Fed Up Movie Analysis

The film “Fed Up”, produced by Katie Couric and Laurie David, was an interesting and informative film about the dangers of sugar consumption and its contribution to obesity. The strengths of the film were that they gave examples of two major changes that the food industry made to try and save themselves instead of putting the people’s best interest first. Therefore, the American Academy of Family Physicians teamed up with coca cola to say that soft drinks had nothing to do with obesity, when science showed otherwise, while 20 doctors that helped make up the association publicly resigned. Then came the McGovern report in 1977 that issued the first dietary goals, stating that the American diet was overly rich in fatty meats, rich in saturated fats and cholesterol, and rich in sugar,
simultaneously the egg, sugar, dairy, and beef associations united and rejected the McGovern report and demanded a re-write, which they got. These are two very convincing examples of how the food industry tries to save its wealth by lying through their teeth. The film also did a convincing job at pointing out the correlation between the tobacco company and the food companies approach to public backlash due to health concerns. Overall, the film did a decent job tackling the issues and showing how they progressed. Nevertheless, the film's weaknesses derive from its lack of fully addressing the other contributors to the obesity epidemic.
It showed that sugar was the problem, but it puts all the blame and responsibility of changing the American diet on food industries instead of the people. The message the film portrayed was that sugar consumption was at the heart of the obesity epidemic. The film hammered home that subliminal messages food companies advertised on T.V so they can save themselves and amass more wealth by advertising value meals that are supposedly “cheaper” than healthy alternatives. They add that supermarkets lower junk food prices at the supermarket so people are more tempted to buy them. The film did a good job at portraying how the children and their families were dealing with their individual weight problems, and how impossible it seems to lose weight when their own bodies and society betrays them by advertising junk food, and not making healthier food choices more available. It really tries to connect with the audience members by making us sympathize with the children, but it dosen’t get too dramatic with the problems and feelings of the children, which made them feel
realistic. The sources were for the most part reliable, since they had experts like Marion Nestle, Kelly Brownell, and Michael Pollan, who had years of knowledge in the food industry while simultaneously being supporters of food regulations. They spoke of information that would benefit society as a whole as opposed to covering their own assets. Unlike David Allison, who they gave enough time to answer each question, but ultimately could not. They did demonize him, but for good reason, his funding relied on companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and the American beverage association, so it was ultimately in his best interest to continuously lie and keep up this silly farce by stating that soft drink did not, in fact, contribute to obesity. The only unreliable or hypocritical choice the film made is when they choose senator Thomas Richard Harkins as a “source or expert”, even though he supported farm bills that pay billions of dollars in subsidies to farmers in his home state Iowa, which lead the nation in high fructose corn syrup production. Other than that the rest of the film back up their findings with credible statistics and experts.