Although I am of the opinion that many of Michael Moore's documentaries may be somewhat bias, he does make some strong points in this film to support his viewpoint. First of all, the shutdown of the GM plant in Flint, Michigan definitely did have a hugely negative impact on the economy as well as the people of the community. This largely explains the increase in crime, poverty, and welfare in Flint. Moore does an excellent job of showing how seemingly incompetent officials making bad choices can feed the flames even further. On the other hand, Moore seems to go out of his way to make it seem like GM is the sole reason for the depravity within the city.I think that Moore is making an effort in the film of finding the poorest and lowliest people in the worst neighborhoods and then drawing connections between these people and GM where there might not necessarily be a direct connection.
There were some very powerful images in this film that showed the extent some people go to in order to survive. Although I found the "rabbits for pets and meat" a bit disturbing, the reality is that it's not such an unusual thing. In our culture, this may seem very base and primitive, but humans have been farming animals since our beginnings. Many cultures would not find this unusual at all, but in America we seem to be used to our food being bagged and tagged for us. One thing I did find very unusual was the entire "Jail House Rock" grand opening. The idea of paying $100 to stay in a place where people are sent to pay for their crimes is just a little weird. On the other hand, if it raised money for the city, who knows? I guess you could consider it a good thing.
Don't get me wrong, it was surely a tragedy to have so many jobs lost in one city. But the truth is that the sole purpose of a corporation IS to make a profit. GM did this by moving their factories elsewhere. Moore said it himself, "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer". This is the essence of capitalism. The rich do the things which make them richer, while the poor tend to do the things which make them poorer.
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3 comments:
I like how you pointed out a problem with Moore showing GM as the cause for all problems in Flint. I also appreciate the point you bring up about animals being killed for meat all the time. I guess we are usually so far removed from our food that seeing a slaughter like the one in the film can be pretty jarring. You write that the sole purpose of a corporation is to make money. If that is true, then why do we have minimum wage, minimum work age and so on? Capitalism is more than just rich getting richer, I think. The success of a business is related to the consumers who support it and the workers who allow it to run
I really enjoyed reading your post, it pointed some things out that I had not originally thought of. Just as you mentioned that we do take the food we have for granted, and when we actually have to watch how it is butchered we are appalled even though we have always know this must happen in order for us to eat. I too thought it was a bit weird that they allowed people to pay $100 to stay one night in a jail, but just as you said if it raises money for their town then I guess that works.
I liked your analysis of this documentary. You made a good point that Moore tried to point out that GM was the only reason Flint was in a bad condition. Moore tends to do a very good job at selecting which facts to present and in what way to do it. Even if that was the case it could it also be partially Flint's fault for relying on one factory to support their town's entire economy?
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