Dmitry Kostyukov
Mr. Barrington
English 12
June 13, 2019
The basis for our one minute film, was the poem Ronald McDonald’s Elegy. Our film began with Ronald Mcdonald dying in a hospital bed, as he is dying, a man is eating a McDonald’s burger that visibly makes him disgusted. The moment Ronald McDonald dies, the man tosses the burger to the ground in disgust. This scene has multiple symbols, Ronald McDonald symbolizes McDonald’s as a firm; and with the death of Ronald McDonald, comes the end of an era of good food at McDonald’s. The man symbolizes McDonald’s customers, with the death McDonald’s standards, the customers are no longer willing to eat their food, therefore the man throws the burger on the ground. Although this scene was not in the poem, it provides a backstory for the film, and the use of symbols enhances the viewing experience. The following scene shows Ronald McDonald laying in a coffin, which is just a mere nugget box. This shows the disposability of Ronald McDonald and how he is not really cared for. The next scene shows children crying, and the workers being happy. This shows how the death of McDonalds mainly affects children, as they care more about Ronald McDonald and usually enjoy McDonalds food more than adults; while the workers, who are the ones that see the true side of McDonalds and how they treat their employees, are relieved. The final scene shows the same customer eating at Wendy’s, this shows how quickly people can move on, as there are always alternatives. We were also able to encompass the satirical and sarcastic nature of the poem within our film by including elements of humour and satire. Such as the worker cooking a bun on a stove, and the burger slowly falling on a string. With this project we learned a lot about transferring literature into film. We learned how to find the key elements of a poem and implement them into our film. We figured out how to emphasize certain emotions and set a somber mood by using background music.