King Korn Movie Review

Hayley French

LUEG Junemester

Movie Review

June 3, 2015

King Korn Movie Review

        Although we read about the disgusting treatment of animals and the industrialization of corn in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, it was much more eye-opening to actually witness it all in King Korn. The treatment of cows is what stood out to me the most in the film. I can’t believe that we make our animals obese and inactive in order to eat cheap and unhealthy meat. While I had always heard that purchasing grass-fed beef was the smarter choice, I didn’t really understand the point in paying the higher price. I honestly don’t know if I will ever be purchasing beef from the grocery store again because I’m sickened by the thought of supporting the industry even more. The fact that 70% of our antibiotics in the U.S. are fed to livestock, as stated in the movie, proves that feeding corn to cows is an inefficient practice. It may speed up their time to slaughter, but it is only making America sick and obese ourselves.

        I also found their discussion with Earl Butz to be particularly interesting. He really seemed to think that our agricultural methods are working great today (no surprise) by pointing out that Americans now only spend about 15-16% of their income on groceries. While I know that to some degree this is more realistic than spending over half of our income on food, I think the majority of Americans still spend at least 50% if you count the medical bills resulting from eating the standard American diet. Sure, it’s exciting that we can eat a cheeseburger for lunch and dinner if we really wanted to, but the novelty fades away when you are diagnosed with type-two diabetes or heart disease.

        It’s truly sad that corn farmers in Iowa that come from many generations of farmers are now just producing for our fast-food and sugar-crazed society. While they may have the ability to grow 4-times the corn now as their ancestors did, I don’t think they are happy with the way agriculture has transitioned. Hopefully there will be a day when these farmers will actually be able to eat the food that they grow again.

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