Why I Can't Stop Thinking About a Bad Movie

While on sabbatical from my life, I watched the movie, Fast Food Nation. I had tried to read the book, but it was a little boring, a little dry. It was fascinating, but life called me away from it. This movie came out in November of 2006, so I realize I'm a little behind the times. Sadly, I don't get to watch a lot of movies.

This movie bothered me. And not just because it exposes the utter grossness in the way our food is prepared and presented to us. I studied Animal Science at a college in San Angelo, Texas. I've been to the packing plants and I already knew what went on. Of course I wasn't such a deep thinker back then. And, I have it on good authority that someone I won't name spit on my #2 cheeseburger at the Sonic in Alpine in 1983.

Here's my list of the top 5 reasons why this movie bothered me so bad:

1. Sex. Can anyone tell me why a movie like this, which should have been a documentary, has to include graphic sex? Why did it need a R rating? For money at the box office? It's just stupid. I would have loved to watch this movie with my almost-13-year-old daughter. Since I have no way to crop out the sex scenes, she's not going to get to see it. Let me assure you, I'm no prude. If the movie makers would have been handled the sex subtly, we could have discussed the exploitation of women, why the girl in the movie should have behaved with a ton more good sense, why an education is important so you don't end up working in a fast food joint or a meat packing plant. But it's a lesson I won't get to share because of all the sex.

2. The vast majority of the people processing our food and meat are illegal immigrants. When I was growing up we didn't even know the words illegal immigrants. We had illegal aliens and a few words I won't go into. Here's the deal. It doesn't bother me that the people who are doing all the dirty work in our country are illegal. It bothers me that our own damn American citizens are too damn lazy to do it. If you watch the movie, note that the safety training videos are in English. And nobody willing to do any work hablas ingles!!!

3. It bothers me that these poor illegal immigrants come here to make a better life for themselves and then our corrupted culture ends up corrupting them. Pretty soon we'll just be one big borderless sea of corrupted, junk-food-eating fat people. See why this wasn't a happy movie to watch?

4. People are eating this food on a daily basis. Sometimes more than once a day. These fast food corporations keep track of heavy users, our sex, age, and ethnicity whenever we order. That whiz kid at the cash register is probably keying me in as a white, chubby fast-foot eating soccer Mom, not realizing I'm really super cool, my kids don't like soccer and I rarely eat fast food.

5. Nobody who needed to read this book or watch the movie did.