Alum discusses new 'Fast Food' movie

Director Richard Linklater denounced the fast food industry for wasting natural resources and exploiting factory workers during a question-and-answer session following the screening of his upcoming film, "Fast Food Nation," Wednesday night.

The film is based on the bestselling book by Eric Schlosser '81 by the same name. The session was sponsored by the Princeton Environmental Institute and moderated by philosophy professor Peter Singer.

Narrated from the perspective of Mexican immigrant meatpacking industry workers, "Fast Food Nation" highlights the plight of employees.

"The part of the book that was most important to me was the exploitation of poor illegal immigrants by the plants," said Schlosser, who wrote the screenplay for the film. "That's what stays with me the most today: the workers."

In a fashion reminiscent of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," the film documents fecal matter in the meat patties and the dismembering of the meatpacking factory workers.

"The system is fundamentally wrong and has to be changed," Schlosser said.

He also stressed that the industry must develop more environmentally conscious practices.

"I don't see a return to horse-drawn plows at all, but I do see the absolute necessity for an agriculture that is sustainable," he said. "I see a need for an agriculture that can be carried on over generations without destroying land and poisoning consumers. I don't think that the grain-based livestock industry that we have now is sustainable."

Both Schlosser and Linklater said they are optimistic that reform will occur.

"I think there is a cultural shift occurring, and the kinds of ideas that Professor Singer was thinking about 30 years ago are now reaching fruition."

While not a documentary, "Fast Food Nation" offers a behind the scenes look at the meatpacking industry. "It's a tough, uncompromising look at what's happening in America right now," said Nathan Gregory GS, who introduced the film. "The aim is to make you feel as if real life is unfolding before your eyes."

Scenes in the film depict the real slaughter process in a Mexican meat factory. "Everyone you see in there is a real worker, except [for] our actors," Linklater said. "That was a real facility at work, with all that meat. The meat from one of those facilities was being exported to Japan."

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Some people who work in meatpacking facilities told Schlosser that "the film truthfully depicted what meatpacking was like, but the plant looked a little too clean compared to what we have in the United States." The facility was smaller than many used in the industry, and Schlosser suggested that larger plants have significantly worse conditions.

In order to escape potential governmental restrictions, Schlosser chose to sign his book rights to a narrative movie rather than a documentary. The documentary filmmakers who approached him were all sponsored by television networks but none, Schlosser said, was entirely independent.

Kathryn Andersen '08, a member of the Princeton Environmental Institute, said that "in discussing the topic, they hit it right on the nail. To view what happens inside the meatpacking facility is both terrifying and surprising for the average American."