Sharkwater and Food, Inc.
Sharkwater is a 2006 documentary film written, directed, and narrated by Rob Stewart. The purpose of the film was to assess current attitudes about sharks and expose how the shark hunting industry is causing them to become extinct. Filmmaker Robert Kenner, directed the 2008 documentary, Food, Inc. It studies and examines corporate farming in the United States. Both documentaries give a closer, in-depth view at two different industries that most people are unaware of. Sharkwater exposes the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world’s shark populations while Food, Inc. reveals realities about what we eat, how it is produced, who we have become as a nation, and where were are going from here. (PBS) The filmmakers
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Not only would one of the oldest living creatures on Earth become extinct, but humans would also be affected. Rob Stewart (Sharkwater’s filmmaker) and activist Paul Watson are leading the efforts to protect sharks. Because there are no international regulations to protect sharks, 1.5 million sharks were killed over the course of six days when long line fishing was legal in the Galapagos Islands. During the filming of the documentary, Stewart and Watson helped to make long line fishing in the Galapagos Islands …show more content…
interviewed experts in the field of food production and farmers all over the country. There were three different segments in the film. The first explored the industrial production of meat, calling it inhumane and economically and environmentally unsustainable. The second portion looks at industrial production of grains and vegetables. The last section is about the economic and legal power and the promotion of Americans unhealthy food consumption habits. They also told the story of Barbara Kowalcyk, whose two-year-old son died from eating a hamburger contaminated with E. coli. Each of the interviewees had a different story to tell about the industry and each person helped to expose more deceit in the industry of corporate farming. They determined that agribusiness in the United States produces food that is unhealthy and environmentally destructive and abusive to both animals and personnel. An article on PBS’ website stated “As recounted in this sweeping, shockingly informative documentary, sick animals, environmental degradation, tainted and unhealthy food and obesity, diabetes and other health issues are only the more obvious problems with a highly mechanized and centralized system that touts efficiency — and the low costs and high profits that result from it — as the supreme value in food
The Great Shark debate – to cull or not to cull, has been at the forefront of the minds of conservationists, as well as the general population for many decades now. The opinions of everyone are divided, according to their personal experiences, and views on what is right and wrong for the environment.
The film Sharkwater is a documentary directed and produced by Rob Stewart. Rob is an underwater photographer and a biologist that has a fascination with sharks, and their behavioral aspects. His way of studying these creatures he is able to learn about life and how to survive on this earth. This film showed the characteristics of reflexive documentary, this is because of the attention drawn into the sharks, their behaviors, and how we are affecting them. A statement that really stuck the documentary is people are taught their whole entire lives that sharks are dangerous but when you finally see it underwater your whole life can change in a flash. Rob made a very valid point as well, which is believed to be his thesis statement.
Blackfish is a 2013 documentary attempting to elevate public awareness regarding the orca that are being kept in maritime amusement parks, specifically SeaWorld, and the inherent danger of their captivity. The film is effective because it raises a set of important ethical questions for the viewer while presenting with a necessary fact-based style of documentation that does not evoke gratuitous scenes of abuse in order to inspire sympathy, unlike some of the other films that are intended to raise awareness about animal abuse. The film focuses on one orca, commonly referred to as a killer whale, in particular by the name of Tilikum. The documentary begins as a group of contract fishermen hunt a family of killer whales off the coast of Iceland.
Project, The OpEd. -. " Exposed: Blackfish Documentary Affects Big Business and How Anyone Can Help Make a Change." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 09 Jan. 2014.
In the documentary, Food Inc., we get an inside look at the secrets and horrors of the food industry. The director, Robert Kenner, argues that most Americans have no idea where their food comes from or what happens to it before they put it in their bodies. To him, this is a major issue and a great danger to society as a whole. One of the conclusions of this documentary is that we should not blindly trust the food companies, and we should ultimately be more concerned with what we are eating and feeding to our children. Through his investigations, he hopes to lift the veil from the hidden world of food.
Attention Gainer: For the attention gainer, I plan on showing the audience a two minute and thirty second video in order to display the tragic events that are happening around the world regarding shark killings. My attention gainer will enable the audience to become aware of the situation as well as invoke a serious and potentially sad mood in the classrooms, before I begin to touch on the terrible situation we have
American society has grown so accustomed to receiving their food right away and in large quantities. Only in the past few decades has factory farming come into existence that has made consuming food a non guilt-free action. What originally was a hamburger with slaughtered cow meat is now slaughtered cow meat that’s filled with harmful chemicals. Not only that, the corn that that cow was fed with is also filled with chemicals to make them grow at a faster rate to get that hamburger on a dinner plate as quickly as possible. Bryan Walsh, a staff writer for Time Magazine specializing in environmental issues discusses in his article “America’s Food Crisis” how our food is not only bad for us but dangerous as well. The word dangerous could apply to many different things though. Our food is dangerous to the consumer, the workers and farmers, the animals and the environment. Walsh gives examples of each of these in his article that leads back to the main point of how dangerous the food we are consuming every day really is. He goes into detail on each of them but focuses his information on the consumer.
Jaws is a horror movie about a rogue shark that enjoyed nothing more than hunting down and devouring innocent bystanders. The movie quickly evolved into a cult-classic with three sequels and an ensemble of mentally scarred fans. Although Jaws caused an uproar of fear throughout the world, its portrayal of the monstrous shark and its appetite for humanity isn’t all so accurate. In fact,contrary to popular belief, sharks actually dislike the taste of humans. Apparently, we’re too bony for their liking. Often times, when a shark does attack a human, it was simply because of a miscalculation on the sharks part. Sharks actually have fairly poor eyesight (they rely on smell and electrical sense to find prey), so when they see a surfer out in the water, they actually usually mistake you for a big tasty turtle or seal. After they get a nibble of you and realize how boney you are, chances are they will become disinterested and swim away. Although this sounds scary, shark attacks actually cause an extremely insignificant amount of deaths per year. According to National Geographic, approximately 12 people died from shark attacks in 2011. People kill 11,417 sharks are killed per hour. Statistically you are more likely to die from being struck by lightning, being trampled by a cow, being attacked by your dog, or being hit in the head with a coconut than from a shark attack. To add to that, of the nearly four hundred species of sharks, only about ten of those species have ever caused harm toward humans. Unfortunately, hysteria fear and misunderstanding has created an excuse for people to ignore the fact that these animals are facing
Sharkwater is a documentary. Just like many documentaries it puts forth a strong message by using relevant facts and captivating footage. Sharkwater explores the nature of sharks, how misconception and ill treatment is driving them to the edge of extinction, and how some people are taking a step towards protecting them. The creator of this document did an excellent job went it came to using primary sources and proper facts. In some places of the world shark finning is a full-blown industry that is being protected by the government and was killing thousands of sharks everyday just for the sake of money. In that point of the film you could say a bias opinion was presented. But when the streets of Puerto Rico began to flood with angry protesters
The image of sharks as predators has been around for years, but the image of them as relentless killers began after the release of Jaws in 1975. This movie was so successful that it is considered the first summer blockbuster. Unlike horror movies with a human antagonist, Jaws presented a new type of villain. Sharks have no humanity so there is nothing redeeming about them. Their presentation in the movie was created thorough viewers past knowledge of sharks and remarks made in the movie. One of these remarks comes from Matt Hooper, who plays an oceanographer in the film, “what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat” (Spielberg). Although this remark is technically true its presentation and context in the movie leaves viewers to suspect that that all sharks do is eat, and that their preferred prey is
Studies suggest that a “live shark, over the course of its lifetime, is worth $1.6 million, which is a great deal higher than the $200 the dead shark can sell for” (Fairclough). This statement holds true because of shark ecotourism, or shark-related activities such as shark viewing, is an industry that is expanding rapidly. If people would instead invest in shark ecotourism rather than shark fisheries, business would be far more profitable: “Shark ecotourism currently generates more than $314 million worldwide and is expected grow to $780 million in the next 20 years” (McGuire). For example, “a single whale shark fin can fetch up to $15,000 in some Asian markets,” but in stark contrast, the annual profit made worldwide from whale shark viewing "brings in an estimated $47.5 million” (Williams). When compared whether shark finning or shark tourism reap more profit from an economic standpoint, then it is clear that a live shark is more valuable than its fins. Furthermore, both industry and sharks alike would benefit from shark ecotourism, without the damage caused by shark finning
Our current system of corporate-dominated, industrial-style farming might not resemble the old-fashioned farms of yore, but the modern method of raising food has been a surprisingly long time in the making. That's one of the astonishing revelations found in Christopher D. Cook's "Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis" (2004, 2006, The New Press), which explores in great detail the often unappealing, yet largely unseen, underbelly of today's food production and processing machine. While some of the material will be familiar to those who've read Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or Eric Schlosser's "Fast-Food Nation," Cook's work provides many new insights for anyone who's concerned about how and what we eat,
In 2015 only 59 shark attacks have occurred around the world compared to the millions of sharks killed by humans every year. Due to these accidental shark attacks people tend to think that sharks, especially Great Whites are evil creatures with malice intentions when attacks do occur; but, on the contrary that is wrong. Sharks are not the only beautiful and unique creatures in the ocean, they also play a vital role in our ecosystem; however, due to human interference they might not be around much longer, through awareness sharks can be protected from endangerment.
Thesis: Sharks should be conserved because they are an important part of the ocean, attacks are often incidental, and human behavior influences the behavior of sharks.
This shark is gay. He strives to polarize from the mafia while his friend sacrifices his personality and ethics to become famous. The film Shark Tale, created by Dreamworks in 2004, creatively and somewhat questionably teaches lessons about living life true to one's genuine self. One of the main characters, a shark by the name of Lenny, is coerced into following in the fin splashes of his malefactor shark family. An analysis of the movie Shark Tale reveals that it uses the emergence of a shark’s unfeigned self to represent a gay man and his journey of coming out and self acceptance.