Before my first viewing of Supersize Me, I had a general idea of what the movie was about. Many people had described certain scenes or praised the comedic value. Thanks to all the word of mouth, I was confident in knowing what the movie would entail. Morgan Spurlock argues that fast food is not nutritious for you at all and that the initial lawsuits against McDonalds did have a basis.
The movie starts out in a cheery manner. We are briefed on obesity in America through catchy imagery and eye-opening facts. Then the movies protagonist poses an interesting question. What if he ate nothing but McDonalds food as a diet? And so the movie begins.
Morgan employed many techniques and different scenes to drive his point across. The one that struck me the hardest was his unfortunate run-in with the double quarter pounder supersize meal. (Try saying that 5 times fast!)
On his third meal, he purchases a suspersize double quarter pounder meal. He first opens his bag like a kid on Christmas. Each part of his meal is shown to the camera. The colossal coke, gargantuan fries, and humongous burger. During this whole presentation, he is grinning abnormally wide. Things change as he starts eating that behemoth meal.
Black screens showing elapsed time informs the viewers of how long he struggles to consume all the food he's purchased. His smile slowly turns into a frown. After his eventual victory over the meal, he lays in his car lethargically. With sickness plastered on his face, he informs the viewer of his poor condition. Quaking arms from excessive sugar. Pangs of stomach pain. While vainly trying to assert that his condition is fine, his body disagrees. He spills out all that partially-digested food moments later.
The sudden and stark change in Morgan's personality showed just how rough the foods are on your body. His words and response in that scene was very gritty and believable. At the end of the whole fiasco, you are left feeling a little sick yourself. And more importantly, you feel disgusted when you think back to the last double quarter pounder you ate.
The second most striking part was when the various doctors completely change their view on the fast food diet. This let me know how unknown the dangers of fast food were. Even these extremely educated citizens were shocked and appalled by the aftermath this seemingly innocent diet made.
At the climax of things, his doctors beg him to stop his Mcdonalds diet. They are shocked at the damage it has wrecked on his body and tell him what may be in his future. Death. His innocent fast-food diet might just snuff out his life. He has been constantly consuming food SO bad for his body that it could cause his liver to give out.
Sadly, the movie did not always present such a compelling argument to me. The most ineffective scene to me was when he interviews an overweight girl. The long speech simply seemed out of place.
A young teen is casually sitting outside on a nice summer day. The viewer listens to a long monologue about weight. She tells about the constant pressure put on by the media to have these skinny bodies. At one point, she calls them possible to obtain. And all the while, pictures of models begin to fill the screen before completely enveloping her.
I understood that it emphasized some of the psychological consequences of being overweight. I could not figure out where it tied in with the fast food industry though. Although fast food industry may have been partially responsible for her weight gain, it does not control all print and television media. It just felt very out of place and unneeded when put in relation to the movie's main argument.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and found the conclusion to be amazing. It comes to reassert his argument nicely and leaves a very happy ending. The conclusion also showed what happened once his argument was brought into the light.
Much to my relief, he pulls through and returns to his previous state of health. The post-movie facts leave me happy. His no-name movie comes to receive critical-acclaim. Soon, people all over America are exposed to the true danger Mcdonalds food can bring to you. His movie also causes Mcdonalds to remove their supersize option. This meant the most to me. He informed every viewer that one man can make a difference in the world.
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