Super Size Me

Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock features as the guinea pig in this film about the fast food industry. Inspired by America’s obesity epidemic, he embarks on a diet consisting solely of McDonald’s three times a day for thirty days in order to examine the effects of fast food consumption on the body and mind. The results of the experiment are harrowing: his body mass increases by 13%, his cholesterol levels skyrocket, fat accumulates in his liver, and he experiences mood swings and a loss of libido. Super Size Me aims to fundamentally change the way viewers think about eating and living.

The documentary succeeds in being both entertaining and horrifying. It investigates how fast food culture in American schools, corporations, and politics is driving nationwide obesity. Between meals, Spurlock travels across the country, interviewing a range of health and nutrition experts, lawyers, school workers, and a surprisingly trim man who has eaten over 19,000 Big Macs yet maintains a healthy cholesterol level. The film also introduces an industry lobbyist who claims that consumers need to be educated about nutrition, while perplexingly asserting that “we’re part of the problem and part of the solution”.

The film further examines the industry’s political lobbying and advertising campaigns. It reveals some of the disturbing strategies McDonald’s uses to attract customers, particularly children, by targeting them at an early age through appealing mediums such as birthday parties, toys, clowns, and playgrounds. In some areas, the McDonald’s playground is the only one available to the community. In one of the documentary’s most shocking scenes, Spurlock shows images of Jesus, George Washington, and Ronald McDonald to a group of first-graders — and Ronald is the only figure all of them can identify.

Spurlock proves to be a likeable host, both witty and engaging. Despite his criticism of the fast food industry, he does not place the blame solely on corporations, instead raising the rhetorical question of where personal responsibility ends and corporate responsibility begins. By the end of the experiment, he is a changed man. The exuberant and healthy host introduced at the start of the film becomes puffy, weary, and depleted. He experiences first-hand the damaging effects of junk food on the nation. Overall, Super Size Me offers a fascinating and informative insight into the fast food industry and its link to the American obesity epidemic.