Apocalypse Now: The Darkening Emotional Distress Behind War

by Viktoria Sapanovich

POL128 - Ryerson University

“In this war, things get confused out there—power, ideals, the old morality, and practical military necessity…because there’s a conflict in every human heart between the rational and the irrational, between good and evil. And good does not always triumph” - General Corman, “Apocalypse Now” (1979), played by G. D. Spradlin.

Many factors play important roles in influencing our lives, and this can span from our culture and how we have been raised, socioeconomic status, our material possessions, as well as the relationships and community around us. But more predominantly, we have factors such as politics which can shape our views and beliefs on regimes in society around us. Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film, “Apocalypse Now”, demonstrates the shadowy emotional distress behind war, through its subthemes of the extinction of a nation’s ethics, coupled with the depiction of madness, insanity, and detachment as a result of political wars.

An adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” novella, Francis Ford Coppola incorporates a similar storyline, encompassing the film around the Vietnam War, sending a soldier to execute a man of threat to the military. The protagonist, Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Martin Sheen), is sent by two army officials, Colonel Lucas (Harrison Ford) and General Corman (G.D. Spradlin), to terminate a man named Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a part of the Army Special Forces. The two men grow concerned of Kurtz’s status and operations, stating that he has supposedly become insane and now rules over his own troops, who he formed in neutral ground Cambodia. Kurtz poses as a “God” to this group of people, and this is the way in which he rules over them. The film follows the journey of Benjamin L. Willard and a group of men that travel with him to his destination, while emphasizing the confusion, violence, and fear of the Vietnam War with each scene.

When we think of morals and beliefs, we associate this in a positive light, and when reflecting on the film, distinct loss of these morals and beliefs begins to shine through, as part of the political aspects depicted. The film incorporates the ethics of surfing, provocative dancing by women, and the general association of drugs, that have been integrated into speech and scenes. In particular, looking at the introductory scene of the film, in which displays a film crew and American journalists filming soldiers, death and all the surrounding air strikes, essentially turning the war into means of crowd-pleasing entertainment for the public. As we reflect on this, we can say this is quite inhumane, turning the tragedy taking place and downgrading the importance of it, into entertainment. Simple values and morals of respect and dignity seem to lack here. Moreover, another scene in the film that strongly depicts the loss of a nation’s ethics, would be during the time where Willard and his crew make a stop at a military post, where an entertainment show was put on in the evening hours for all the men. The show consisted of playboy ladies dressed in cowboy apparel, performing rather provocative dances. While all the American soldiers hoot and yell over the women up on stage, the camera incorporates a shot of the Vietnamese villagers behaving very calmly and maturely, as they eat their rice, not being phased at all by the performers, in contrast to the soldiers. This is evident of the differing morals and ethics between the Vietnamese and Americans, showing just how foolish the soldiers had behaved during this scene in comparison. The scene concludes with the almost all the men losing any restraint on themselves, and proceeded to climb onto the stage to harass the women while Willard is shown sitting back, with facial expression in disgust. This facial expression is yet another cue integrated into the scene to send a message of the loss of ethics, demonstrating how, in fact, filthy the soldiers were. In addition, further into the film, the audience is exposed to how Willard and his boat crew trade barrels of fuel in return of receiving pleasure by the playmates. Once again, this clearly demonstrates the degrading of values, of how these men give away precious fuel in the midst of war and a long journey ahead of them, when they need it most, to receive intimate attention from a woman. This essentially depicts their priorities at the time.  These women that are integrated into the film serve as a very important symbol to give across this message. From turning the war into means of entertainment, to demonstrating the shallowness of the American soldiers when it comes to provocative entertainment, emphasizes the loss of a nation’s ethics, as well as serves to provide an interesting contract of these values to the Vietnamese, also further underlining the absurdity of them.  

As we get deeper into the psychology behind war, the film perfectly depicts the emotional and psychological deterioration of the soldiers, as well as the protagonist himself, Willard. As Willard and his crew move further upriver, they begin to experience enhanced emotional detachment with themselves as well as reality, and ultimately reach some sort of change to their persona. In various scenes, each crew member participates in this experience in their own way, with whatever they might have encountered during a specific scene. One crew member has an encounter with a tiger as he enters the jungle, which traumatizes him, leading to where he appears to no longer be himself. Following, he then slowly withdraws emotionally from the crew. Once a tragic death comes upon one of the crew members, another breaks down and experiences vast emotional distress, and so becomes an altered individual as a result. Face paint use became prominent as the film went deeper into their adventures, indicating a “change” of self as well. Ending with the protagonist, Willard, he also seems to become more obsessed with his target, Kurtz, as the voice-overs used become more persistent and analytical of Kurtz’s life and background, perhaps going overboard. Willard continues to analyze Kurtz very deeply, almost trying to get into the head of this “evil genius”, as they called him.

Tying this all together, we can see the underlying psychological effects and the loss of precious ethics, that politics bring upon individuals and society. The Vietnam war consisted of the clash between two political beliefs, with North Vietnam being supportive of the communist regime, and the South being supportive of the democracy regime (Encyclopedia Britannia, 2016). The war between these two political systems depicts the casualties it brought upon, both death and psychological casualties in individuals throughout the duration of “Apocalypse Now”. Further back into history, we can evaluate and see that the Vietnam War can be considered as a chain reaction to the Cold War, that was once between the United States and the Soviet Union, both with differing political views on how to run a society. The tragic effects of these political battles are not only depicted in this film by the detachment and insanity of soldiers, but also the amount of casualties it has brought in history. Innocent people have lost their lives, and these political fights have changed the lives of many. Thus, war films like “Apocalypse now” are a great source of depicting how politics causes grief and insanity, as well as the deterioration of values and ethics.

Francis Ford Coppola’s incorporation of various symbols in the film such as masks, fog, darkness and the river, all serve to additionally emphasize the psychological journey Willard and his crew go through. Masks can bring upon the message of changing one’s individuality. It can depict an alteration in persona or an incorporation of a new identity in order to deal with the emotional trauma that war brings to these soldiers. During the opening scenes of the film, Willard is shown breaking the glass showing his self-reflection. This can be interpreted metaphorically as breaking his old persona. The voice-overs used during this scene further enhanced the understanding of why he is doing so, essentially underlining that his experiences in the military changed him as a man, for the worse. Towards the end of the film, numerous characters began to incorporate the use of face paint, as mentioned previously, to metaphorically camouflage into their “new” individuality. The intense fog coupled together with the river and many dark scenes, serves a message to the audience of the characters swimming further into the abyss/darkness of war, swimming towards the terrifying unexpected. The fog also adds an additional meaning of confusion and estrangement from reality to the crew, and this is evident through the scenes in which they are floating through the river and they cannot see anything. The crew members get quiet and expect the unexpected. This causes a sense of fright, shown in their facial expressions, as well as overall confusion. This heavy use of fog puts the characters in a “vulnerable” state, which further portrays fear, also shown by the use of close-ups onto facial expressions.

Cinematography was successful in this film, with the fusion of many extreme close-ups and regular close-ups, music to emphasize emotions and action build-up, eye-level shots, and many more. Extreme close-ups of character’s facial expressions allow for a deeper understanding and relation to emotions being emphasized, as discussed in class (Moura, 2016). This allowed for the audience to gain a greater understanding of what the character might be thinking in the situation, and was incorporated very well. Music in certain scenes allowed for the build-up of action, whether the tempo would be fast and dramatic, or slow and suspenseful. Certain pieces of music also served as a symbolic approach in the film, such as the music female performers danced to. It symbolized the typical American style songs which served the soldiers a memory of home they so longed for. Eye-level shots were increasingly used as well, specifically in conversation, that gives the audience the feel that they are seeing and understanding from the eyes of the character, as also examined in class (Moura, 2016). The fade-in and fade-out of scenes, especially in the opening parts of the film, made the beginning quite unique and enticing. With the use of these elements, some scenes overlapped each other, with one scene in the background showing the continuation of war, while having a faded image on top showing facial expressions and various actions. Furthermore, long shots and wide shots also played a vital role in cinematography of “Apocalypse Now”. This was most often used in shots of landscape, and flying military aircrafts. They were used to portray the whole environment of the scene. Political objects were also integrated, such as the American flag and U.S military uniforms. In addition, the first half of the film heavily unified colorful cinema with the use of various colored smoke bombs that enhanced the picture, while the second half of the film transitioned into the heavy use of fog and darker-toned colors. Overall, cinematography was integrated quite well within the film, and did a fantastic job displaying environments and emotions, and the use of rich colors.

Politics can shape who we are as individuals and our beliefs, but more predominately, shape our society and play a vital role in how a nation is run. The clash of different political views between nations has caused tragic impacts on individuals both physically and psychologically. Thus, taking Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film, “Apocalypse Now”, and looking deeper into these factors, the film does a fantastic job in demonstrating the shadowy emotional distress behind war, through its subthemes of the deterioration of a nation’s ethics, coupled with the depiction of madness, insanity, and detachment as a result of political wars.

 

References

Vietnam War. (n.d). In Encyclopedia Britannica online. Retrieved from               https://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War

Francis Ford Coppola: Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2016, Retrieved from              http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000338/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Dirks, T. (n.d.). Apocalypse Now (1979). Retrieved October 10, 2016, from http://www.filmsite.org/apoc.html

Metropolis: An Illustration of the Consequences of Modernity

by April Chin

POL128 - Ryerson University

Modernization is the transition from a pre-modernistic, agrarian, to an industrialized, ‘modern’ society. Societies grow and evolve through this process, which leads to results that are beneficial and consequential. Director Fritz Lang showcases the more damaging effects that arise from this societal transformation in his silent feature film Metropolis. The city of Metropolis is highly built on industry, more specifically machinery, clearly indicative through the film’s science-fiction qualities and visually stimulating, highly industrialized sets used to tell the story to make up for the lack of dialogue. Industrialization is one of the driving forces to a city’s way to modernity, which Metropolis is no exception to, and it results in growing social disparities. The society falls victim to extreme class inequality where the elites remain in the metropolis and the workers are exiled into the underground City of Workers. A further consequence of industrialization is the rise of capitalism. In the film, Metropolis is implied to be functioning in a capitalist system where there is greater priority towards profit over morals. The president, Jon Fredersen’s ignorance towards the blatant social issues causes instability between the classes resulting in both cities’ demise. The modernization that Metropolis is built upon is a reflection of Director Lang’s underlying fear of the consequences of the process.

Metropolis resonates with the struggles in Germany back in the 1920s. The Germans’ use of cinema as an escape from the reality of the aftermath of World War I, Fritz Lang avoids the backlash of a too realistic film and creates Metropolis, allowing them to virtually experience a world that is not theirs through science fiction. Germany’s desperation to recover from the lost war led to all sorts of economic problems. In order to restore the nation’s state, the government believed the best method in doing so was to increase the productivity of the mechanical industry   to lead their economic rehabilitation (Fischer, 2005). The development of the city of Metropolis can be said to be similar of the post-war situation. Although the film lacks the mention of a war, the use of industry as a mean of economic gain is evident. This is shown through a rendition of the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, told by a female preacher by the name Maria. She tells the story to make it relevant to her audience of workers with an emphasis on the disconnection between the people who envisioned the tower and the labourers who were building it for them. The story serves as a metaphor for their current situation as being the ‘hands’ responsible for keeping the city above running. They have built the tower where Joh Fredersen’s office lies, also called the Tower of Babel, and everything that Metropolis has come to be. Nonetheless, Fredersen governs the city by which the two social classes remain divided.

The significance of machinery in Metropolis emulates the rise of industry in Germany to combat the previously mentioned post-war economic struggles. The majority of the jobs available during this era were industrial so people took what they could. Therefore, a shared consequence is the formation of discontented workers. As expressed in a review on modernization by Kuthialia (1973), “during industrialization, economic pressure induces peasants to become workers, but mainly discontented ones.” This explains how Metropolis could operate on the inequality created by Fredersen. The workers may presumably be “peasants” from the previous social system and have no other qualifications for better opportunities than manual labour. Meanwhile, the elites are arguably the more intellectual, thus live in the comfort of Metropolis. The progression to modernity creates more jobs resulting in a wider range of social classes, but distinction between each still exist, suggesting the difficulty of moving up in status.

Even greater social disparities arise due to the state’s economic interest on industrialization. Metropolis show features of capitalism and exemplifies the unequal nature of such a system through the divided cities. The film ties back to the 1920s in Germany when there was “fixation on economic growth that big businesses had shown little regard of the nation’s well-being, remaining more concerned about their profits.” (Fischer, 2005). The film unravels the truth behind capitalism where only the wealthy benefits from the system while the poor continue to become poorer. The rich that live in Metropolis are those that Fredersen can profit from, ultimately allowing for the city to grow. As the president, he is capable of monopolizing the system and keeping everyone in their place resulting in the growing wealth of the elites, and the workers’ profitless and laborious prolonging lifestyle. He goes through extra measures to maintain his power over the City of Workers as he checks up on them himself since the firing of his secretary for not reporting on the commotion occurring underneath. He discovers the catacombs and witnesses a spectacle that would become problematic for him where the workers can think otherwise of rising to the top, in both literal and social context; he sees Maria giving hope to her audience about an alliance forming between both cities. He then proceeds to ruin her image and break the workers’ trust on her by creating a ‘machine-man’ in her image to wreck havoc in the underground city. This method may be fictional, yet it is still undoubtedly unethical. Fredersen’s strategy is similar to films that showcase a capitalistic theme that places profits and wealth above everything else and disregards ethics (Christensen, 2015).

            Fredersen’s dictatorship eventually causes the downfall of both cities, implicative of the consequence of an unstable society. Prior to overseeing Maria in the catacombs, he discovers the machine-man, a recent invention by a prototypical mad scientist, Rotwang. Fredersen gets Rotwang to agree on making machine-Maria and orders him to command the machine-Maria to deceive the workers and cause chaos in Workers City. Fredersen wants to anger them into wrongdoings so he can claim the right to use force against them. However, he receives a backlash as Rotwang commands machine-Maria to cause mayhem everywhere rather than just Workers City alone. Machine-Maria shatters the idea of a mediator, the workers’ only hope for a better life, and incites an uprising. As mentioned by Fischer (2005), “the principle champions of resistance are the working-class masses”, Fredersen faces an angered resistance group that sought out to destroy the machines that kept his beloved city operating. The resistance also faces a backlash after the machine annihilation that has caused flooding in the underground city where they left their children behind. Fortunately the children were saved, but beforehand the group was too preoccupied rejoicing to the wrecked machinery. Kuthiala (1973) states in their review where “discontented groups form among workers in the occurrence of modernizing aristocracy, which aristocrats bring about their own destruction”, can be said in Fredensen’s situation. His ambition to improve Metropolis exclusively was not going to work with how the city is being operated through the social inequality he built and tried to maintain. The discontented workers would eventually no longer be passive with the terrible working and living conditions he has given them. The decision to use machine-Maria as a manipulation tool, driven by his anxiety over power, was in fact the trigger to empowering the workers. The downfall of Metropolis could also be considered his own.

A society’s translation to modernity shows its acceptance to the advancement of science and technology. However, Director Lang decides to exhibit the flaws of modernization in Metropolis and this critical review focuses on the social outcomes of industrialization present in the movie. Social division could not be any clearer than the extreme isolation of the workers, being forced to live and work in an underground city, away and out-of-sight from the higher society that lies on the surface. In addition, the leadership that puts self-interest first will only cause the system to crumble. Such issues shown in the film can be found in the twenty-first century. Fritz Lang’s predictions of the future are not entirely wrong since they are current issues in certain parts of the world; meanwhile, it would be unfitting to dismiss the multitude of benefits found in a modern society.

Metropolis may have represented what a modern society is today after the joining forces of Metropolis and Workers City, with the help of the mediator. This solution could have come sooner if the president did not blatantly ignore all the problems wrong with Workers City and its existence overall. Although, it is possible for the film to end without the formation of the alliance, and to Metropolis’ doom, if not for the person who fills role of the mediator to be the president’s son, Freder. No one else would be able to convince Fredersen to join alliances with the workers; therefore, only Freder could be the mediator that brings peace between the two social classes and minimize the division. This circumstance seems to follow the trend in American films during the 1920s mentioned in Projecting Politics, “heroic workers and sympathetic portraits of workers became rare.” (Christensen, 2015). Metropolis cannot conclude with a ‘heroic worker’; Freder’s role is necessary for the development of the plot and of other characters, and he happens to be outside the working class—a high-standing hero. Despite his status, he fits the role and manages to make the industry and labour cooperate.

References 

Christensen, T., Haas, E., & Haas, P. (2015). Projecting Politics: Political Messages in American Films Second Edition. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. Retrieved fromhttp://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/lib/ryerson/reader.action?docID=2011203

Fischer, C. (2005). Scoundrels without a Fatherland? Heavy Industry and Transnationalism in Post-First World War Germany. Contemporary European History, 14(4), 441–464. doi: 10.1017/S0960777305002717.

Kuthiala, S. K. (1973). Review [Review of the book The Political Consequences of Modernization]. Contemporary Sociology, 2(3), 312-314. Available from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2064201Pommer, E. (Producer), & Lang, F. (Director). (1927). Metropolis [Motion picture]. Germany: Universum Film.

Obesity and Politics

by Christian Zanetti

POL128 - Ryerson University

Everyone in today’s society hopes to live a healthy and happy life, nevertheless people are constantly looking for ways to fulfill this goal.  Although living a healthy lifestyle appears to be straightforward, there are several external influences that mislead people and cause them to make harmful choices.  The film Super Size Me, by Morgan Spurlock, demonstrates the negative health influences society faces and the role of politics throughout this dilemma.  In this film, Spurlock divides his documentary into sections and uses comedy to address different components of his argument. Throughout the film, he portrays the theme that obesity has to do with not only personal responsibility but corporate responsibility as well.  Ultimately, Spurlock demonstrates the importance of living a healthy lifestyle and allows the audience to determine the role politics plays in finding a solution to one of the leading causes of death in North America.  The film Super Size Me successfully depicts the themes of personal, corporate and political responsibility, while including features of a comedic documentary of Morgan Spurlock’s 30-day McDonald’s diet.

            Obesity in the United States of America (USA) from the early 2000’s to today prompted the development of several films about the epidemic.  The majority of these films such as, Fed up and Overfed & Undernourished, were strictly documentaries trying to inform people about the dangers of obesity.  The film Super Size Me was also a documentary however it takes a slightly different approach and uses the form of comedy to grab the attention of the audience.  Furthermore, director and producer Morgan Spurlock separates his documentary into different chapters and uses non-diegetic sounds such as voice-overs and songs related to the themes of the movie.  Spurlock also uses diegetic sounds such as the unwrapping of the food and drinking out of the cup, which helps make it relatable and more realistic to the audience.  At the end of the film, the epilogue does a fantastic job by including all the information necessary to help answer any of the audiences’ remaining questions.   

Before analyzing the film Super Size Me it is important to understand the situation surrounding certain fast food restaurants in the early 2000s.  “In 2002 McDonald’s corporation was the subject of two high profile lawsuits alleging liability for weight-related health claims”(Carpenter & Tello-Trillo, 2015).  Although most people understand that fast food restaurants are not the place to go to have a healthy well-balanced meal, others tried to put the blame on the corporations.  At the beginning of the film, Spurlock discusses one of these lawsuits regarding two teenage girls attempting to sue McDonald’s blaming the organization for their obesity and illnesses.  Lawyers for McDonalds stated, “The danger of its food are universally known and that they could not prove their weight and health problems were caused solely by their McDiet”.  In response to these claims, the judge states that “if lawyers for the teens can show that McDonalds intends for people to eat its food for every meal of every day and that by doing so would be unreasonably dangerous, they may be able to state a claim” (Spurlock, 2004).  Throughout this scene, Spurlock does a tremendous job of narrating over the complex law reports being shown to the audience and helps viewers clearly understand.

After hearing about this case, Morgan Spurlock decided to go 30 days eating solely McDonald’s products for breakfast, lunch and dinner, while exercising the same amount as an average American.  Spurlock consults with several doctors before he starts his new diet, during his diet and again at the end to help evaluate the overall health impact it will have.  Ultimately, Spurlock had several negative health implications such as weight gain and rising cholesterol that were noticeable as early as day 5 and escalated from there. 

Throughout this process, Spurlock uses many different types of interviews. He has conversational interviews when he is speaking to his doctors about his overall health and the changes in his health over the 30 days.  Additionally, Spurlock gets public opinion by having informal interviews with people on the street and formal interviews with experts in nutrition. Throughout these interviews, Spurlock uses many different camera shots and angles to help the audience understand the point being made. These different camera angles also help capture the mise en scène by showing the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in play.  In between interviews, Spurlock does a tremendous job presenting the harmful reality in a comedic way by using unpleasant cartoons to represent the harmful effects of fast food.  Overall, these different camera shots and animations get his message across and keep the audience engaged and interested. 

Many of the mistakes being made in society today are commonly due to personal choices people make.  In the film Super Size Me, Spurlock introduces the theme that the problems with obesity are not only our own fault, but also responsibilities of the fast food corporations.  At the beginning of his documentary, Spurlock poses two questions and asks the audience, “are the food companies solely to blame for this epidemic?” and “where does personal responsibility stop and corporate responsibility begin?” To answer his second question, Spurlock argues that the advertisements that these corporations use target children, which is extremely influential and at the same time unethical.  Spurlock divides this section of his documentary and labels it “The Impact” together with an animation of a young Ronald McDonald in a wheel chair, symbolizing the consequences of these advertisements.  Although Spurlock accuses corporations of targeting children and should therefore take some responsibility, he also explains to the audience that these organizations are running a business. Spurlock explains that in the end, it comes down to personal responsibility and it is ultimately up to us to make responsible choices.

            There are many different ways to get a message across without saying anything.  Certain movies present ideas and themes but leave it up to the audience to interpret what they think the film is trying to communicate.  In the article ‘Saying things without appearing to have said them’: politics and protest in Jafar Panahi's This Is Not a Film, author Trent Griffiths explains how an Iranian film director, Jafar Panahi, was arrested on charges of collusion and intent to produce propaganda against the Islamic Republic.  During his 6 years of house arrest, Panahi creates a video diary, This Is Not a Film, in protest of his 20-year directing ban (Griffith, 2015).  “This Is Not a Film depicts the Iranian artistic tradition ‘saying things without appearing to have said them’ and as a result Panahi has no choice to speak directly so he speaks symbolically instead” (Griffith, 2015).  Although American culture is far different than Iranian culture, films still present ideas without directly stating them to the audience.  In the film Super Size Me, the concept that politics has a role to play in the obesity epidemic is mentioned briefly near the end of the film; however Spurlock does not get into much detail about this issue.  Spurlock poses a new question and asks “How much influence on government legislators does the food industry have?”  The response to his question is that the food industry is an enormous business in the United States and therefore they employ very well paid lobbyists.  “These lobbyists are in Washington for two purposes; number one, to make sure no government agency ever says “eat less” and number two, that the government never passes legislation that is unfavorable” (Spurlock, 2004).  Instead of pursuing this idea that the government has a bigger involvement than one would anticipate, Spurlock lets the audience make their own decision as he focuses the corporate problems by visiting the Grocery Manufacturer of America (GMA) and finally trying to contact McDonald’s directly.  Nevertheless, one point of view is that the government is able to make a difference by introducing guidelines for healthy eating and by not allowing food industry lobbyists to have an influence on legislature.  Ultimately, Spurlock introduces the notion that politics has a role to play in the obesity epidemic, but leaves it up to the viewers to make their own judgment on the significance of their role. 

            The film Super Size Me successfully discuses the importance of a healthy lifestyle, while depicting the themes of personal, corporate and political responsibility, with features of a comedic documentary of Morgan Spurlock’s 30-day McDonald’s diet.  In this film, Spurlock divides his documentary into chapters in addition to using a comedic approach to discuss different components of his argument.  One theme that Spurlock presents is that although some blame can be placed on corporations, people have to take personal responsibility if they hope to live a healthy life.  In the end, Spurlock suggests that politics plays a part in preventing the growth of obesity but leaves the significance up to the interpretation of the viewers.  People in society have to understand that although politics and corporations are involved in the obesity epidemic, it is ultimately up to them to be the difference they wish to see.

Work Cited

Carpenter, C., & Tello-Trillo, S. (2015, March). Do ‘Cheeseburger Bills’ Work? Effects of Tort Reform for Fast Food. Retrieved September 29, 2016, from https://www.economics.mcmaster.ca/documents/seminars/2015_carpenter 

Griffiths, T. (2015). ‘Saying things without appearing to have said them’: Politics and protest in Jafar Panahi's This Is Not a Film (2011). Studies in Documentary Film, 9(1), 28-41. doi:10.1080/17503280.2014.1002249  

Spurlock, M. (Producer & Director). (2004). Super Size Me [Motion picture].  United States: Samuel Goldwyn Films.