Much of the discussion in this semester’s ENG4U class encompasses on the problems of the 20th and 21st centuries, which includes mass consumption, overpopulation,government intervention, and technological advances. When Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks’s film Surviving Progress hit the theatres, it was befitting that the class see it in order to connect with everything they have learned throughout the semester. On Monday, December 12th 2011, Miss Tanya’s ENG4U class headed to Yorkville’s Cumberland Alliance to watch the film. It was evident that the students were excited to watch the documentary,but more so, to get a break from their daily routine in the classrooms. As the film approached its end, the common consensus among the students was the fact
that the documentary could have lessened the amount of talking throughout.
However, despite the not-so-exciting nature and a bit disappointing effect of the documentary, the students had a lot of say about the ideas that were presented in the film:
“we have to realize that thepeople in the world today are not using their own share of the world’sresources and even though not all people get to use it equally, scientists predict that the world will not be able to support the grand increase in population….To be able to stop over-consumerism, another tactic is to establish a method for countries to limit their control over other developing
countries.” –Selman Avci
“The documentary is influential and opens the audience’s eyes to where progress is leading civilization…what seemed like progress in history often backfired and spiralled us downwards towards collapse.” –Diyar Tugrul
“One of mankind’s biggest problem is to want more than they require” –Fatih Tamer
“This conflict of interest will continue among other countries as long as the resources are used carelessly and
unequally—that’s why in some territories, some people starve to death, while other people live a luxurious life…” –Furkan Kaya
“…the theorists in the documentary state that we need to distinguish between good and bad progress as it is spiraling us down, towards the end of the road.” –Erol Degirmenci
