I thought Super Size Me would be a documentary which tells you the obvious: that McDonald’s and all other fast foods are bad for your health, leading to the classic symptoms of heart disease, liver problems and so on. Still, even secure in this knowledge, what I saw shocked me at points.
Morgan Spurlock sets out to do the most ludicrous thing, which is to ingest three square meals of McDonald’s food a day. There are several rules that he must follow, in order for the experiment to be valid, which he sets himself. One of these is to only purchase a Super Size meal when asked by the till operator. Therefore, I guess you could say the film title is a little misleading.
Now it needs to be made clear, that just as Michael Moore purposely set out to insist that gun control in America is a contradiction in terms, with his film Bowling for Columbine, Spurlock purposefully sets out to prove the implications of a diet of fast food. It is incredibly biased, but not without reason. Justifying eating fast food on a regular, or any basis, is like justifying no exercise is actually good for your heart. However, for an entire month, Spurlock exposes his body to the extremities of a high fat, high cholesterol, highly dangerous diet.
By his side, his friends and girlfriend support him in his cause, while privately being deeply concerned for what he is embarking on. What makes itself apparent is the social attitudes of Americans, and also the convenience and mass installment of fast food chains in certain cities. As I said, I felt prepared for the obvious, but the statistics (which are pretty accurate as I found out) are frightening and staggering.
The part that perhaps made me cringe the most was the processing of the chicken nuggets, which are often presented as nutritional and good for young children
Living in the UK, seeing what Americans call a small, medium, large and super size made my jaw drop. They should change the names to behemoth, giant, planet and universe. It’s unimaginable for anything like that to be served here legally. I mean, it seems rather apparent that people blindly eat convenience food regardless of the health implications, until they actually impact them physically. By which time, you’ve already done damage.
The fear is however, that not only is America the world’s fattest nation, but it’s ideals of fast food, and huge sizes in orders have spread across the seas to other continents, and that like America, the rest of the world will follow suit. Except of course where fast food places can’t make money, such as Third World countries.
Spurlock is at times, disturbing to watch, simply because his mood and behaviour becomes rather depressing, and all because he isn’t eating a McDonald’s meal. Suddenly he has something, and his energy levels shoot up. It’s like giving a coke addict another hit after the high is wearing off. Without it, they can’t function, but with it they can move around again.
However, the cost of all this food results in some dangerous and dark health problems. He is quite a likable person, as is everyone in the film, unless of course when they’re wearing suits, because they usually have an agenda. But Spurlock comes across as serious, determined, and proves his point by put his health on the line. A truly interesting method to ride a message home.
It’s a fairly entertaining film, it also serves as a warning. Even if you think you know everything there is to know from the harm fast food does to you, it’s a good reinforcement tool to say why you should continue to avoid it. I plan to show this film to a friend, just to make him think twice about what he’s forcing down his gullet.
The part that perhaps made me cringe the most was the processing of the chicken nuggets, which are often presented as nutritional and good for young children. Of course all fast food is bad, but even I was taken aback at the process used, which is quite revolting. Of course, the process is slightly different in the UK, as we have better laws than America when it comes to people’s health (even if we have failing health system now).
Super Size Me is a brilliant documentary, it is a frightening look at the irresponsibility of the producers of such foods, and their attitudes to tackling it with half-baked attempts at encouraging healthy eating, when they themselves admit their food is actually quite dangerous. I guess the criticism that can be levelled at the documentary is its own lack of criticism on the personal responsibility of individuals.
Morgan Spurlock sets out to do the most ludicrous thing, which is to ingest three square meals of McDonald’s food a day
Yes, we are bombarded continually with adverts, but parents can and are able to turn the television off, and avoid going past a fast food restaurant, as well as educating their children not to eat bad food. Kids don’t know bad food unless they try it, and they only try it if you show them. They don’t make things up randomly. Still the companies hardly making it easy, and adults themselves have been suckered in to accepting this sort of lifestyle.
Perhaps the most hilarious scene in the film was taking a group of children, and asking them to say who the faces in the picture were. Keep an eye out for the kid who describes someone as George W Bush, you’ll laugh yourself silly, as it’s a rather ironic comment in the times we live in at the moment. Still, there are other further humorous moments in the film, such as Spurlock’s first Super Size Me meal which ends in disaster, and also the size of the people actually serving the food. Seeing all those obese people, obviously caused by poor diet in most cases, was quite a turn off, but funny all the same.
There is a moment of self indulgence at the end, and whether you take that as the truth is entirely up to the individual. As a campaign against McDonald’s, Super Size Me is defiant in its stance, at outlining the dangers, the problems, and the circumstances with which eating so much unhealthy food can give you. Oh, and if you thought their healthy options were actually healthy, you’re in for a mighty big shock, because I certainly was. Since when is a salad bad for your health? When it’s a McDonald’s salad of course!
Verdict: Shocking & amazing account of an insane project. Truly eye popping filming.