The documentary “Super Size Me,” written and directed by Morgan Spurlock, took me by surprise in so many ways. They say, “if you can’t find anyone else use yourself,” and that is exactly what Morgan did to make this documentary more relatable to his audience. This documentary was first shown at the Sundance film festival in 2006, the release of the movie encouraged McDonalds to discontinue its ” super size ” promotions as a whole. Why was McDonalds so moved by this film?
The only possible answer to the question is because the film had no room for error and by Morgan showing the truth made McDonalds lose money. In the documentary Morgan decides to eat three meals a day at McDonald’s for a one month. In the beginning of the movie he is examined by three different doctors a Cardiologist, Gastroentrologist, Hepatologist, and General Practioner that all tells him that he is healthy and not over weight. He gets check ups regularly throughout the film and gains a massive amount of weight every time he goes for his check up.
He soon develops chest pains, depression, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, acne, and gets heavy symptoms of toxic shock to his liver. All of the doctors suggest to him that he quit eating Mcdonalds before it causes permanent damage to his body. But he refuses to stop. Sometimes you have to do things that may cause pain in order to see change. Spurlock shows us that by all the different ratios, statics, research, and studies that are provided in the film. He did a great job with making this film relatable to everyone.
From having kids identify what was on the picture and they only two people which were George Washington, and of course Ronald McDonald the face of the fast food restaurant McDonalds; to adults not knowing the nutrition fact and McDonalds not supplying them. Morgan wanted to open everyones eyes after the lawsuit that was made towards McDonalds because of two girls that were 14 and over weight. Spurlock used the case initially to reference back on what the judge said about the case and the establishment throughout the film, which was great because it explained a lot that was left unsaid after the case.
Morgan Spurlock created a strong and relevant film because he made sure that he did not leave anything out, he made sure that his research was accurate and insightful. I liked that he interviewed people off the streets, because it gave his film some sort of comedy and it also gave his audience different perspectives. What I noticed in this documentary was that Morgan didn’t just have three main interviews, he interviewed as many people as he possibly could. My favorite interview was with John Robbin the son of the late owner of Baskin Robins.
It was interesting to hear and watch someone who grew up in the food industry talk about how bad it is for you, and later find out that he is a health advocate and author of a diet book. With all the content that Morgan had, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to have a great film with visuals, lighting, and sound. From beginning to end he nailed the visuals and transitions. I found it funny how he captured the way McDonalds made chicken nuggets and how they started out as over grown chicken. He also had propaganda visuals that would pop out when necessary, which I thought was very different.
Lighting was good as well, I didn’t see any glares when he filmed people with glasses, the shots that he captured when it was day light was very clear, although there were some shots that were a little off balance. His sound was great, it was never to high nor to low, I could hear everyone that he interviewed. His natural sound was perfect and even the music that he chose went well the transitions. Super Size me has changed my out look on McDonalds, I always knew that it was bad for you. BUT I never knew how bad it was for, and what it could do to your body. Morgan Spurlock did an amazing job on this documentary.
