King Corn

When I first heard that this documentary was about corn, I thought to myself “oh brother, here’s another one of those monotonous dialog containing films. The second thing that crossed my mind was how on Earth people could make an hour and half film about the crop that shaped America, (physically and economically). In my opinion, Family Guy conveyed the message of corn very accurately in this side scene.

I had no clue that of all things, that corn would be as important as it actually is. There is even a nationally recognized Corn Palace  located in Mitchell, South Dakota. Visit it here at: http://www.cornpalace.org/

The building itself is very intriguing because the outside façade is entirely made of corn husks, and as a matter of fact I have been there.

One of my favorite quotes from the documentary was when it was mentioned that this is the first generation to have the possibility to not out live our parents. I think that is sad because it is solely based on the American diet, which is completely filled with high-fructose corn stuff. If Americans were more aware of their diet, then maybe the rates of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity will slim down. Another quote that that interested me was towards the end when it was said that: “we live in a generation that maybe has too much.” Then, the next clip was perfectly portrayed when it showed the mountainous pile of corn kernels. Just imagine how many people one of those piles/silos of corn could feed.

Catastrophic Cove

All I have to say about this documentary is wow. This documentary film crucially analyzes and questions the ways and morals of Japan's mass dolphin harvesting. Throughout the film, a well noted dolphin activist, Ric O'Barry, attempts to frame and capture the notorious actions that the Japanese fishermen are doing. As well as trying to protect the dolphins and free them, Ric O'Barry also does a very adequate job of educating the public on mercury poisoning that resides in the meat and highlighting the potential hazards that can occur.

This film is obviously is told from the ocean conservationists point of view, solely because he wants to illuminate what is going on the island of Taiji. He notes that the dolphin drive that is going on now accounts for over 23,000 dolphins being harvested each year, which is several times greater than the whaling industry that happened in the Arctic. It saddened me to find out about how these Japanese fishermen tortured and herded these dolphins, abusing them as if they were not alive. The scene that really grabbed my attention was when the female marine biologist was observing the dolphins within the cove and she spotted a certain one. This certain dolphin was swimming on top of the water, desperately trying to escape. Rather than escaping, it soon bled out from all of the spear wounds and sadly never came to the surface again.

Although this film has seem to cause a plethora of controversy, I believe that this documentary does a profound job at showing the "real and humane" side of things, as well as exposing the Japanese people for their inexcusable actions. The secret filming that went on showed that many of these island inhabitants did not want the rest of the world to know what they are doing and how, because ironically, they knew it was very wrong and that they would get shut down by the government.

I believe that Ric O'Barry was doing the right thing in protecting these intelligent creatures and I congratulate his courage for going against the Japanese people with such gusto. In any situation he could have been hurt or killed, yet he trifled on and continued to act on what he believed. In this clip here, it shows how dedicated these activists were in saving these creatures. All in all, this film was very interesting and it shined a light on a topic that a majority of  the world doesn't even know about. I guess the most shocking thing besides the cruelty towards these dolphins, was the fact that other Japanese islanders did not have a clue about what was happening or how their dolphin meat came to be.