Long+Film+Annotation+1

Arunesh Ghosh, Annotation #1 12/24/11 PBS Frontline: The Spill

1. Title, director and release year?

The piece is a PBS: Frontline Special titled //The Spill.// It was written and produced by Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria. The segment aired on October 26th, 2010

2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film?

The narrative of the piece follows catastrophic accidents with various BP oil operations that eventually led to the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The segment highlights the notoriously unreliable track record of BP and brings to light questions as to how such a company got permission to engage in deep well drilling in the first place.

3. How is the argument or narrative made and sustained? How much scientific information is provided, for example? Does the film have emotional appeal?

The narrative follows a distinct progression throughout the piece, effectively framing and crafting its argument that the oil crisis can be attributed to a barbaric and callous corporate culture as well as leniency and political interest on the part of the federal government.

4. What sustainability problems does the film draw out?

The film effectively portrays the lack of care both of the environment and employees that typify the corporate culture of many of the largest organizations today. The piece traced many of the disaster that led up to the oil disaster directly to the money hungry, cust cutting corporate culture of BP. Throughout the segment, time and time again it is apparent that BP sacrificed safety and environmental regulation in exchange for higher profits. Even more disturbing perhaps is the sustainability problem of how our own government overlooked these ominous warning signs and in fact endorsed additional drilling ventures by BP. Even more disturbing was the stalling of current legislation that would effectively ban BP from deep sea drilling for seven years further indicating the existence of political interest at play.

5. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?

The entire segment was very effectively filmed and directed, presenting the main problem right off the bat and later exploring the deeper factors at hand such as corporate culture. Even more understandable yet an issue many times overlooked, is the possibility of our own political interests allowing such disaster to happen. Even candidates such as Obama, who one would expect to favor sustainable policies, allowed BP to expand its drilling operations despite a questionable track record.

6. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? Why?

I was not entirely convinced by the heavy bias that was placed on BP. Though their actions are truly detestable to say the least, it is more than likely that many other oil companies operate with a similar aggressive, cutthroat corporate culture. More blame I believe should be placed on political leniency and ineffective policy that allowed this company to expand when instead its growth should have been halted. If we continue to have faith in corporations adopting more sustainable practices or changing their corporate structure, while allowing lenient policy and regulations to exist, similar disaster might not be too far off.

7. What audiences does the film best address? Why

The film addresses audiences that are more sensitive to environmental issues, especially those that were directly affected by the Katrina disaster. Those who have interest in oil production of current BP employees might not be as receptive to the film. However, as the documentary showed even some current BP employees, especially those who are protected by unions are not afraid to show their dissatisfaction with their jobs.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">8. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Though the film in itself was very informative, if certain issues were explored further, the educational value of the segment would have been enhanced significantly. For one, if more time was spent focusing on the political factors that allowed for the expansion to occur, then perhaps more individuals would be inspired to make a change. Additionally, if more time was spent on the actual impact of the oil disaster, viewers who are not familiar with the gravity of the event could take something from the piece as well.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">9. What kind of action points of intervention are suggested by the film. If the film itself does not suggest corrective action, describe actions that you can’t imagine being effective.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The film was more of an informative piece detailing a specific issue. The segment itself does not focus on corrective issues in specific but definitely brings to light various factors that could have attributed to the oil spill disaster. Though not much corrective action is suggested in specific there are certain things that would not be effective in solving the problem. For one, we cannot maintain the current political environment which is over friendly to corporations such as BP. Secondly, current environmental laws and regulations must be strengthened and fortified by effective enforcement and monitoring mechanisms. It is important to note that regulations are only as effective as their enforcement mechanisms and in fact weak or ineffective enforcement mechanisms are one of the key ways politicians and corporations keep environmentalists in check. With regulations passed, most individuals assume equally effective enforcement and often times ease up on pressure regarding certain issues. If more individuals attempted to monitor the effectiveness and actual enforcement of issues then perhaps future problems such as this could be averted.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">10. What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">What surprised me the most about the events leading up to the spill was the ineffectiveness of regulatory agencies such as the EPA to see the impending threat and the lack of action to prevent it. My research brought me to resorethegulf.org which is the government site set up by the EPA dedicated to clean up efforts in the Gulf. Though the site is highly informative about current cleanup and recovery efforts and how to get involved it includes little information about EPA review or enforcement prior to the disaster. Review of the highly rigorous BP oil spill timeline on Wikipedia details various shortcuts and negligence of regulations that BP engaged in. What surprised me however, was that the EPA was either completely unaware of these transgressions or simply did not care. Either way, this is great cause for concern and a stark reminder of the need for the EPA to focus more on preventative action and enforcement rather than corrective and restorative action once damage has already been done.

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