Book Review: Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this book, and I'm looking forward to reading more by Schlosser. Also, I think it is important to note how much better the book is than the poor excuse for the film.

Schlosser does a good job of depicting the series of horrors associated with the fast food industry, and I'm not only taking about the disgusting ways the animals are slaughtered or the sci-fi ingredients added to the food produced. The aspects of the book the most compelling for me were about the workers and the corporations responsible for this potential new world order. The corporations treat their workers as expendable, and thus the companies they purchase ingredients can also abuse their workers. All of these abuses amount to an impressive amount of union busting.

I really enjoyed Schlosser's explanation for how fast food and transportation have shaped the United States. It is equally as interesting as the the way these corporations are influencing the rest of the world.

Schlosser address his critics in the epilogue, and the most interesting counter argument/criticism was his depiction of the Republican party. Schlosser defends his position and takes his critics to task. After all, they are rarely criticizing the content of the book, but just why he is saying them.

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Movie Review: Fast Food Nation

Shockingly, Avril Lavigne can't act...but really that's not the point. Fast Food Nation is a 2006 film based on the book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser.

This film, and I'm led to believe the book, briefly touch on all that is wrong with the fast food industry, but the whole beef industry as well. A few of the highlights of the social justice issues taken up: workers' rights, harassment/sexism in the workplace, immigration rights, factory farming, corporations, animal rights, and a few dozen others.

I like that no one was left untouched by the ridicule; the hippie activist kids were depicted as asinine and out of touch with reality. Of course the corporation and factory farmers were characterized as evil, which I'm inclined to agree.

The film depicts the immigrant workers as the true victims of the story. They are repeatedly abused at every turn, and in that respect I think the film makers got it. However, this isn't a film I wanted to see; it made it to me via a Netflicks request from my roomie.

I give it a 2/5. We watched, we laughed, we were sick...