Super Size Me (Morgan Spurlock, 2004): USA

Reviewed by Byron Potau.  Viewed on DVD.

Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary Super Size Me seems to fit right in with the present culture of American society today, and that is not a good thing.  Spurlock’s film follows the American pattern of following the irrelevant path, of not looking at the real problem, and of finding a scapegoat to blame for our shortcomings.

The film takes a look at the obesity problem in America and zeroes in on one specific source, the overconsumption of fast food, particularly McDonald’s.  Spurlock uses himself as a guinea pig for a one month experiment where he will eat nothing but three meals a day of McDonald’s food, super sizing his meal whenever they offer the option.  He enlists three doctors to monitor his health during the experiment, going back at intervals to note his progress.  During this experiment, the film takes a look at lunches served at schools, fast food advertising, health risks of obesity, and continues to reference a lawsuit brought forth by two girls who claim that McDonald’s made them fat.

Obesity is a serious problem in America and needs to be addressed, but all this film does is serve to enable those who want to blame someone else for their obesity instead of looking at the real problem: themselves.  Spurlock’s experiment is full of problems even before he takes his first bite of McDonald’s.  First, Spurlock, who exercises regularly and is in great shape at the beginning of the film, stops all exercise completely, even going to the point of reducing the number of steps he takes in each day as much as possible.

Second, Spurlock purposely overate, finishing his meals whether he was hungry or not.  This is evidenced by one scene in which Spurlock, clearly uncomfortable, continues eating in order to finish the meal, but ends up throwing up from overeating.

Third, Spurlock, whose girlfriend is a vegan (which, according to Pulp Fiction, would pretty much make him a vegan) is clearly unaccustomed to this kind of food, experiencing an upset stomach after only a couple of McDonald’s meals.  Any one of these three things–sudden stop of exercise routine, overeating, sudden change in diet–would cause an individual’s gain in weight and decline in health.  When you put all three together, is it any wonder that Spurlock gained a lot of weight and his health declined.  So, what did he prove?  That if you overeat, eat bad foods every meal of every day, and don’t exercise at all you will become obese?  Well, thank you Spurlock Holmes for solving that mystery!

Obesity is a problem and one that is worthy of our attention, but all this documentary accomplished was to point the finger at McDonald’s and the fast food industry; but how is it their fault?  If I eat nothing but Hostess cupcakes and I get fat, is that Hostess’s fault?  Fast food is not supposed to be healthy.  Neither are ice cream, candy bars or any of the other things we consider treats.  That’s why they’re treats!  The proper experiment would have been to carry on his normal routine, but to replace his meals with McDonald’s food.  Of course, the obvious reason he did not do this is because the results would not have been drastic enough and he needed drastic results to sell this film.  The real point of the film should have been to take responsibility for your actions, something Americans seems to have a hard time doing these days.  The film does try to push this message, but at the same time is telling you that it is the fault of the fast food companies.  All this film accomplished is to provide Americans with another excuse, and has helped to ruin some great tasting food that was never meant to be good for you.  The bland tasting McDonald’s fries of today are not the same fries I grew up with, and all because a few people don’t know how to exercise will power.

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Published:
03.28.09 / 6pm
Category:
Documentary, DVD, Films