The film Finding North (Jacobson, Silverbush 2012) shows the day-to-day struggles of several individuals suffering from hunger. The film calls for more tax money to be given to charity programs that distribute food to the hungry. Unfortunately, the film fails to address the possibility that simply passing out free food is not enough to end hunger in America. Most of our country’s welfare programs treat the symptoms of poverty, while neglecting to treat its causes. Hunger and poverty are inseparable; attempting to cure one while neglecting the other is pointless. Merely giving hungry people food only provides a short-term solution to a long-term problem. It may temporarily fill empty stomachs, but it also further perpetuates the status quo of poverty in America. To truly put a stop to hunger, the social and economic structure of our country, which allows individuals to be born into poverty and remain there for the span of their lives, needs to come to an end.
Drew...as we talked about last week, this is quite well written. Your paper needs to argue something about the film, however, more directly. What might you want to say about the film's representation of hunger?
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