Super Size Me
| Super Size Me | |
|---|---|
 Tagline: "A film of epic portions." | |
| Directed by | Morgan Spurlock |
| Written by | Morgan Spurlock |
| Produced by | Morgan Spurlock |
| Starring | Morgan Spurlock |
| Cinematography | Scott Ambrozy |
| Edited by | Julie "Bob" Lombardi |
| Music by | Doug Ray Steve Horowitz Michael Parrish |
| Distributed by | Showtime Networks, Inc. |
Release dates | May 7, 2004 |
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Language | English |
aSuper Size Me is an Academy Award-nominated 2004 documentary film, directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. It follows a 30-day time period (February 2003) during which Spurlock subsists exclusively on McDonald's fast food and stops exercising regularly. The film documents this lifestyle's drastic effects on Spurlock's physical and psychological well-being and explores the fast food industry's corporate influence, including how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit.
During the filming, Spurlock dined at McDonald's restaurants three times a day, sampling every item on the chain's menu at least once. He consumed an average of 5000 calories per day during the experiment.
Before launching this experiment, Spurlock, age 33, was healthy and slim, with a body weight of 185.5 lb (84.1 kg). (Spurlock is 6 feet 2 inches tall.) After thirty days, he gained 24.5 lb (11.1 kg), a 13% body mass increase, and his Body Mass Index raised from 23.2 (within the 'healthy' range of 19-25) to 27 ('overweight'). He also experienced mood swings, sexual dysfunction, and nearly catastrophic liver damage. It took Spurlock fourteen months to lose the weight he gained.
The driving factor for Spurlock's investigation was the increasing spread of obesity throughout U.S. society, which the Surgeon General has declared "epidemic," and the corresponding lawsuit brought against McDonald's on behalf of two overweight girls, who, it was claimed, became obese as a result of eating too much McDonald's food. Spurlock points out that although the lawsuit against McDonald's failed, much of the same criticism leveled against the tobacco companies applies to fast food franchises.
The film opened in the U.S. on May 7, 2004, and grossed a total of $28,548,087 worldwide, making it the 7th highest grossing documentary film.[1] It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, but lost to the film Born into Brothels.
In February 2005, Super Size Me Educationally Enhanced DVD edition was released. It is an edited version of the film designed to be integrated into a high school health curriculum.
MSNBC has also broadcasted an hour long version of the film.
The experiment
Template:Spoilers As the film begins, Spurlock is physically above average, as attested to by three doctors (a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, and a general practitioner), whom he enlists to track his health during the month-long binge. All three predict the "McMonth" will have unwelcome effects on his body, but none expect anything too drastic, one citing the human body as being "extremely adaptable."
Spurlock starts the month with a McBreakfast near his home in Manhattan, where there is one McDonald's per ¼ mi² (0.4 km²). The month also sees an increase in his use of taxis, as he aims to keep the distances he walks in line with the 5000 steps walked per day by the average American. Spurlock has several rules which govern his eating habits:
- He must fully eat three McDonald's meals a day.
- He must sample every item on the McDonald's menu at least once over the course of the 30 days.
- He must only ingest items on the menu. This includes bottled water.
- He must "Super Size" his meal whenever, and only when, the option is offered to him.
- He must only walk 5000 steps per day.
Day 2 brings Spurlock's first Super Size meal, which happens to be a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal, which takes him close to an hour to eat. He experiences steadily increasing discomfort during the process, which culminates in Spurlock vomiting in the parking lot.
After five days Spurlock has gained almost 10 pounds (5 kg). It is not long before he finds himself with a feeling of depression, and not much longer until he finds his bouts of depression, lethargy, and headaches are relieved by a McDonald's meal. One doctor describes him as "addicted." He has soon gained another 10 pounds, putting his weight at 203 lb (92 kg). By the end of the month he weighs about 210 lb (95.5 kg), an increase of almost 25 lb (11 kg). Because he could only eat McDonald's food for a month, Spurlock refused to take any medication at all.
Spurlock's girlfriend, Alexandra Jamieson, attests to the fact that Spurlock has lost much of his energy and sex drive during his experiment. It was not clear at the time if Spurlock would be able to complete the full month of the high-fat, high-carb diet, and friends and family began to express worry.
Around day 20, Spurlock experiences heart palpitations. Consultation with his concerned general practitioner, Dr Daryl Isaacs, reveals that Spurlock's liver is "pâté," and the doctor advises him to stop what he is doing immediately to avoid any serious heart problems. He compares Spurlock with the protagonist in the movie Leaving Las Vegas who deliberately drinks himself to death over a similar time period. Despite this warning, Spurlock decides to continue the experiment. He later stated in an interview that he was inspired to do so by his brother who, when Spurlock confided his doubts about continuing, responded, "Morgan, people eat this stuff their whole lives!"
Spurlock makes it to day 30 and achieves his goal. In thirty days, he "Supersized" his meals nine times along the way (five of which were in Texas, the state with the highest number of "fat cities" in the U.S.).[1] All three doctors are surprised at the degree of deterioration in Spurlock's health. One of them stated that the irreversible damage done to his liver could cause a heart attack even if he lost all the weight gained during the experiment.
Text at the conclusion of the movie states that it took Spurlock five months to lose 20 lb (9 kg) and another nine months to return to his original weight. His girlfriend (now wife) Alexandra Jamieson, a vegan chef, began supervising his recovery with her "detox diet," which became the basis for her book, entitled The Great American Detox Diet.[2]
Summary
Alongside Spurlock's personal travails are interviews and sections detailing various factors that could account for the USA's high obesity rates. He discusses the lack of healthy food available in many US schools, the "luring in" of youth by advertising and McDonald's kid-friendly play parks and clowns, and the relationship, if any, between food companies' stockholder profit and their customer health concerns.
Like Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, the film alleges there is a dark side of the fast food industry. "The bottom line, they're a business, no matter what they say, and by selling you unhealthy food, they make millions, and no company wants to stop doing that." The lack of exercise is only partially addressed, and critics claim this would change the overall tone of the piece.
The movie ends with a rhetorical question, "Who do you want to see go first, you or them?" with a tombstone for McDonald's ("1954-2012") as a backdrop.
In the DVD release of the movie, a short epilogue was added about McDonald's recent emphasis of healthier menu items such as salads. It is shown that these can contain even more calories than hamburgers.
Headline text
This movie's creation gave Spurlock an idea: a show entitled 30 Days, which now airs on the American channel FX and British channel More 4 and Australian Network Ten.
Critics of the film, such as McDonald's[2] and others argue that the results were due to the author intentionally consuming an average of 5000 calories per day and not exercising and that the results would have been the same regardless of the source of the overeating. It could be argued that he targeted McDonald's because it is the largest fast-food chain.
The film addresses such objections by highlighting that a part of the reason for Spurlock's deteriorating health was not just the high calorie intake but also the high quantity of fat relative to vitamins and minerals in the McDonald's menu. However, the nutritional side of the diet was not fully explored in the film due to the closure, during the 30 days, of the clinic who were to have monitored this aspect.
Effects
Subsequent to the showing of the film at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, McDonald's phased out its Supersize meal option, and began offering healthier menu items in addition to its customary fare, though McDonald's denied that this was in reaction to the movie. The corporation did, however, issue a press release on their website, denouncing Spurlock's film and blaming the filmmaker for being a part of the problem, and not the solution.
The film received the highest-ever opening for a documentary in Australia, and within two weeks of release, sparked a massive negative ad campaign, with McDonald's admitting the essential unhealthiness of their food but blaming the customer for overindulging. Russo stated to News Limited that customers had been surprised that the company had not addressed the claims. McDonald's placed a 30-second ad spot in the opening trailers of all viewings of Super Size Me and also offered to pay movie theatres to allow McDonald's employees to distribute apples to patrons as they exited the film.[citation needed]
In the United Kingdom, McDonald's placed a brief ad in the trailers of showings of the film, pointing to the website [3]. The ads simply stated, "See what we disagree with. See what we agree with."
In April 2006, when British newspaper The Guardian distributed a free DVD of the film, McDonald's placed a full-page advert on the back, which included a telephone number for complaints.
In popular culture
- Comedian Dave Chappelle spoofed the film in a non-broadcasted sketch called "Maximize Me" in his sketch comedy show, Chappelle's Show, which aired on Comedy Central and is available on the DVD release of Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes. It has him as an already obese man eating WacArnolds for a month then at the end it shows that he has lost a lot of weight, which is said to happen to some people in reality.
- US comedians Whitest Kids U Know filmed a parody called Super Size Me With Whiskey wherein Trevor Moore attempts to consume nothing but whiskey for 30 days.
- On the television adaptation of Boondocks Huey uses a similar method to Spurlock's when he wants to see if watching large amounts of black television could be detrimental to his health.
- In his song "Bounce" (from Glory), hip hop artist Manafest raps, "I watch what I eat, since Super Size Me." In his raps, he often mentions his apparent childhood obesity.
- Dennis Leary's Merry F %$in' Christmas parodies Super Size Me, in which Spurlock tests the effects of watching A Very Brady Christmas twice a day for a month. The sketch was called "Brady Size Me."
- Disney's animated series Kim Possible had a parody of Super Size Me in episode Grande Size Me.
Alternative experiments
Various similar experiments were made in response to Super Size Me, in an effort to provide alternative scenarios or refute the impressions made by the film. These experiments, however, were mainly balanced diets and healthy eating programs, capable of demonstrating that it is possible to eat from the McDonald's menu without upsetting one's health. At the same time, both Super Size Me and these similar experiments both fall short of illustrating the healthiness of a typical McDonald's consumer's choice (the quintessential "burger, Coke and fries" meal). Alternate studies do not address the alterations that occurred to Spurlock's blood chemistry, but Super Size Me did not show that this was a special characteristic of fast-food diets, and not high-calorie diets in general.
In the Netherlands, Wim Meij, a reporter with the Algemeen Dagblad (a Dutch newspaper), performed another experiment. He also limited himself to eating at McDonald's, but instead of choosing just any meal from the menu, he chose carefully, with an emphasis on salads. However, as with Scott Caswell below, these salads were not available during Super Size Me 's filming. He came out at least as healthy as he was before he started his 30-day experiment and lost 6.5 kg (14 lb) in the process.[citation needed]
In New Jersey, USA, documentary filmmaker Scott Caswell also performed a similar experiment. The results of his diet can be seen in his movie, which is titled Bowling for Morgan. It can be seen for free at BowlingForMorgan.com. Like Spurlock, Caswell consumed only McDonald's food, but generally opted for the healthier choices and did not gorge himself—a fact that Caswell oftens compares to the overeating done by Spurlock, who was often seen forcing himself to eat when he was not hungry. Over the course of the experiment, he lost 19 pounds and his cholesterol fell sharply. It should be pointed out, however, that Caswell's film depicted him eating many Premium Salads from McDonald's that were not available during the making of Super Size Me. Caswell never itemizes his meals, spells out nutritional information on any of his choices, says how much he is eating a day, or reveals any other details of his experiment.
Soso Whaley, of Kensington, New Hampshire, made her own film about dieting at McDonald's, called Me and Mickey D. The film follows Whaley as she spends three 30-day periods on the diet. She dropped from 175 to 139 pounds, eating 2,000 kilocalories a day at McDonald's. The film was funded by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (Whaley holds a C.E.I. fellowship).
Raleigh, North Carolina resident Merab Morgan went on a 90-day diet in which she ate at McDonald's exclusively, but she limited her intake to 1,400 kilocalories (5,900 kilojoules) per day. She lost 37 pounds in the process.
San Antonio, Texas resident Deshan Woods went on a 90-day diet in which he lost nearly 14 pounds. He documented the entire experiment on his website LiquidCalories.com. His overall health improved while sticking to a diet mainly in burgers and fries. He stayed away from sugary drinks and stuck to non-caloric beverages instead. His average caloric intake was 2,500 kilocalories a day, which included 130 grams of fat. His cholesterol dropped from 204 to around 160.
By way of comparison, the Starvation Study conducted at the University of Minnesota in 1944-45 used a starvation diet of approximately 1570 kilocalories a day on conscientious objectors for six months, causing an average 25% loss in body weight, simulating the loss of residents of the Warsaw Ghetto. The starvation study found for purposes of weight loss—and subsequent weight gain—it really did not matter what food one ate: what mattered was how many calories one ate. Of course, the focus of that study was not on blood chemistry, cholesterol, or liver function.
Professor James Painter, chair of Eastern Illinois University’s School of Family and Consumer Sciences, made the documentary Portion Size Me. The film follows two graduate students, one a 254-pound male and the other a 108-pound female, as they ate a fast-food diet for a month but in portions appropriate for their size. Both students lost weight and their cholesterol improved by the end of the experiment.[4]
Keiji Matsumoto (松本圭司), a civilian in Urayasu, Japan tried to live with McDonald's food for 30 days. This trial was held twice, in 2004 and 2006, both describing his experiences in blogs, with no changes in weight and health. These experiences are made into a book (ISBN 4-3966-1268-0).
The Smoking Fry
Spurlock also tried another experiment which he called "The Smoking Fry." It can be seen in the special features of the film's DVD. In this experiment, he leaves McDonald's food (an order of French Fries, a Big Mac, a Filet o'fish, a Chicken McGrill, and a Quarter Pounder with cheese) along with a burger and fries from another restaurant in a jar in order to see the rate at which the different meals decomposed. The burger and fries from the alternate restaurant decomposed quickly, as did most of the McDonald's food, with the exception of the Big Mac and the McDonald's french fries. The Big Mac lasted five weeks, but the fries did not even begin decomposing during the ten-week experiment.
See also
- Don Gorske
- Jared Fogle
- Eric Schlosser
- Fast-food restaurant
- Dieting
- Human weight
- National Weight Control Registry
- Obesity
- Burger King
Notes and references
- ^ "Houston, we have a big fat problem". USATODAY.com. 2002-01-02. Retrieved 2007-01-17.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ A balanced diet, a balanced debate
Related books and films
- No Logo - book
- Fast Food Nation - book
- The Corporation - film
