Super Credit Move Review
Chris Dickson
ANTH 235 – Anthropology of Food
Professor Neitzel
April 6, 2009
Super Size Me Extra Credit Move Review
According to the statistics on obesity in America, at least 68% of Americans are overweight. Of these people, at least 2-3% are considered morbidly obese and require surgery for their survival. In today’s American society, obesity has become far too commonplace and has eclipsed many other factors contributing to health complications and even death. There exist many theories to explain why obesity has become such a problem in the United States, including advances in technology and video games, television and movies, genes, and the integration of fast food restaurants into modern culture; which is often cited as being the most relevant and important.
There are now more 31,000 McDonald’s Restaurants worldwide, employing more than 1.5 million people. What started as Ray Kroc’s ambitious dream has become one of the most successful corporations in the world and has also become one of the most recognizable, with its towering golden arches and a …show more content…
smiling clown who goes by the name of Ronald McDonalds. Thanks to McDonald’s marketing and advertising strategy, Ronald McDonald is now more recognizable to kids than both Jesus and the President.
Inspired by recent lawsuit battles between McDonald’s and two overweight girls, Morgan Spurlock decided to turn himself into a human guinea pig and run an experiment to find out what happens if he eats just McDonald fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner continuously for 30 days. It is almost commonsense knowledge that fast food is bad for you, but exactly how bad is it? Under the supervision of a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, a general practitioner and a nutritionist, he started eating everything on the McDonald's menu, at least once, and if an employee asked him if he wanted to “Super Size" his meal he would have to say " Yes".
After just a few days of eating McDonald’s continuously, Spurlock’s health was deteriorating in ways not even his doctor’s had predicted. Within three to four days he was having trouble holding his meals down, and was even seen to puke in McDonald’s parking lots. Within a week he was beginning to have chest pains and headaches, coupled with shortness of breath. By the end of the month, Spurlock had gained a total of 25 pounds, his cholesterol was sky high, his liver was beginning to harden causing serious complications, and he was even beginning to face serious depression and lack of motivation - his girlfriend also noted a decrease in sexual performance.
Morgan Spurlock’s movie, SuperSize Me, shares some similarities to the book, Fast Food Nation. Both pieces show that fast food has become an integral part of our modern society - a product of the automobile revolution that has spurred an ever moving and “fast” society. In fact, fast food has permeated the very core of the international economy, as can be seen by the Taco Bells, Wendy’s, Arby’s, and McDonald’s that can be seen on street corners all over the world. This successful international expansion of the fast food industry has been, in part, due to their innovations in technology and marketing. Both works point out that assembly line production, mixed with no-brainer easy-to-use equipment has allowed for quick-to-make, as well as low-cost foods to be available to customers. However, the most important similarity shared between SuperSize Me and Fast Food Nation might be the importance marketing and child advertisements have played in the success of Fast Food Restaurants. For example, McDonald’s has ingeniously combined a fun-loving atmosphere to kids through “Happy Meals” and little collectible gimmick toys, Ronald McDonald, and the famous McDonald’s Land Playgrounds which include brightly colored slides, tunnels, and ball pits. After all, as one high-ranking player in the McDonald’s corporation points out, “One little kid that nags his parents to bring him to McDonald’s two more customers, his parents.”
However, besides these similarities there are also differences between SuperSize Me and Fast Food Nation.
Most obvious is that Fast Food Nation tends to focus more on the corporate structure of fast food restaurants that has allowed for optimal profits, customer satisfaction with taste, and service. It shows how the company was started and succeeded in expanding throughout the nation and even world. On the other hand, SuperSize Me tends to focus less on the corporate side of fast food restaurants but rather on the health impacts eating fast food has had on the health of one person, Morgan Spurlock. It also only shows the health impacts of eating McDonald’s; it does not delve into other fast food restaurants like Fast Food Nation does. SuperSize Me was meant to be more of a documentary to explain the growing obesity trends in America and show that eating fast food was a serious detriment to your
health
In conclusion, I though Morgan Spurlock’s movie, SuperSize Me, was a creative film that when coupled with his witty humor and video style was a great success. Though Spurlock went to the extreme with eating three square meals of McDonald’s a day, he did succeed in letting it hit home that eating a lot of fast food is detrimental to your health, eventually causing you to become what you eat – a fat, out of shape, greasy mess. The movie really made me think twice about stopping at the golden arches to grab a Big Mac on my way home from class or work.
ANTH 235 – Anthropology of Food
Professor Neitzel
April 6, 2009
Super Size Me Extra Credit Move Review
According to the statistics on obesity in America, at least 68% of Americans are overweight. Of these people, at least 2-3% are considered morbidly obese and require surgery for their survival. In today’s American society, obesity has become far too commonplace and has eclipsed many other factors contributing to health complications and even death. There exist many theories to explain why obesity has become such a problem in the United States, including advances in technology and video games, television and movies, genes, and the integration of fast food restaurants into modern culture; which is often cited as being the most relevant and important.
There are now more 31,000 McDonald’s Restaurants worldwide, employing more than 1.5 million people. What started as Ray Kroc’s ambitious dream has become one of the most successful corporations in the world and has also become one of the most recognizable, with its towering golden arches and a …show more content…
smiling clown who goes by the name of Ronald McDonalds. Thanks to McDonald’s marketing and advertising strategy, Ronald McDonald is now more recognizable to kids than both Jesus and the President.
Inspired by recent lawsuit battles between McDonald’s and two overweight girls, Morgan Spurlock decided to turn himself into a human guinea pig and run an experiment to find out what happens if he eats just McDonald fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner continuously for 30 days. It is almost commonsense knowledge that fast food is bad for you, but exactly how bad is it? Under the supervision of a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, a general practitioner and a nutritionist, he started eating everything on the McDonald's menu, at least once, and if an employee asked him if he wanted to “Super Size" his meal he would have to say " Yes".
After just a few days of eating McDonald’s continuously, Spurlock’s health was deteriorating in ways not even his doctor’s had predicted. Within three to four days he was having trouble holding his meals down, and was even seen to puke in McDonald’s parking lots. Within a week he was beginning to have chest pains and headaches, coupled with shortness of breath. By the end of the month, Spurlock had gained a total of 25 pounds, his cholesterol was sky high, his liver was beginning to harden causing serious complications, and he was even beginning to face serious depression and lack of motivation - his girlfriend also noted a decrease in sexual performance.
Morgan Spurlock’s movie, SuperSize Me, shares some similarities to the book, Fast Food Nation. Both pieces show that fast food has become an integral part of our modern society - a product of the automobile revolution that has spurred an ever moving and “fast” society. In fact, fast food has permeated the very core of the international economy, as can be seen by the Taco Bells, Wendy’s, Arby’s, and McDonald’s that can be seen on street corners all over the world. This successful international expansion of the fast food industry has been, in part, due to their innovations in technology and marketing. Both works point out that assembly line production, mixed with no-brainer easy-to-use equipment has allowed for quick-to-make, as well as low-cost foods to be available to customers. However, the most important similarity shared between SuperSize Me and Fast Food Nation might be the importance marketing and child advertisements have played in the success of Fast Food Restaurants. For example, McDonald’s has ingeniously combined a fun-loving atmosphere to kids through “Happy Meals” and little collectible gimmick toys, Ronald McDonald, and the famous McDonald’s Land Playgrounds which include brightly colored slides, tunnels, and ball pits. After all, as one high-ranking player in the McDonald’s corporation points out, “One little kid that nags his parents to bring him to McDonald’s two more customers, his parents.”
However, besides these similarities there are also differences between SuperSize Me and Fast Food Nation.
Most obvious is that Fast Food Nation tends to focus more on the corporate structure of fast food restaurants that has allowed for optimal profits, customer satisfaction with taste, and service. It shows how the company was started and succeeded in expanding throughout the nation and even world. On the other hand, SuperSize Me tends to focus less on the corporate side of fast food restaurants but rather on the health impacts eating fast food has had on the health of one person, Morgan Spurlock. It also only shows the health impacts of eating McDonald’s; it does not delve into other fast food restaurants like Fast Food Nation does. SuperSize Me was meant to be more of a documentary to explain the growing obesity trends in America and show that eating fast food was a serious detriment to your
health
In conclusion, I though Morgan Spurlock’s movie, SuperSize Me, was a creative film that when coupled with his witty humor and video style was a great success. Though Spurlock went to the extreme with eating three square meals of McDonald’s a day, he did succeed in letting it hit home that eating a lot of fast food is detrimental to your health, eventually causing you to become what you eat – a fat, out of shape, greasy mess. The movie really made me think twice about stopping at the golden arches to grab a Big Mac on my way home from class or work.