Fast Food Nation

I just finished watching the movie Fast Food Nation. I've never read the book, and I'm sure the experience of both is very different. But I have to say that I was greatly disturbed by the movie.

I know- it was supposed to unsettle me. To make me think about the way I'm spending my money when I go into McDonald's, and order a Super Duper Value McGiagantor Buger, with Awesome Huge McFries and a Kiddie Pool size McShake. And if I went into those establishments and ordered those (approximate) things, it would make me think.

But being a Vegetarian (for a good chunk of time), I don't go into these establishments, mostly because they don't cater to me. The only thing I can eat at most of those places are the fries and beverages. So I try not to frequent them. Because, while a dinner of fries and a chocolate shake sounds appealing to the taste buds, it sounds like hell to the stomach.

But I'm off topic.

The movie was... well, it was first and foremost unsettling. It seemed like a regular Hollywood film, and a P.E.T.A. video smashed together. The Hollywood parts were moving- the story of illegal immigrants forced to work in a meat packing plant, the high school girl who is working at her McJob until she can go to college, and the V.P. of McMarketing who has no clue how things really are done in the company.

The P.E.T.A part? Well... let's just say I could never get through that P.E.T.A. video in Philosophy class in undergrad... and after 4 years, nothing was different. The few bits I was able to see through my fingers (yes, I covered my eyes with my hands and hoped it would be over soon) are giving me the heebie jeebies still. There's something haunting (not the beautiful music kind, but the bloody headed Civil War General is following me everywhere, and he's not see through) about seeing a cow with no legs. Because they've been chopped off. No, really.

I might even stay away from soy-meat for a while...