I’ve been working at making my proposal for Engin. I ran to my friend Utku yesterday evening with an idea which now I have forgotten, because he came up with a better one.
“ I need a hero” — Bonnie Tyler
We created character named Bob. Bob is the hero which will hold our narrative together, a typical Turkish young man. We will follow his day, from the moment he wakes up, to the moment he goes to sleep. While he talks to narrates to the screen about what he does and why he does it, his carbon footprint ( microplastic, chemicals, palm oil, and pesticide intake, his garbage production) counts up at the bottom of the screen. Through breakfast, shower, gym, university, dinner, going out with friends — generally the daily activities of a human being — we will insert images which show how the food is grown, raised and processed, and the modern-day slavery involved in it.
The energy — food — service triangle is illustrated through inserts of imagery from these sectors, related to Bob’s daily consumer activities.
Bob even goes, as many Turkish people, to the lake, because the city is overcrowded. He wants to take a swim but the waters are polluted.
“I need filmables “ — ( Iben)
Naturally, this narrative will create a certain distance between the audience and Bob. The audience might think Bob is eating too much because he is a weightlifter, or uses too much make-up or perfume. He owns too many clothes.
The audience will criticize him. Bob dreams to buy a motorcycle and travel the world, he looks at fun videos of properties in Italy he’d like to own one day.
This is where we introduce Bob’s alter ego, Pete. Pete is a mindful type of consumer. He owns few clothes, eats only 50 g of meat a day, shops at the local vegetable market — with his own reusable fabric bags. He drinks water from a reusable glass bottle. The audience feels good about Pete. Pete is righteous. He does not dream of buying anything expensive. Pete is what we should all be doing. Or is it?
I want to show that Pete’s choices in low consumption do not have a significant impact on the environmental or the social labor crisis we are facing. The blame for the environmental crisis is not on the consumer, as the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions are not generated by individuals, but by industries and large-scale commercial activities.
Yet the consumer is the only one who can initiate the change. Large companies hire a platoon of lawyers to avoid accountability, the Turkish government is only creating more and more business at the cost of the environment and the people. The current economic recession seems to be used as an excuse for a variety of immoral, illegal and environmentally damaging business practices.
Pete and Bob have few choices
- most of the food in Turkey is made with pesticides, plastic and modern slave labor
- alternatives exist, but they not affordable on a normal salary.
- large scale industries are not regulated
- there are few employment choices
- there are no unions.
Misuse of nature — Modern day slavery — disappearance of animals and plants
Pattern of conquer — abuse — destroy from Persian, Hellenistic, Ottoman and Byzantine times.
Unglamorous shots
