Here is the link to my Humanities Blog.
Below is my last project for this year and the reflection that accompanies it.
You Are What You Eat, but What Are You Eating?
by Cooper A. Stowers
My project focuses primarily on the
uncertainty of where our food really comes from and the reality of what food truly
is in terms of ingredients. It is very common in our society for people to have
a lack of understanding of our food industry and the origins of the food we eat
on a daily basis. We can be considered very blessed in the sense that we have
the ability to eat whatever and whenever we want. But perhaps we have paid a price
by never really knowing or questioning where our food comes from. This concept
inspired me to delve deeper into the topic of locating my food and as I went on
in my research, I came upon many shocking and surprising truths about the food
industry. The most interesting piece of the food puzzle that I was able to
discover was the effectiveness and versatility of corn. I believe that this is
a very important piece of information that the public needs to understand in
order to change our perception of food and the negative results.
Corn has become the most effective and
enduring crop in the food industry serving many purposes both as itself and as
processed foods. When we visualize corn, we usually think of the sweet,
succulent, yellow kernels that fall right off of the cob or the un-popped brown
seeds we put in the microwave. Although this perception is considered the norm,
the food industry has turned corn into commodity that comes in so many forms it
can be considered a perpetual food shape shifter. According to Michael Pollen,
a distinguished author, food historian, and journalist, corn as a commodity has
its benefits as well as its drawbacks. The benefits include stability as a source
of food, a low gross price, versatility in product purpose and the adaptability
to harsh environments or manmade engineering. The drawbacks, however, could
very well outweigh the benefits. The modification of corn has led it to develop
into a new variant that called “super-corn” which can fend off threats from
pesticides and insects but can become more susceptible to even more dangerous
agents and toxins. The overproduction of corn has weakened soils in high production
areas, causing a severe lack of nutrients for other crops and including corn. Corn
utilized for animal feed is unnatural for the animals that consume it and can
cause unhealthy conditions for the animals and can even cause drastic health
problems or even death. Corn has been modified to include genetic strains to
create pesticide-proof corn, but it still contains elements of the pesticides
themselves. Insects can also develop tolerances to these pesticides making them
more resistant to extermination.
So the question still must be asked: What
does corn have to do with me, the consumer? In more ways than we can truly
comprehend, corn affects every angle of the processed food industry. All of the
negative effects that are involved with corn production industry can be passed
onto humans in many different ways. The direct result of corn fed to animals is
poor health for the animals which, in turn, causes poor health for the humans
that consume them. It is left to the consumer’s discretion what he or she eats,
but oftentimes the consumer isn’t even aware of all aspects of the food. The
consequences of continuously utilizing corn as a commodity can only lead to a
massive relapse in the ways we traditionally consume food, whether it’s in the
selection of food items, the price of food or even if food will be available.
That is why it is extremely important that the human population understands the
complexity behind what they are eating and how it can affect their futures.
Click here to view my Syntheses
Click here to view my Simester Project.
Click here to view the screenplay for my project.
Below is the reflection for my project.
How did you connect to this project?
By deciding to create this project in the format of a video, I feel that I have made a personal connection to an art form which I’m very proud of. By going directly through the script and creating characters, determining the setting and expressing the overall historical themes that are implied in our overall project, I feel that I have gained a considerable amount of understanding in the area of manifest destiny and the related events caused by it. One of the areas of the project that I found a specific connection to was the implementation of symbolism. My co-director and I went through multiple ideas with expressing that the overall idea of manifest destiny and the final idea that we have landed on turned out to be a very literal demonstration of what manifest destiny had caused the Native American people specifically. Although manifest destiny was experienced by multiple people throughout the course of American history, we had decided to concentrate primarily on the Native Americans because the story itself was so powerful and moving as an audience member. From here, Zach and I went through multiple drafts on a finalized story that would demonstrate the pain and suffering that the Native Americans had experienced because of westward expansionism and eventually we landed on a very abstract concept. Basically, we would symbolize a America through the use of a single character and this character would it directly of approach our native American character and explain what is going to happen to the native Americans over the course of about 200 years. By telling the story in a very literal and direct manner, the story would be demonstrating the proper scenes of historical accuracy as well as providing it a very powerful message to the audience. By going through this entire film process I feel that I’ve made a very personal and deep connection to this project.
What was difficult about this project? How did you overcome these difficulties?
One of the major challenges that came from writing the script was condensing a time period of 200 years into a 2 minute film. We had gone through multiple ideas on how to express of this amount of time in such a short movie and the most appropriate and time conserving method that we came across was symbolically eliminating the element of time entirely and telling the story in chronological order but taking key points from American history. Another challenge that came up during the script writing process was deciding who would be cast as the victim of manifest destiny. Manifest destiny in its entirety had affected a great amount of people including Mexico and some of the European Colonies but ultimately the people who suffered the most were the Native Americans. We felt that if we centered the attention on what had happened to the Native Americans during this dark time in their history. We felt the audience would gain more of a connection to the historical concepts as well as receive a very legitimate message as well.
What did you learn from having to turn history into narrative?
I have learned that history does not always have to be told in the format of a traditional story. The concept that we had utilized for our film was very literal and could provide a meaningful experience in message to whoever might be watching it. By using symbolism, the audience can connect in a personal way because a motion can be directly experienced on screen. One of the challenges however, with this project, was compiling a period of time ranging from approximately 200 years into a short film without the luxury of a Spielberg sized budget.
