Halim Azad

Using Supersize Me as a basis, identify the ways in which American Society is represented, both positively and negatively. In doing so, analyse the ways in which the producer utilises

stylistic devices in order to create meaning for the audience.

Morgan Spurlock’s documentary, Supersize Me, investigates the effects of fast food on the health of people and whether there is any way around it. The film starts with a shot of a group of children who are singing “Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut…” As the camera zooms out we see an obese African-American child singing the song and doing the actions to the song and smiling about it. This first off, suggests that the child mostly likely has no understanding of his part in the film as it not only shows a negative portrayal of him, but also his parents as they, presumably are the ones who allowed him to become like that.

The film then continues on with Spurlock’s voiceover to explain that America is the fattest country in the world. Using a visual illustration, he shows the increase in obese people in America since 1985 till 2002 where Mississippi was named the fattest state in American with over 25% of its population being obese where 1 in 4 people are obese, with Alabama and West Virginia following close behind. At the least, 15% of each state’s population in America was obese in 2002. This shows just how big the issue is and just how much the American society is taking it for granted.

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He continues to talk about fast food has changed over the past 2 decades from families going out to eat on rare occasions to more or less eating out on a daily basis. He states that “obesity is now second only to smoking as a major cause of preventable death in America with more than 400 000 deaths per year associated with related illnesses”. This again gives them a negative portrayal as it shows how arrogant they can be and take it all for granted.

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In 2002, these two obese girls in the image above sued the major fast food restaraunts and blamed them for their obesity and illnesses. Spurlock emphasizes the fact that people are sueing the fast food restaraunts and take aways for food that most, if not all, people know is not good for you too begin with. Yet there are still 1 in 4 Americans visiting a these places everyday. Using the 2 images above, he highlights just how bad the whole fast food craze is becoming. He points out that this is not just happening in America, but on a global scale. Stating that “McDonalds alone has more than 30 000 joints in over 100 countries on 6 continants and feeds more than 46 million people worldwide, everyday”. This shows just how drastic fast food has become; and that is just McDonalds on its own, so we could imagine just how bad it has become once we think about just how many different fast food restaraunts are out there. Hospitals are meant to help encourage healthy eating, yet they have McDonalds in the actual hospital itself. It doesn’t have a positive representation of American society at all, if anything, it makes it more worrying that the people that should be telling us what is good for us are eating the food that is bad for us.

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After informing us of the dangers of fast food, Spurlock notifies us of his intentions in the documentary, telling us that he will be going on a 30 day McDonalds diet where he is only allowed to eat the food and drinks sold in McDonalds. To show just how severe this diet could be to his health, he enlists the help of a Cardiologist, Gastroenterologist and a General Practitioner. Along with this, he also got help from a dietician. Each indinidual did their own checks on him and ensured they knew everything they needed to know about him and his health. Before he embarked on his 1 month McDonalds “binge” they all gave him advice on how much of each food group he should be eating, etc. Later on, he lays down some rules for which he must follow thrugout the 30 days:1 – Can only supersize when asked2 – Can only eat food from McDonalds including water3 – Has everything on the menu at least once4 – Must eat 3 meals a day

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Within the film, portion sizes are dicussed a lot with both vox pops and experts. There is a French woman who claims that the small portion in America is the large in France and she can’t even eat

one of them to herself. There is a former Surgeon General who explains how people working at fast food restaraunts are trained to talk you into buying bigger sizes. A Professor of Nutrition explains how fast food restaraunts have been building on portion sizes since they opened; the original size

are now the small or even “kiddie” sizes.In a way here, you can see why people eat so much. They have almost been adapted into eating fast food. Starting with one size and building on that once the customers have gotten used to eating that

sized portion, they introduce a bigger size that the customers find more filling, etc.

Spurlock introduces the “toxic” environment, where there is constant access to cheap fatty foods. America is a “nation where gas stations sell more candy and sodas than gas” and “a nation where there are more than 3 million soda vending machines”; around 1 machine for every 97 Americans. People rarely walk much in America as there are so many cars, taxis, buses and tubes available. The Surgeon General states that obesity could become the leading cause of death in America if nothing is done about it.

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The “toxic” environment is the explanation to why more and more kids are becoming obese; cheap fatty foods. Children do not have much money, so they buy whatever they can with what they have. It is now part of there nature to buy junk food to snack on when they are hungry as it is all around them and cheap to buy. By eating all this junk from such an early age, teens and adolecents are more prone to severe health problems later on in life.

Later on in the film, we see a 16 year-old girl who is overweight. She talks about seeing all the skinny girls and getting depressed. She claims that seeing all the thin, pretty girls in the magazines is not realistic and not a realistic way to live, yet she wants to be like them. What doesn’t seem to realise is that she could become like them if she concentrated on her diet and watched what she ate and did more exercise, etc. It’s almost as if she’s saying she’s already overweight and there’s no going back, nothing can help her lose weight when there are thing such as exercise that can.

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Further into the film, Spurlock tries out a theory mentioned by one of the experts he interviewed in which she said that most children, by the age when they are able to speak will be able to say McDonalds. He showed a group of 1st graders some pictures of famous people that they should know. When showing them the picture of Jesus, none of them knew who he was. However, when showing them the picture of the McDonald clown, all the kids knew who he was and also what he did and where to find him. It shows that the children are not being educated properly or that they are not taking in the right information from the education due to all the junk that they are eating.

In 2001, McDonalds spent 1.4 billion dollars on direct media advertising; radio, TV and print, worldwide. That goes to show why kids can recognise their character more than anyone else that was shown to them. Children can literally hear, see, smell, feel and taste McDonalds wherever they go. They’ve been brought up around it and have no way of getting away from it. It’s a part of their lives.

In conclusion, it all comes down to nature and nurture. The American society can be seen in a negative way as they are blaming and suing companies for their own problems. They take everything for granted, relying on machines to do jobs for them and not even being bothered to walk down the block instead of taking a taxi. It all adds up to why they are the way they are. However, it can’t all be blamed on them. Companies and things around them can have an effect on the way someone turns out, especially within kids.