Obesity Epidemic In Morgan Spurlock's Film Super Size Me

Judging from the title of David Freedman’s “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” published in The Atlantic, Freeman's audience, the upper middle class of America, conjures up an image of a crazy Freedman throwing away every piece of scientific data that shows junk food is hazardous to your health. However, this is not the case. Freedman brings to light a more compromising approach to solving America’s obesity problem. His opinion is that by manufacturing healthier fast food we can solve America’s obesity issue and that his method would be able to be established nation-wide in a cheaper, fast and more effortless way than some other methods proposed. Not all, but the majority of The Atlantic’s audience cares about

     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

As Steven Spielberg once said, "documentaries are the greatest way to educate an entire generation" (Azevedo, 2013). In Morgan Spurlock's documentary Super Size Me, audiences are informed and shown the dangers of consuming fast food everyday. Spurlock has a camera follow him for one month as he consumes McDonalds for each meal thus exposing one to the unhealthy affects of the lifestyle. Relying on images, interviews, and statistics the viewers are informed of how processed fast foods begin to affect people starting from a young age. This documentary style film shapes the perception of the spectator through the use of visual and narrative techniques.

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.

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

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

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

The purpose of Mr. Spurlock’s experiment was to see how eating McDonald's each day affected the daily lives of the American people and see how eating fast food contributed to the obesity. He travelled and investigated nutritionists to see what they recommended on how much fast food a person should eat and he used himself as a test subject. He went and asked people’s opinions of fast food and he saw that many eat it as convenience.

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

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

Numerous individuals around the world are familiar with McDonald’s and its unhealthy menu; however, that does not stop many from visiting the fast food giant. Super Size Me is an in-depth film by Morgan Spurlock, which shows viewers his journey from healthy eating to becoming a fast food junkie. Viewers are able to see the damage that the unhealthy food from McDonald’s causes while Spurlock eats three meals a day from the fast food chain. Spurlock visits three schools, each with different meal programs. The differences in the healthy and unhealthy choices made by the schools are abundantly clear. Audiences also become aware of how effective advertisers are in securing business for unhealthy food products. Spurlock’s

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

Super Size Me is a documentary that will make you think twice before you go back to another fast food joint. The writer, director and main star, Morgan Spurlock takes on a challenge to only eat fast food three times a day for an entire month. This challenge was self-endured to discover what fast food does to our bodies. During his adventure, Morgan enlisted the help of various doctors to help him track his health and to truly show an experts perspective the outcome of eating fast food. This movie will be great to show the class because there are many points where we can stop and have a discussion to evaluate the choices we are making along with the choices we should be making. Students will be able to use this video, our discussion, and their

In America, the fast food industry is growing at an exponential rate, accumulating profits while at the same time creating jobs to flourish our economy. Advancements in technology with the couple of the downward spiraling economy have increased a demand in cheap food; such as fast-food industries offering unlimited refills of 24oz bottles of soda for merely .99 cents to scrumptious chicken sandwiches for a dollar! Many people may wonder what the harm is in having all this cheap delicious food. Chicken is supposed to be a good source of protein. People start to stuff these foods down their kids’ throats thinking everything will be okay, but many people these days are unaware of the truth that fast-food companies pay millions of dollars to hide. From the public eye there are so many people unaware of what they are consuming is doing to their bodies, organizations such as the France24 news channel are working towards increasing public and media awareness of the truth behind fast-food obesity. The visual context of the ads highlights a key point that the media portrays is only a small portion while there is so much more we aren’t exposed to, making the ads effective. Image A shows us how obesity and the fast food industry is portrayed from a media stand point, and Image B shows us the reality of obesity, however together they both pose as prime examples of the realness of obesity and its image in media.

Burgers, cheese fries, corn dogs, fried cookie dough, and many more mouth watering cuisines are promoted and praised. Food chains pour billions of dollars for the sole purpose of trying to draw an audience toward buying their product. Out of seven and a half billion people in the world, almost two billion are obese. Obesity takes the lives of more than three million people a year in America. In addition to commercials, plus-size modeling has an unknown negative influence on people. The influence of bigger figures and food advertisements are not the only reason why obesity is a silent killer. Technology makes unhealthy foods easier and more accessible. Obesity has increased because of a surge in advertisements, the promotion of obese modeling, and a boom in technology.