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# World Justice 101
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/19191/
- Published: 2007-01-12T17:01:28.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:35:45.000Z
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 18:23

**by Jessica Reed** 

As I walked back towards the tube station from the screening of Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation, I found myself in low spirits.  
  
It was not the movie’s unarguably valid political stances ("fast food industries make a mockery of health concerns and afflict our culture and ethics"), its overall half hearted tone, or even pop star Avril Lavigne's insipid cameo which triggered my blues. Truth be told, I was vaguely depressed by the increasing sense of apathy and deja-vu which i developed as the narrative lines evolved.  
  
I am perhaps growing into a cynical and disillusioned movie goer; that or Linklater missed the window of opportunity (1999-2004?) in which his movie could have been a punchy, highly political and cutting-edge movie. Had “Fast Food Nation” been released at the same time as Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine or Morgan Spurlock’s [Supersize me](http://www.supersizeme-thedebate.co.uk/?ref=opendemocracy.net), it makes little doubt that a work of fiction (amidst plenty of documentaries and other admirable [journalism efforts](http://www.nologo.org/?ref=opendemocracy.net)) would have been welcomed with more interest than in a post-democrats’ victory context, where thundering rants and angry manifestos seem to have lost all impact on their targeted demographics.  
  
Maybe this is where the problem lies: Fast food nation didn’t enrage me, nor did it teach me anything new about the collateral damages produced by the West’s [accelerated culture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation%5FX:%5FTales%5Ffor%5Fan%5FAccelerated%5FCulture?ref=opendemocracy.net). The myriads of plot lines (illegal immigration, drug and sexual abuse, activism and morale) end up harming the film’s coherence; many powerful arguments are picked up only to be conveniently forgotten too early. The final abattoir scene, in all its silent and bloody glory, may come as a shock to carnivores who are forced to contemplate their dietary carnage. It also makes meat-eaters feel responsible for the illegal workers’ grim fate, giving the movie a didactic tone which I could have done without. However it validates one of the film’s centrepiece, a line by rogue fast-food restaurant owner Harry Rydell, brilliantly played by Bruce Willis: "most people don't like to be told what's best for them." 

I don't mind being told what best-practices I should consider implementing in my own life; I just don't want to be confronted to the poor cinematographic version of (the otherwise admirable) [Adbusters](http://adbusters.org/home/?ref=opendemocracy.net) magazine, five years too late.