Here’s a revelation for you: eating McDonald’s for every meal will harm your body. Even eating fast food semi-regularly will hurt you. So if we know this, why do 40 percent of Americans partake in the ritual every day? Although it raises as many questions as it does provide answers, Morgan Spurlock’s journey through diet hell, documented in Super Size Me, is important in that it provokes an important discussion that is only just beginning: how did we let ourselves get so fat?
Like many teenagers in North American and around the world, I put my time in flipping burgers and talking into the drive-thru headset working my McJob. While it wasn’t glorious, it got me through university and turned me into the burger eating machine I am today. Do I like the fact that I like to visit the Golden Arches about once a week? I’m actually indifferent to it. I am well aware of the choices I’m making, both from a heath standpoint and from a corporate standpoint. The thing is, I like the way a Big Mac tastes and it’s cheap.
McDonald’s didn’t get to the place they’re at by having gross food. Or at least gross tasting. Spurlock uncovers some of the company’s dirty laundry. But that’s nothing new. McDonald’s is so big there’s urban legends galore ranging from the ingredients of the secret sauce to the possibility that the stamp ‘100% beef’ that comes on the side of the meat boxes refers to the production company, not the contents. But Spurlock doesn’t rest on the common knowledge of McDonald’s lore. Sure, much of the ‘action’ takes place there but Super Size Me is just as concerned as how we became a Fast Food Nation, which is the title of a book by Eric Schlosser that Spurlock owes much credit to (which he does). This documentary starts to look at the roots of why we eat this food that we know is bad for us. But I’m afraid Spurlock just begins to start the discussion and doesn’t go into any great depth like Schlosser is able to. But that’s the limitations of film. Super Size Me isn’t a mini-series. It’s 90 minutes of a guy eating food and lamenting over it with spots of off-site commentary. Super Size Me boils down to a personal journey through French Fry Hell. With “Fast Food Nation,” Schlosser has much more room to play and he comes at it from many angles. But it doesn’t have the personal side either that Spurlock is able to bring.
There were a couple of sections in the film that really didn’t have much of a place. One that stands out is Spurlock’s interview with Don Gorske, a man who has made headlines for eating more than 19,000 Big Macs and counting in his life. If anything Gorske contradicts Spurlock because his figure is quite lean despite his daily McDonald’s intake. Spurlock merely hangs out with Gorske and the two chat about Big Macs. But the conversation never switches to the health side of the bizarre situation.
Super Size Me is buoyed largely by Spurlock’s on-screen presence. It dominates the narrative, but he’s also very up front about it. Like Michael Moore’s Bowling For Columbine, it’s more about the filmmaker’s journey to find answers and ask questions than it is about hard and concrete facts. Although both might be classified as documentaries, truth is found in the experience more than the research. Spurlock presents himself as the guinea pig and brings some of his friends and colleagues along for the ride. Luckily for us, he’s charming and has a sense of humour. He’s a lot like the class clown whom everybody knows, yet nobody knows him well. Although he is very upfront about his life outside of the film, Spurlock actually reveals very little, which is a good thing because the film isn’t about him. It’s about the food he eats and the affect it has on him. But it’s pointing towards something more.
Super Size Me is more important for what it brings to the table outside of the film rather than the film itself. It’s the type of movie that has people talking. Hopefully it will also make people act, or at least become more aware of why they eat fast food. Because Spurlock is able to present his point openly and effectively, I can largely ignore some of the oversights as far as missed opportunities thematically or a couple of the sections that really didn’t need to be there.
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Trailer
