Battle of the Bag: Deconstructing a Consumer Culture Icon

The environmental damage caused by ubiquitous plastic bags and worldwide attempts to suppress their proliferation is the twofold subject of this CBC documentary, which takes viewers back to the plastic bag revolution fostered by oil company engineers during the 1950s and recounts just how difficult it was to persuade shoppers to adopt their use (viewers will even meet a few plastic-bag collectors!). Of course, the emphasis in Battle of the Bag is on the downside: namely, the ecological impact on the modern world because so few bags are recycled and they're legendarily resistant to decomposition, which has led to campaigns to limit their use. Among the efforts described here are a San Francisco ordinance passed by the city council and a voluntary initiative launched in a small town by a single citizen, who persuaded merchants to discontinue stocking the bags. Another sequence shows a specialized “police force” in Mumbai that targets operations making bags exceeding legal size limits, since they clog the drainage system. The film also covers efforts to persuade consumers to return to paper or choose reusable cloth alternatives. An imaginative and compelling treatment of a potentially dry subject, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)