I was interested in seeing "Ritchie"s picks " recommendation of the
movie "The Story of Stuff" http://www.storyofstuff.com/ However, I hope
that after viewing it as librarians we recognize it as a wonderful
example of propaganda. The ideas of what the government "should" be
doing and how it is polishing the corporate boots are classic. I love
the underlying message that we should not consume as much as we do, but
I see the greatest value in this film as a wonderful to teach students
about the construction of propaganda films.
The "facts" that immediately struck me included the use of 1: "only 4%
of our original forests remain" What is an original forest? If they
mean "old growth forest" I don't think anyone would dispute that most
old growth forests disappeared long ago, but the movie suggests that
there were far more forests in the U.S. (when?) than there are at
present. While there are less total forested acres in the U.S. than
there were 400 years ago, there are far more than there were 100 years
ago. However, the impression given by the movie is that we are
deforesting our land.
2: Eisenhower's office of economic development says the major purpose
of the economy is to make consumer goods and the narrator wants to know
why Justice (for example) isn't the major purpose. I hope students
could immediately see the problem in this logic, but as school
librarians it's our job to point these things out or to make them aware
of the logical inconsistencies in the narrator's statements.
Cynthia Lutz
Assistant Librarian
John Bapst Memorial High School
100 Broadway
Bangor, Maine 04401
207-947-0313 ext109
clutz@johnbapst.org
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