the decline in FDA inspections from 50,000 in 1974 to only 9.164 in 2006, and how the market is heavily dominated by the top four beef packing companies controlling over 80% of the market today, where the top five companies only controlled approximately 25% of the market in the 1970’s, the documentary provides reliable data to strengthen its logical appeal.
Food Inc. is a persuasive documentary that undoubtedly illustrates the corruption within the food industry that has been deliberately hidden from the American consumer. While this documentary does an excellent job of persuading their views and opinions using rhetorical structure with strong representations of ethos, pathos, and logos, it offers few ways to logically overcome the challenges imposed by the food industry. Consumers are urged to purchase locally grown meat and produce though this alone is not an end all to the corruption within the food