Super Size Me
By Kathryn W., Calver, England
New Yorker Morgan Spurlock uncovers the truth about what’s really in food and how much fat Americans gain in his documentary, “Super Size Me.” But is it really all it’s fattened up to be?
America is the fattest country in the world. One in every four people is clinically obese. This means that about 75 million people are vastly overweight. And this is just an estimate. That’s absolutely massive! So, what do we do?
Spurlock puts the issue of obesity to the ultimate test: eating nothing but McDonald’s for an entire month. This experiment results in many consequences. For example, after the first week, he has gained five percent body fat. At the end of the month, he has put on 24.5 pounds. His cholesterol escalates 65 points. He experiences frequent chest pain, nausea, depression, mood swings, headaches, etc. He nearly doubles his risk of heart disease.
During his experiment, he travels the country to find out as much as he can about what we’re really eating. He meets a man who has had 19,000 Big Macs (so far, at least). He discovers that children can recognize Ronald McDonald more often than George Washington or Jesus. He tries to schedule an interview with an executive at McDonald’s ten times, but never gets a reply.
In the end, I found myself disappointed with this documentary. It wasn’t for lack of information. In fact, if this was based on information, I’d give it five stars. The problem is Spurlock didn’t allow the facts to speak for themselves. If he had, this documentary would have been brilliant. Rather, his points were overstated.
He ends the documentary by saying, “Who do you want to see go first? You or them?” I believe he’s trying to say that eating fast food will endanger us. But it’ll take a lot more than a burger once a month to kill you. Yes, if you have McDonald’s every day, you need to change your habits. But scaring the rest of us into eating vegan pies every day? No, thank you. I’ll take my soda super sized.
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