The notion of watching a documentary about the health dangers of junk food reminds me of those little government produced films we had to watch in health class in grade school. We all know that junk food is bad for you, and we don’t want to hear scientists drone on about exactly how bad it is for you. Super Size Me, however, is a surprisingly entertaining account of the dangers of the fast food industry and manages to be just as educational along the way.

Super Size Me follows Morgan Spurlock as he attempts to eat nothing but McDonalds for a full month. We see that he is in perfect health previous to his stunt and we watch as his health begins to deteriorate and his weight begins to swell. Watching Morgan is often humorous to begin with but soon becomes somewhat disturbing. There’s real tension as Morgan continues with his McDonalds meal plan despite doctors’ warnings that he’s doing some serious damage to his body.

Super Size Me is playful and oft lighthearted while also managing to stay serious about the gravity of its subject matter. Spliced between Morgan’s activities are facts about the food industry, the contents of the products and the eating habits of many Americans.

You may be able to say you already were aware of a lot of this information, but Super Size Me presents the facts in such a way that makes common knowledge items surprising and lesser known things startling. In fact, the film often feels as if it would have been heavy handed if the issue weren’t such a problem.

On the other hand, the documentary is pretty clearly one sided, and doesn’t present any information that doesn’t comply with its agenda. I’m not saying there is a whole other side to the issue, but Super Size Me seems to gloss pretty lightly over the fact that Morgan was eating absolutely nothing but McDonalds for an entire month. I don’t think it necessarily follows that eating half fast food and half healthy foods for a month would produce half of the negative effects. Another subtle factor involves the fact that - in order to imitate the obese American as close as possible, Morgan refrained from any real exercise for the entire whole month.

My point here is that, despite the fact that Super Size Me wholly converted me to the general negativity of the fast food industry, it failed to convince me that eating fast food as much as a few times a week would have any serious aversive effects.

The important point, however, is that Super Size Me manages to create an educationally entertaining documentary that creates a serious impact on the way you look at what you eat. Super Size Me may feel like propaganda against the fast food community at times, but the statistical and empirical evidence it uses to defend itself makes it clear that this issue really is as important as it claims it is.

Documentary

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