Super Size Me
review by Peter T. Chattaway | posted 5/07/2004
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Some parents try to scare their children off smoking by making them puff on cigarettes until they get sick. In his entertaining and informative documentary Super Size Me, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock tries to scare us off fast food—or at least warn us of its dangers thereof—by showing how a month-long diet of Big Macs and 42-oz. drinks wreaked havoc on his health.
Smoking and eating may have more in common than you think. In the opening scenes of his film, which won the Documentary Directing prize at Sundance last January, Spurlock says obesity has become second only to smoking as a preventable cause of death in the United States. What's more, the national weight gain over the past half-century coincides with the rise of major fast-food outlets. So, to explore what sort of connection there might be between these two things, Spurlock eats nothing but McDonald's food three times a day for 30 days; he consumes nothing, not even water, unless it comes over a counter, out of a drive-thru window, or is dropped off by a delivery boy. In addition, he restricts his physical activity to that of an average American—which, for a typically peripatetic New Yorker like him, means giving up long walks across town for taxi rides.
The director gets a mouthful
Spurlock, who is in better-than-average health at first, playfully admits that he is embarking on "every eight-year-old's dream"—but the experiment quickly has nightmarish effects. Only two days into his new regimen, Spurlock pukes up his first super-sized meal just minutes after eating it—a symptom he figures was provoked not so much by the food itself, but by the abrupt change to his dietary habits, similar to the "three-day hump" that smokers endure when they cut off their body's nicotine intake. As time passes, he also begins to suffer headaches, depression and a loss of energy. In addition, the three doctors he consults throughout his project are shocked by the toxic effect his eating is having on his body; one remarks that Spurlock's liver is turning to pâté. Plus he gains 24.5 pounds.
Given that Spurlock is both the director and the subject of his film, you cannot help but wonder at times to what degree he may be playing to the cameras or editing his footage for dramatic effect. Certainly he exploits several opportunities to wisecrack like a stand-up comic; and in some ways, the film is structured like a traditional Hollywood narrative, with Spurlock as the crusading hero who takes on a daunting challenge and is obliged to stick to his guns despite the advice of alarmed onlookers—including his mother and his vegan girlfriend—who tell him to abandon his cause because it's too dangerous.
Spurlock gets a check-up
But the film is not just about one man, and it is not just about nutrition. Along the way, Spurlock raises some essential questions about the nature of personal, corporate and social responsibility. Echoing points that were made in the recent Canadian documentary The Corporation, Spurlock is particularly concerned about the way companies like McDonald's target children through their Happy Meal toys, playgrounds, birthday parties, animated television shows and multi-million-dollar advertising campaigns. When Spurlock shows some children a series of portraits and mug shots, they have difficulty identifying everyone from Jesus to George Washington, but they all know who Ronald McDonald is.
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