Film Analysis: Super Size Me

Fast food is unhealthy and does not provide the necessary nutrients needed for a daily diet, however Mcdonald's, a fast food empire claimed in a 2004 lawsuit against them that fast food can be a part of a healthy diet. The court ruled that the plaintiffs would have a serious claim if they could prove that eating fast food for every meal is dangerous for the person and their health. Morgan Spurlock, writer, director, producer, and star of 2004 documentary Supersize Me set out to prove that fast food is dangerous for a person's health. The documentary follows Morgan on his 30 day challenge of only eating fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Through Morgan's challenge his weight skyrockets, his health declines and feels terrible all the time. Many people believe that fast food companies are to blame for America's obesity but the individual must take responsibility for what they put into their bodies instead of blaming fast food companies for their unhealthy eating habits .The documentary explores the idea that people should avoid eating fast food because Fast food, although more convenient and easier is worse for you than making your own meals. Fast food leads to many health risks and is not a good substitution for traditional meals. People should avoid eating

The movie "Super Size Me" is a documentary on a man who has decided to consume only McDonald's food for a period of thirty days. This man, Mr. Spurlock, has embarked on this adventure to assess the health issue of McDonald's food. Of course, there are a couple of rules. He has to eat McDonalds for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He also has to devour everything on the menu at least once. If he is asked to super size his meal, he must submit. His experiences during this thirty day trial period are astonishing. Even more startling is what happens to his physical wellness during this McDonalds rampage.

An analysis of the film Super Size Me, which is a 2004 documentary over Morgan Spurlock who documents the obesity problem we have in this country and how McDonald’s and other fast food chains are the ones that mainly contribute to the increasing problem, and exploring the realist aesthetics of the film goes over the elements of direct address to the camera, handheld camera, on-camera interview and also real people (non actors). This documentary was made to study the influence that the fast food industry, such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, KFC and others have over the obesity problem in America. Morgan Spurlock makes himself a guinea pig and explores the consequences to his body when only eating McDonald’s three times a day for one whole month and he can only super size it if the cashier asks him. Spurlock consults with a practitioner, cardiologist, gastroenterologist, nutritionist, and trainers to help and track the change in his body during the whole experiment.

In addition to what you see on the screen Spurlock also uses what you hear to evoke an emotionally response. One scene shows a Ronald McDonald cartoon while the song “Pusherman” by Curtis Mayfield, a song about weed, cocaine, and drug dealers, plays in the background. This is undoubtably trying to draw a comparisons between drug deals and McDonald's this would certainly draw in over weight American's as well as parents. The humor Spurlock displays in the film makes him a very likable person and helps us to relate to him. If this bond between him and his audience was not created and nurtured throughout the film we might find it to be too gross or too serious and become bored with it. Furthermore the bond helps us feel compassion for him therefore, when his doctors and family start to worry about him we care more than we would if we weren't so emotionally invested. Additionally he manipulates the audiences' emotions by depicting McDonald's as a greedy and untrustworthy antagonist. To effectively create this assumption he documents not being able to find nutritional information, calling the headquarters over a dozen times to get an interview to no avail, and showing that they market to children early to get them hooked.

Morgan Spurlock’s motivation to create his documentary emerged from a certain court case, in which two teenage girls sued McDonald's for selling them products that resulted in them being obese for their age group (Spurlock). McDonald’s testimony stated that the girls could not fully prove that it was the McDonald’s product that were making them overweight and that eating their products for every meal would be seemingly dangerous (Spurlock). Spurlock to this statement into his owns hands and a decided to conduct a month long experiment, in which he would go on a thirty-day long binge of McDonald’s food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to prove if and how fast food can make a person obese (Spurlock). It is well known within the general public that fast food in not a healthy option for a meal but for many, fast food is the only

Mr. Spurlock followed unhealthy guidelines for his experiment. He ate McDonalds for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day. Every Time a McDonalds employee asked if he wanted to supersize his meals, he accepted their offers each time, forcing himself to eat the food and even within the first week, he threw up. Mr.

As the study continued, Spurlock showed signs of depression, headaches, mood swings from withdrawal from eating the food, as well as gaining twenty-four pounds, increasing his cholesterol by sixty-five, and moving his body fat from eleven percent to eighteen percent over the course of the thirty-day meal plan. This documentary was made in response to the suing of McDonald’s, and the trial was dismissed when no proof that “McDiets” were contributors to Americas increased obesity rates. Yet the results of the thirty-day diet showed detrimental effects, not to mention the people who eat this way for

The United States of America has long been considered a “big nation”, whether is has the biggest cities, houses, and on a negative note, biggest people. In 2003, Morgan Spurlock, a healthy-bodied film director, set on a quest to show America the detrimental effects of the fast food industry and raise awareness on the controversial issue. He produced the documentary “Supersize Me”, where McDonald’s meals were consumed for every meal of the day for thirty days. His film was released to movie theatres so that people could understand the devastating effects of McDonald’s on his body in a very short time span. At the end of his experiment, Morgan gained twenty-five pounds, developed a thirteen percent

In the film, “Super Size me”, a man takes part in a 30 day journey of only eating McDonald’s. Required to only eat menu items and accept all offers to “Super Size” his meal (making his fries and drink more than double the regular size) , the man made it the entire way. What was the cause of this though? Extreme repercussions. The man contracted type two diabetes nearly two months later and frequently got sick during the experiment. One specific day the man was forced to super size his meal and eat a whopping half pound cheese burger causing him to instantly become sick. The reality of this though, as presented in the film, is that millions of americans eat a meal closely related to this, on a regular

Now, what justification does Mr. Spurlock get for going on a McDonald’s diet for a month? Well before we get to that let's talk about the story that started his McDiet. Two girls sued McDonald's because they felt it was McDonald's fault that they were obese. Ashley Pelman was the young 14-year-old girl who was 4 feet, 10 inches tall and weighed about 170 pounds. Well the other girl, Jazlyn Bradley was 19 years old, 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed about 264 pounds. Multiple courts had all said that the claimants would win the case if the somehow proved that McDonald's is dangerous if eaten on daily basis. After Mr. Spurlock heard about their story he was intrigued, and being a starved director wanting more than 10 minutes of fame he orchestrated an experiment in which he found out first hand how McDonald's would affect the average American if eaten every day for the next 30 days straight.

Over the years, as obesity has become a growing concern society, role of fast food as a cause for obesity has been questioned. Morgan Spurlock’s concern for obesity motivates him to test an experiment on whether McDonald’s food poses a threat on one’s health. Under the close supervision of doctors Spurlock eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner at McDonalds for the next month the danger of McDonald’s food by eating it three times a day for the next month. As the director and main character in the documentary, Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock demonstrates his purpose by successfully developing and winning his argument along with using rhetorical appeals such as ethos, logos, and pathos.

McDonald has transformed into a cultural phenomenon in the United States since its creation in the 1950s. It is rare to visit a large city or drive down the highway without seeing the iconic golden arches. This fast food restaurant is an instant favorite for children and adults for a quick bite. But should the people of America frequently consume McDonalds to satisfy their hunger? A man named Morgan Spurlock created a document entitled “Super Size Me” where he investigated the influence of the fast food industry and how the consumption of too much can effect the human body.

The film provides facts, experiment, and lots of experts’ opinions. First, it gives out the fact that “America is the fattest nation in the world. Over 100 million Americans are overweight or obsess. 60% of all US adults are overweight or obsess.” (Dir. Morgan Spurlock, 2008) It shows that the problem is real and it should be an issue that everyone pay attention to. According to Eric Schlosser, American Journalist, there is one in fourteen American having meal in McDonald and nine in ten children having McDonald once a month. By this shocking fact, the film director started his own experiment with 30 days McDonald’s meal. Though a normal person may not do this in real life, the experiment is convincing that McDonald’s product have harmful effect over human health in long tern. On the other side, some free-market supporter might think the McDonald’s product already passed government’s food regulation, such as FDA, and this should indicate the food safety is within the standard. They believe in the idea of free market, the business is good to operate as long as they follow the laws and rules. However, I believe when a company has too much impact over people, it should have more responsibility or liability over its business. “Like Hollywood movies, MTV and blue jeans, fast food has become one of America's major cultural exports.” (Eric Schlosser, Charlie Wilson, 2008) In fact, instead of asking

McDonalds is very focused on the standards of the legal aspects. This is the case because McDonalds has dealt with many lawsuits since the corporation has been created. For example, in the famous coffee case,

Obesity is probably the most significant issue facing the McDonald’s Company today. The corporation has been severally blamed for the menace due to its wide range of junk foods. As the world’s largest fast food company, it has become a target of most health related films such as Super Size Me. This is because the public blames the company for failing to give nutritional information concerning the items on its menu (Baron, 2010).