English 102
25 September 2010
“Supersize me"

Did you know that one third of American adults are Obese? Or how about that Obesity- related disease are some of the most preventable leading causes of death in our country? (Overweight and Obesity Facts.) These facts are not only true, but they are on the rise as well. It seems that every year there is a bigger hype about the increase of obesity in adults, teens and children, even our pets. However, it isn’t uncommon to see families eating out two, three, even four times a week. Is obesity the cause of bad nutritional education, lack of personal control, uninformative parenting, uninvolved schools, or the corporations themselves? This question is tricky because there isn’t one justifiable answer. The community as a whole is at fault. Consumers should have more self-control, yet parents should be educating and demonstrating nutritional values. Schools should be requiring physical education and serving healthy choices for breakfast and lunches. Lastly, corporations should be truthful and liable for the food they put out to be consumed. Obesity would decrease if people ate responsibly, schools became more involved in health education, P.E and the foods they serve, parents educated and mimicked a healthy diet, and if corporations were liable and truthful about their products. Summary: “Super-Size me” is a documentary created and starring Morgan Spurlock. The cause for his creation was the lawsuit of two obese girls against McDonalds. One of the plaintiff’s was 14 years old, 4’10 and a whopping 170lbs. The other plaintiff was 19 years of age, 5’6 and an explosive 270 lbs. Both of these girls claimed McDonalds made them obese because they ate there every day. McDonald’s claimed that the girls could not prove that their chain made them obese. The judge of this case demanded that the girl’s would only be able to file a claim if they could prove that their obesity was linked to McDonald’s. Morgan Spurlock then constructed an experiment where he would consume nothing but McDonald’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 30 days. He would have to supersize his meal each time it was offered to him and must eat everything on the menu at least once. He also had to walk the distance an average American would walk within a day which is about 5,000 steps. The objective of his extreme project was to see if fast food chains, like McDonald’s, were at fault for making people obese. Before starting this wild diet, Morgan had his overall health examined by three different doctors, a personal trainer and a nutritionist. His three doctors were a cardiologist, gastroenterologist, and a general practitioner. Every one of his staff helped examine, spectate and diagnose his overall health over the next 30 days. He started off above average on every aspect of his health level. However, this wouldn’t last for long. Analysis: The only down fall to this interesting and direct documentary was that it did not cite where it was getting all of its spoken facts. The only credibility that was shown was the individuals Morgan interviewed, which showed their credentials as he was introducing them. The piece would have been much more deep and powerful if he had credibility to back up his claims and not just his own personal data. However, the end result is shocking. By the end of the month, Morgan gained 24 and half pounds, had a 13% body fat increase, heart palpitations, extremely high cholesterol, a sick and fatty liver, mood swings, depression, slight addiction symptoms, and sexual dysfunction. This documentary not only asked questions that were off-putting and controversial to people such as men and women who owned and protected shares of junk food companies. Morgan also uncovered the horrifying tactics that those very men and their companies force upon today’s youth. Morgan interviewed John F. Banzhaf the third, a law professor at George Washington University who sued the Tobacco