McDonald’s, one of America’s fastest growing fast food restaurants, has made more than its share of money within the last twenty years serving more than 46 million people daily. They have twice as many restaurants as Burger King and more restaurants than KFC, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell Combined. Often children have the dream of eating fast food for every meal of every day. Well, Morgan Spurlock took the challenge to see how dangerous it would be to eat McDonalds for every meal. He also took the challenge in response to a lawsuit against McDonalds by a family whose children became obese by the contents of its meals. Directed and starring Morgan Spurlock, who is married to a vegan chef and a healthy man for his age, Super-Size Me is a film that followed Spurlock for 31 days as he follows certain rules set by a series of physicians. He was only allowed to meals off the McDonalds menu including water. Also, he couldn’t exercise but had to walk the same amount of steps as the average American. Filmed all over the United States, Super-Size Me was made to inform the public on the manufactured foods they consume daily. The film also raises awareness on the dangers of what manufactured foods do to the body. Super-Size Me showed how one of the most popular fast food restaurants around today may be leading future generations to severe health problems.
First, my personal reaction to this is documentary is an eye opener. I knew McDonalds was more harmful to than other fast food places, but I never knew about the lawsuit between McDonalds and it consumers. I never saw McDonalds as having big impact on my life; this is probably because the McDonald’s in my hometown never had a super-size option. In the video, Spurlock conducted interviews to gain multiple perspectives on what kind of people eat McDonald’s food. The interview that stood out the most was a man Spurlock spoke to who explained that, yes, McDonalds is unhealthy, but with exercise and moderation, people can avoid keeping all the sugar, fat, and calories they consume when eating fast food. This interview stood out because it went the view that is not possible to eat fast food and still be healthy. The other example that affected me while watching the documentary was his visit to the school systems. It shocked me when he interviewed a lunch lady and she explained that most schools use repackaged meals and just reheat them. I found it amusing when she said the main tool used for lunch was a box cutter. I feel there should have been more choices for children.
Likewise, the interest factor in this video is very high. Spurlock pulls out every stop to keep the audience entranced by using health factors like how prolonged effects of eating fast food can affect sexual performance. Watching Spurlock’s experiment unfold held many surprises and shocking truths like when Spurlock puked after eating his fifth meal only two days in. With that factor in mind, it is easy to assume that anyone in Spurlock’s situation...
