The Documentary "King Corn"

I watched the movie King Corn for this project. It is a low budget documentary about two recent college graduates who move to Iowa in order to grow one acre of corn and then follow it into the food market. This film was impressive in many ways. Since the film was pretty low budget, they had to improvise their animations and some of their research. For example, when they are explaining the history of the corn farm and the impact government subsidies have had on the corn industry, they use children's toys in stop-action animation. Also, they were not given access to the corn syrup manufacturing plants and, so, figured out how to make high fructose corn syrup in their kitchen from the internet, which was a particularly hilarious and impressive segment. They are also very consistent in their endeavor. It is their desire to be hands-on about every aspect of growing their acre of corn and their inability to do that in some cases is highlighted and reflected on. They are also very committed to their project. There is something refreshing about watching a documentary made on a low budget and with the very transparent imprint of the filmmakers on it. Because of the low budget quality and the relationships and connection the filmmakers make and the obvious commitment they have, the documentary has an authentic feel to it and gets the message across. There are fewer moments of bias in this film because you really sense that they are learning things as they go along, right along with the viewer. They present information rather than make commentary. It doesn't really have a "position" other than "there is stuff in your food that you don't know about and you are often eating something without realizing it" and, yes, it convinced me hugely.

The primary point of this documentary was to educate the viewer about what is in their food. Further, though, they wanted the viewer to also become aware of how what they eat is not just, literally, who and what you are, but also reflects your position on how the government treats farmers and the food industry, whether we are aware of it or not. Overall, I think that a documentary like this helps people understand that there really is more to the ordinary things in our daily lives than we think.

In order to help students think about ways to create their own documentaries or be able to critique the ones around them, I would probably show some docs side-by-side. For example, I would show this one along with Food, Inc, because that one was clearly higher budget and had more of an agenda. I would ask students to try and identify those things on their own and point out instances of bias in one and not in the other, etc. I would do the same thing with a Michael Moore doc, for example, alongside other, lower-budget productions about the same issues. I would eventually ask students to create their own doc about something relevant and important to them.

Who Owns My Media??

WCCO morning news broadcast:

The first story was about a man who was saved from a burning car by passersby. The story included two brief interviews and lasted about a minute.

The second story was a 30 second glimpse into a shooting that occurred in Lakeland Shores. It turns out it wasn't random.

Next was a 3-4 minute exclusive look at the private life of the man responsible for the Fort Hood shooting. Clips were played of the inside of his home and special attention was paid to his Muslim faith and there was an extended clip of some emails between him and a well-known imam.

Amy Klobuschar is working to help unemployed vets (30 seconds)

The search for St. Paul's new superintendent continues and the candidates are all local except for one (1-2 minutes)

Republican Jungbauer drops out the governor's race because of troubles raising funds in this difficult economy (2 minutes)

High-tech maps will be helping people in the river valley combat floods this season, thanks to a federal grant (2 minutes)

There is a poaching controversy in Cannon Falls. It seems a world-record sized buck was shot illegally, which brings up safety issues (2-3 minutes)

News was made up mostly of local stories that dealt with economy, crime, and public figures. The weather was glossed over fairly quickly and was exclusively local.

Sports news was very quick and dealt mainly with the nuts and bolts of sports, like the new Target field.

The ads featured were for Discover credit cards, flu vaccinations at Children's Hospital, a realty company, and Sony gadgets.

The most obvious thing about watching this news is the tone of the reporter or anchor's voice. Their tone reflects the attitude they expect you to take on the issues you're watching. Additionally, some of the stories included pictures and interviews, others were glossed over, despite the impression that they were relatively important. For example, the story about Senator Klobachar was a talking point, but the story about Jungbauer included a picture, quotes, and facts about him, even though the story was about him dropping out of the governor's race.

In a typical week, I get most of my news from NPR, which is community funded news. I also watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, which is owned by Viacom. CNN, which is Time Warner. My internet access is via Comcast. I think the majority of the time I spend on the internet is on sites owned by Time Warner. I read mostly Harper's Magazine, which I believe is independently owned.

I don't think it's possible for a news organization to be truly unbiased. Who owns the station definitely effects the content of the station. An owner's political interests will be respected in the stories that are broadcast.

As an activity for students to critically analyze the news, I might have students create broadcasts about a book that we are reading. For example, a new broadcast about Romeo and Juliet, one from the side of the Capulets and the other from the side of the Montigues. From there, we could explore bias in the news, what it means for someone to "own" the news, how to tell if something is biased, and ways to fill in the gaps.

Ad Analysis

In the spirit of full disclosure, I hate this ad and that is why I chose it for this project. The target audience for this ad appears to be middle- to upper-middle class women who don't work and who are the sole housekeepers. The women are portrayed as silly and giggly. The ad implies that having cheap things is bad, but that this product, despite being cheap COSTING, could pass for something that is acceptable to have in the home. People who couldn't afford to go to France can buy this candle and might be able to convince people that they can afford things that are, in fact, out of their reach.

The ad is trying to sell their product, which is often identified as being cheap, maybe even tacky. However, they are trying to position their product as something that could pass for something else. The ad implies that faking having something - whether it be a lifestyle or a particular material object - is better than not having it at all.

Additionally, this ad implies that women are the ones who keep the home and talk of virtually nothing else. They also seem to have nothing to do during the day except socialize, bake pies, and make their home smell like a french one.

Glade Commercial

Ad Project

I made this "ad" as a way of critiquing modern solutions to obesity and general overweight-ness. Pills as answer to everything is becoming increasingly more prevalent and I believe it is a dangerous trend. When people think that there is a pill out there to solve any problem they might face, they fail to take personal responsibility for their choices. For example, a pill that helps you lose weight, but may, in fact, be unhealthy for you in a variety of ways, neglects the notion that losing weight is a means of getting healthy, not just skinny. The package may encourage users to eat right, exercise, and consult a doctor, etc, but again, the mere notion that a pill can cure all, and that one's weight and general appearance is more important that overall health is a dangerous one.

I think that having students create an ad or a parody of an ad and present them to their classmates is a great activity. Or students could be given ads along with supplemental readings and asked to re-write the the words, disclosures, or general messages that are in the ads. For example, students might be given a "Got Milk" ad that shows a half-naked woman with the milk mustache, along with a short article about treatment of dairy cows, antibiotics and other additives in milk. The student would then, using iMovie or ComicLife create thought bubbles for the ad, with the woman thinking "this is a milk ad? I thought I was doing a sports illustrated swim suit shoot. And, geez. My stomach hurts...," etc.