Super Size Me!
Em and I finally saw Super Size Me at the Avon (support your small theaters!) last night, which is good because it closes tomorrow. The documentary that asks "what happens if you eat nothing but McDonalds three meals a day for a month?" was excellent, and not exactly what I expected, which is refreshing. James got it right in his posts, but I'll touch on my impressions:
Production value: I was blown away with how polished the film was. Usually when I think of documentaries I see black and white images, shaky cameras, sub-par sound. In this one, there's nothing of the sort. Really well done.
Politics: I assumed the movie would be a companion piece to Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation (an expose of the fast food industry akin to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, though not nearly as influential [also, a must read for the socially conscious]). Super Size Me isn't overtly ideological at all. The impetus for making the film was the famous lawsuit brought against McDonalds for making a couple teenagers into McFatties, but creator Morgan Spurlock doesn't make a judgement either way about that case. I'd say the primary focus is on health, which is not a partisan issue (well, shouldn't be, rather).
Humor: the whole thing is funny, from Spurlock describing the McEffects of his McDiet (including the McTummy Ache, the McGas and the McSweats, all of which lead to some McPuking on Day 2 of his experiment) to a school lunch manager proudly pointing out that they don't sell soda in the lunch room (offering, instead, equally sugar loaded lemonade). There's even some sad "Jay-walking"-type clips to laugh at. Spurlock has a great sense of humor, and it really comes through (one exchange ends with "when I have kids, I'm going to punch them in the face every time we drive by a McDonalds." You should see the film for the context).
Advertising: There's an important, if underappreciated, segment about how junk food companies market their products to kids. One interviewee in the movie says that if a parent sits down with their child every meal for a year and somehow makes nutrition cool, "instead of Britney Spears hawking Pepsi, maybe radishes", that parent would still be at a 10-1 disadvantage in sending good messages to that child (according to a stat which says the average American child sees 10,000 ads per year for fast food, sweets and soft drinks). When people get all self-righteous about how "if people could just exercise a little self-control" they wouldn't be so fat, I think they discount what a tremendous disadvantage we are at in making good choices. A multi-billion dollar industry whose job it is to battle your self-control makes a fair fight difficult.
I like James's idea of the documentary becoming a brainy cousin to reality TV. Of course, that's not necessarily saying much, as Paris Hilton could probably be considered a brainy cousin to, say, Jessica Simpson.
So I definitely recommend seeing Super Size Me if you haven't already, though it's probably nearing the end of its run. I'm sure the DVD will be forthcoming, given the success in the theaters. Check out the crowd if you see it, though. I noticed that there were only four men out of 35 or so patrons, and no one was fat. Kind of funny, in a not surprising way.
June 15th, 2004 at 1:53 pm
Yes - that scene highlighting the dwindling influence of the parents in the child’s diet (fewer chances to set the example) was a shocker.
Yes, individual responsibility is at issue here. But there is a reason advertising dollars flow… because advertising works. To treat advertising as if it is just some subtle influence would be disingenuous. The dollars spent by the industry are a testament to their faith in its power.
So, while we’re talkking about responsibility, where is the responsibility being applied when McDonalds and other weild this significant power?
June 15th, 2004 at 3:18 pm
I’m with you Bil. I saw the movie a couple weeks ago and thought it was an amazing informative film without the self-righteousness. I think the advertising budget of fast food and snack food companies puts children in such a disadvantage for making the appropriate decisions for good nutrition. I’ve cut out such a large portion of my snack food intake a couple years ago, specifically because I’m a vegetarian and I found myself eating more junk food than actual food…..
And now that you mentioned it, I don’t remember seeing any overweight people in the audience when I saw the film either. hmmmm
June 16th, 2004 at 1:25 am
I saw it last week at Avon as well (I didn’t know it was only a one screen theater… That’s why I got the funny look when I asked for a ticket to that movie, as if there were any others…). You all have already made many great points… It was a well done film.
I have to say that as an doctor (Internist soon training as a Gastroenterologist) I was really shocked at the effects of the diet on his liver function. I agreed with the MD’s early in the movie as to what the effects would likely be, but was really shocked at his significant liver damage. The labs quickly flashed on the screen showed his liver function tests to be about 10 times above his baseline, which is really significant damage (but nowhere near liver failure ranges, which was a possibility somewhat over dramatized in the movie).
To scare everyone even more out there, it is thought that these “fatty liver” changes (and even very mild bumps in those lab values) occur after only a couple alcoholic drinks or a single very fatty meal. If you rapidly return to resumption of “normal” eating, these numbers (and the liver state) becomes baseline. But this even more dramatizes the movie’s point: on a real time, minute to minute basis, you really are what you eat and drink.
Even more significant, in my mind, was his weight gain and especially how long it took this active young guy to loose about 24 lbs… What was it, like 13 months?
It’s changed my view of my own diet. I’m going to buy several of the DVD’s when they come out to lend to patients…
Garris