{"id":14267,"date":"2012-03-13T10:08:45","date_gmt":"2012-03-13T16:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sustainablog.org\/?p=14267"},"modified":"2012-03-13T10:08:45","modified_gmt":"2012-03-13T16:08:45","slug":"plastic-shopping-bag-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/plastic-shopping-bag-film\/","title":{"rendered":"The Deep Inner Thoughts of a Plastic Shopping Bag (Film)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"plastic<\/a><\/p>\n

It is certainly both odd as well as obvious to claim that plastic bags<\/a> do not have deep inner thoughts.\u00a0 They do not cherish, yearn, regret, or hope.\u00a0 They have no mothers, friends, or soul mates, and they certainly do not have existential crises.\u00a0 Despite all of this, the SnagFilms<\/a> documentary “Plastic Bag<\/a>” highlights their incredible role as narrators in a metaphorical autobiography.<\/p>\n

Born from a supermarket in a seemingly suburban setting, an anonymous plastic bag embarks on an all too human and all too existential struggle for meaning and significance.\u00a0 The bag is brought home by a woman (whom he calls his maker), and is welcomed as a plastic lunch bag, tennis bag, and ice pack.\u00a0 Eventually, the plastic protagonist is used to clean up after the maker\u2019s dog, and it is promptly discarded into the garbage. \u00a0Finding himself in a landfill, the bag becomes obsessed with returning to his maker, and he embarks on a journey to find her.\u00a0 Along the way he meets other bags and wavers between moments of great self-worth and periods of extreme existential anxiety.\u00a0 Craving meaning in his life he continues his search for his maker.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the bag learns of a vortex in the ocean where a hundred million tons of things just like him had gathered. \u00a0Eventually, he joins his kind in the vortex, but he gets spun around beneath the surface. \u00a0After this, we learn that he has been telling us his story after being stuck on a rock beneath the vortex. \u00a0Despite his predicament, he still retains hope (albeit delusional hope) that he will one day return to his maker.\u00a0 The final words he speaks in the film regard what he would hypothetically say to his maker if he could see her again: \u201cI wish you had created me so that I could die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Underneath this existential autobiography is a profound message about environmental consciousness, and the final line of the film reveals the particular pragmatic message of “Plastic Bag<\/a>.” \u00a0Even as the bag swirls in the ocean, flies through the air, and lands in a landfill it will not \u201cdie.\u201d\u00a0 Presumably, the plastic bag\u2019s death would occur when it brakes down and deteriorates; yet even on its extremely treacherous and taxing journey, the plastic bag stays in tact.\u00a0 Thus, the inclusion of this final line both describes the severity of the bag\u2019s existential suffering, as well as calls on us to produce more environmentally responsible materials.<\/p>\n

This SnagFilm<\/a> is an excellent choice for those interested in philosophy and the environment, and it can be viewed here or at http:\/\/www.snagfilms.com\/films\/title\/plastic_bag<\/a><\/p>\n