Mr. D. Parsons, Canadian & World Studies Department, Colonel By Secondary School, Ottawa, Canada

"Politics Through Film Unit:

Documentary Film Analysis

The Story of Stuff:

Story of Stuff (website): Read Transcript for video

Why We Fight:

Official Sony Classics Website: Why We Fight (2006)

Discussion Questions:
1. What is the ‘crisis’ being presented?
     -ie. Why DO we fight? ...according to the film’s thesis
2. Character inventory:
    -List the forces of ‘right’? (trace how the film develops these characters)
    -List the forces of ‘wrong’? (trace how the film develops these characters)
3. What is the relationship between the forces of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’?
    -Who wins? How? When? Why?
4. How accurate is the film’s presentation of Eisenhower’s speech throughout the film?
5. According to the film, what are the 4 components of the ‘military industrial complex’?
6. How (if at all) does the film offer a resolution to the ‘crisis’?
7. In your opinion, in what way does the film offer a believable reality?
8. In your opinion, in what way does the film fail to offer a believable reality?

The War On Democracy

John Pilger Official Website

Discussion Questions:
1.Read course handout detailing "Washington Consensus"
2 . What is the ‘crisis’ being presented?
     -ie. What is the "War on Democracy" ...according to the film’s thesis
3 . Character inventory:
    -List the forces of ‘right’? (trace how the film develops these characters)
    -List the forces of ‘wrong’? (trace how the film develops these characters)
4 . What is the relationship between the forces of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’?
    -Who wins? How? When? Why?
5. Analysis of the Case Studies
6. How (if at all) does the film offer a resolution to the ‘crisis’?
7. In your opinion, in what way does the film offer a believable reality?
8. In your opinion, in what way does the film fail to offer a believable reality?

Country Case Studies (Additional Material):
Venezuela:
•
Guatemala:
•	External Source (1): (Harvard University)
•	External Source(2): (George Washington University)
Cuba
•
Chile
•	External Source (1): (George Washington University)
El Salvador
•
Nicaragua
•	External Source (1): (George Washington University)
Bolivia
•	External Source (1): PBS interview with Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada

Important Information:
World Trade Organization: World Trade Organization (WTO) -WTO in Brief (PDF) (*) -BBC Profile: WTO	International Monetary Fund: - IMF & WTO (from IMF.org) (*) - IMF & WTO (from BBC.co.uk) - What is the IMF (from IMF.org) - The IMF at a Glance (from IMF.org)
G8 G8 (Overview from BBC.co.uk) About the G8 (from Canada`s G8 Information page)	Washington Consensus: -Summary (from Harvard University)

(*) required reading

Inventory of Terms for Unit (in progress):

The Story of Stuff	Why We Fight	The War On Democracy
• materials economy (M.E.)	• President Eisenhower	• Washington Consensus
• (M.E.) - extraction	• Military Industrial Complex (x4)	• Milton Friedman
• (M.E.) - production	• Paul Wolfowitz	& the Chicago Boys
• (M.E.) - distribution	• Dick Cheney	• Hugo Chavez
• (M.E.) - consumption	• Donald Rumsfeld	• Venezuelan coup, 2002
• (M.E.) - disposal	• Boeing	• Jacabo Arbenz
• Victor Lebow	• Lockheed Martin	• United Fruit Company
• Planned obsolescence	• Haliburton	• John Foster Dulles
• Perceived obsolescence	• Frank Capra	• Allan Dulles
• Green chemistry	•	• Decree 900
• Zero Waste	•	• Rios Mont
• Closed Loop Production	•	• Fidel Castro
• Renewable Energy		• Fulgencia Batista
• Local Living Economies		• Augusto Pinochet
		• Salvador Allende
		• School of the Americas
Globalization:	Theory of Documentary Film:	• Roberto D'Aubuisson
• Free Trade	• 4 purposes of Documentary Film	• Samosa (Nicaragua)
• Economic Liberalism	• Nanook of the North	• Contras (Nicaragua)
• Bretton Woods		• National Endowment for Democracy
• G8		• Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
• World Bank		• Eva Morales
• IMF
• WTO