yearofplenty

New Development: Hollywood Considers Big Agribusiness Evil Enough to Carry the Plot

(Warning: In this post I will reveal a key detail of the movie "Unknown," but not THE key plot twist. I don't think my revelation will ruin the movie for you but if you want to play it safe you might want to skip this post.)

I saw the movie "Unknown" yesterday and while it was a pretty good movie, what impressed me the most is that the evil dark force that drives the plot of the movie is a large agribusiness interest out to protect their monopoly on genetically modified corn. While big ag. companies like Monsanto have been villainized in recent documentaries like Food Inc. and King Corn, this feature turn in major studio suspense thriller seems like a new cultural development. It may be the culmination of a recent trend.

The 2007 movie Michael Clayton featuring George Clooney portrays another menacing ag company that resorts to placing a car bomb in the Clooney character's car to help along a legal case. The 2009 flick The Informant, with Matt Damon, tells the story of Archer Daniels Midland as big-business price fixers. But Unknown takes it to a new level, with genetically modified corn as the key plot point and a major international mafia hit at the behest of the company. Instead of Cold War politics or Muslim extremism, the action of the movie is spurred on by agriculture wars. 

I'm intrigued by this as a cultural moment. Hollywood specializes in portraying large corporations as evil forces, so maybe this just shows that large ag. companies like Monsanto have grown big enough in the cultural consciousness to warrant the same treatment. It also hints that the topic of genetic modification of plants has hit the mainstream. In an interesting twist, the movie portrays the company as evil and greedy but makes no such judgment on the genetic modification of plants, actually celebrating a new strain of corn as a life-saving breakthrough. The problem with the new strain is that the developer wants to give the secret away instead of hoarding it for profit. While corn and GMO's are the topic, it's really a story about good old-fashioned greed.

As Hollywood develops this new genre of veggie-tales, I've got some recommendations. I'd like to see a movie that does the opposite of Unknown, by showing the companies as well-intentioned, but imaginatively plays out the dire consequences of the genetic modification of food in the long-term. That's actually the more realistic scenario. Maybe a cross between the Matrix and Animal Farm where humankind is ruled by frankenstein-like farm animals. Or something along the lines of Road Warrior, where all the oil is gone, all the mono-culture crops are ravaged by disease and insects, world economies collapse because of the shortage of grain, and hunger runs rampant. I'm not too worried about the first scenario, but the second story seems quite possible. 

Feel free to add your own movie plot ideas. 

Top Ten Posts of 2010 at Year of Plenty

According to Google Analytics these were the most popular blog posts on Year of Plenty in 2010.

1. Newsflash: Dairy Industry Wants You to Eat More Dairy - What's So Controversial About That?

This post created quite a stir. It got picked up by the president of Dairy Management Corp. and was emailed to all of his contacts. The folks at Domino's Pizza linked it all over the internet. James McWilliams at the Atlantic Monthly credited Bill Bishop at the Daily Yonder with being the first to grasp the way this story was being misreported, but I think I was the first one on the story. My first official big scoop.

2. World Comparison: Fresh vs. Processed Food Consumption

Google placed this high on their search criteria, so it has received a steady flow of clickers all year and also got picked up in some online communities.

3. How My Little Blog Out-Reported the New York Times

This was my follow up to the Newflash post about Dairy Management.

4. Roast House Coffee Newest Roaster on the Spokane Scene

This year I actually started doing some in-the-field reporting, visiting local businesses and writing up short narratives. Roast House was one of the first.

5. What Would You Do If You Had One Year to Live?

This was my first and only blog post to get "Dished," meaning Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish linked to it as one of his "Quotes of the Day". 

6. Wendell Berry: Gardening as Health Regimen and Holy Sacrament

This post got picked up a couple different places on the web.

7. American Farm Bureau President Declares War on "self-appointed and self promoting food experts" 

Unlike the post on Dairy Management where large ag interests were eager to see my blog as an asset, this post led to quite a push back from folks at the AFB and the conventional farming community. The AFB PR took issue with my characterization that the AFB president had declared war on consumers concerned with large ag. practices. 

8. Why You Shouldn't Rototill Your Garden

I did a whole series of gardening posts last Spring and this was the most popular of the bunch. Other popular gardening posts include; How to Turn Your Lawn Into a Vegetable Garden, Planning Your Garden Plot (Companion Planning, Rotation, and Location), How to Make Your Own Professional Seed Starting Soil Mix, Tips for Planting the Garden, 

9. How to Get Started Raising Chickens in Your Backyard: Choosing You Chickens

This was part of a series of posts on raising backyard chickens. The other posts included one on building and designing a chicken coop and another on convincing your spouse it's a good idea.

10. Year of Plenty | The Book

I'm told the book goes to print on January 15 and will be released on March 1, 2011.

Thanks for everyone who has contributed and commented on the blog in the last year. If you want to follow along in 2011 you can sign up for the RSS Feed here, you can follow the blog on Twitter here, or click the Like button below to follow on Facebook.