Supersize Me: The Rhetoric of French Fries

Supersize Me is a movie where Morgan who goes on a diet for 30 days with McDonald's only. His health deteriorates throughout the 30 days of eating McDonalds only. His doctors was wrong with the outcomes of Morgan’s health. His health decrease dramatically after his diet. Not only his health decrease dramatically, his relationship with people decrease too. His emotions vary sometimes throughout the month.

     Morgan Spurlock decided to make this documentary to investigate the fast food companies, and the effects of certain fast food chains products, particularly McDonalds, on the health of society. This Documentary explores the United States growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes as well. Morgan decides to eat nothing but McDonald's food for thirty days. He must eat one of everything on the menu at least once, and when asked to super size his meal he must do so. Another stipulation of Morgan's experiment is that he can only take 5,000 steps a day to replicate the exercise that most average Americans get on a daily basis. He must also eat three meals a day, no exceptions and if McDonalds doesn't serve it

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

Spurlock’s documentary exposes the results of a fast food diet such as weight gain, adverse medical issues, also McDonalds direct advertising to small children and the changes to McDonalds practices after the film's release. “Super Size Me” a documentary created by Morgan Spurlock inspired after two teens filed a lawsuit against McDonalds claiming the restaurant's food caused their obesity. Author A.O. Scott published an online review of Spurlock’s documentary on the nytimes.com website (published May 7, 2004), Scott touched on the main message of the film. Spurlock’s documentary exposes the results of a fast food diet such as weight gain, adverse medical issues, also McDonalds direct advertising to small children and the changes to McDonalds

Contrary to the popular belief of the time, Morgan Spurlock’s amateur documentary “Supersize Me” pushed reform in both fast food culture, and eating habits of citizens, being one of the first catalysts in a new movement in America. This 2004 film, being the first of his works to establish Spurlock as a filmmaker, focuses on Spurlock’s 30 day journey in which he vowed to eat solely McDonalds for three meals a day, and track his overall mental, physical, and social changes over this span of time. Throughout the film, Spurlock consults three doctors (a gastroenterologist, a cardiologist, and a general practitioner) as well as a nutritionist to monitor physical change and gather quantitative data supporting his claim. The film often exhibited

McDonald’s is killing Americans, at least that is what Morgan Spurlock believes. In his documentary Super Size Me he embarks on a quest to not only describe and use himself as an example of the growing obesity trend, but to offer the viewers with base-line nutritional knowledge that will allow them to draw their own informed conclusions. Spurlock's primary intention is to prove through self-experimentation that eating solely McDonald's food is dangerous. His secondary intention is to denounce the rising obesity rate in American by using statistics, his own research, and the opinions of experts. His broader message is for a general audience while he tailors select chapters towards more specific demographics such as parents or McDonald's

The viewers were able to witness the pain that he was going through and the emotional toll the challenge had on him. Spurlock told Newsweek when the film was released, “My body just basically falls apart over the course of this diet.” (Lambert, 2004). It was also effectively shown in the documentary how Spurlock’s relationship and sexual intimacy with his girlfriend was affected by the challenge, so again, the viewers were able to feel the emotion that he was feeling. As if these were not enough, the documentary also showed how being overweight can have such a big impact on people’s lives as there are around 400,000 deaths associated with obesity illnesses annually (Spurlock, 2004). Spurlock was effective in appealing to viewers when he stated that diabetes is now more common in children every year as a result of fast food and the numbers will just keep rising if nothing is done to stop

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

Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast on Revisionist History, “McDonald’s Broke My Heart”, is centered around Phil Sokolof’s experience of having a heart attack. Sokolof single handedly decided to attack the issue of unhealthy food head on. Sokolof does this through the help of newspapers and billboards, to promote a healthier lifestyle within the United States. Malcolm Gladwell discusses during the podcast how McDonald’s oil is unhealthy for humans, through the use of pathos. Gladwell effectively spreads this message throughout the duration of his podcast. The podcast informs the listeners how unhealthy McDonald's oil was and how the company needed to make a change in order to provide its customers with a healthy food option.

Spurlock subjected himself to eat a three time day McDonald’s meal for thirty days without exercising to prove why obesity is an epidemic in America. Throughout the

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

When it comes to the topic obesity, most of us readily agree that it is an extensive problem in America. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of the source of the cause. Tove Danovich, author of the book review, ‘Supersizing Urban America’: How U.S. Policies Encouraged Fast Food To Spend, writes about the perspective of Supersizing Urban America author, Chin Jou. Danovich is a graduate of NYU: Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, where she gained expertise in journalism and health. Danovich’s credentials allow her to compose the book review about Chin Jou’s book. Author, Chin Jou, is a professor at the University of Sydney, where she teaches American history (Danovich). Although Jou is an

Research has shown that people who consume fast food more than twice a week increase the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic problems. In 2004, Morgan Spurlock released the movie called, Super Size Me. He was the director of the movie and starred in it as well. Moreover, Spurlock dedicated himself to a 30-day plan of only eating McDonald’s food three times a day. Not to mention, he had to consume all of the food items on the menu at least once over a 30 day period. This experiment had taken its toll on Spurlock’s body both physically and psychologically. As a result, he gained 24 ½ lbs. His body mass increased by 13% also increasing his cholesterol to 230 mg/dl. Spurlock experienced fat accumulation in his liver,

In a society that is facing numerous problems, such as economic devastation, one major problem is often disregarded, growing obesity. As the American society keeps growing, so does growth of the fast food industry and the epidemic of obesity. In order to further investigate the main cause of obesity, Morgan Spurlock, the film director and main character, decides to criticize the fast food industry for its connection with obesity in America. In his documentary Spurlock performs a radical experiment that drives him to eat only from McDonald's and order a super-sized meal whenever he is asked. By including visual and textual techniques, rhetorical appeals, and argumentative evidences, Morgan Spurlock was able

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).