Rating:  out of five
Credits
Director/Producer: Morgan Spurlock
Executive Producers: J.R. Morley, Heather Winters
Director of Photography: Scott Ambrozy
Music Composers: Steve Horowitz, Michael Parrish
Editors: Stela Gueorguieva, Julie Lombardi
Running Time - 98 minutes
No MPAA Rating
Written By: Kelvin Hui
In the new film Super Size Me, director Morgan Spurlock decided to discover how detrimental eating fast food truly is for a person’s health. He documented the physical and emotional effects of eating nothing but McDonald's, three meals a day for an entire month. He got started on his journey, which took him to twenty cities in the United States, after watching a news story where two teenage girls were suing the food chain blaming it for their obesity. There were several rules that he applied to ensure that he would make the experiment all the more realistic for the many individuals who frequently eat fast food. The first was that he could only eat what was available over the counter at McDonald’s. He could not ‘super size’ his food by himself but if he was asked this very question then he couldn’t refuse. Finally, he had to consume every item on the menu at least once and it was mandatory for him to have three meals a day no matter what the circumstances were.
The techniques of representation for the motion picture were simple; most of the documentary was shot with what appears to be a normal camera, which doesn’t make it look special in terms of quality. Since it consists for the most part of interviews with ordinary individuals, the U.S. surgeon general, and a lobbyist for the fast-food industry, this is all that is really needed. Fortunately, with the combination of music, animation, illustrations, and paintings featuring McDonald’s in humourous and slightly frightening fashion it definitely has a visual impact. For example, at the very beginning of the film it shows children at a camp happily singing a song created for and by the food corporation. In another scene, a colourful map of Manhattan sprouts McDonald flags indicating each of the 83 locations on the small 14-mile island, proving just how many of these restaurants there are. Two specialists, a general practitioner, and a nutritionist who continually monitored Spurlock’s progress are also featured predominantly. They all tell him that everything should be fine at the end of the experiment although by the halfway point they are so shocked by the negative results that they plead with him to stop. These individuals that he consults with show him many of the statistics concerning his daily dietary intakes and when he has regular checkups with them, the outcomes become worse each time. As the movie progresses we can see the effects that happen to Spurlock. He gains a substantial amount of weight, his liver becomes toxic, his cholesterol skyrockets, he gets headaches and is depressed for unknown reasons (maybe it’s because he’s eating the same unhealthy food three times a day). All of this cannot stop him though and he continues with the research until he is finally finished much to the relief of everyone including himself.
When the picture was done and over with, I felt that I could never eat at McDonald’s again which was most likely the motive of the director and his creation. It truly is a cautionary tale more than anything else, it shows how poor of a state America is in currently and while it is not our own country, it still affects me because they are so similar to Canadians. I definitely believe that we were manipulated to feel this way, there are many facts, disgustingly graphic images, and numerous shots of obese individuals in the film. For example, ominously, 37% of American children and adolescents are carrying too much fat and two out of every three adults are overweight or obese. Although it is oftentimes a hilarious motion picture because of Spurlock's own buoyant personality and many of his concepts, it is also frightening to see that not only America is in a crisis but the entire world as well if societies continue to live in this way. Is it our fault for lacking self-control or are the fast-food corporations to blame, the documentary asks. Whatever the answer may be, it should be painfully clear that we as human beings must take care of ourselves to ensure a long and healthy life. This movie should serve as a warning not only to the people who watch it but nations as well. I believe that there is a positive message because underneath it all, the true issue is about well being which is so important to every individual’s life.
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