1. What is the title of the film, what (brief summary) is it about (subject, topic)?
The title of the film is “Super Size Me”. This film is a documentary by Morgan Spurlock in which he wants to investigate the way that McDonald’s food affects the body. He does so by eating only McDonald’s food for 30 days and documenting the negative effects that it has on his body. The film is called “Super Size Me” because, as part of the experiment, Spurlock was required to “Super Size” his meal whenever he was asked by a McDonald’s employee.
2. Why did you choose this documentary to view? What did you expect to learn or experience from this film?
I chose to view this documentary because there are so many Americans who are addicted to fast food but don’t realize how much it affects their health. I have eaten at McDonalds many times and will often go there with friends. After watching this film, I am able to see how people can begin to feel addicted to the fat, salt, and chemicals found within the food. I learned that companies, such as McDonalds, are more interested in making money than in the health of the country.
3. What was the central point of this film? That is, what was the overall focus, goal or mission of the filmmaker? Think of it like an essay: What was the thesis statement?
The central point, or mission, of this film was to educate Americans about the truths behind the fast food industry. Spurlock intended on doing this experiment because he wanted to show people how damaging a fast food diet is and also expose Americans to what goes on at a corporate level at McDonalds. Overall, I believe that if Spurlock was to create a thesis statement for this essay, he would say that this documentary was created to prove that McDonald’s food is not safe and healthy like the company claims, but rather it is dangerous to the health of Americans.
4. How did the filmmaker support that central point? Topics? Facts? Stats? Interviews? Comparisons? Describe them; don't just list them.
Spurlock believes that McDonalds is unhealthy and can have negative side effects on health. He supports this point within the film by showing the results of his experiment. In the experiment, Spurlock was able to only eat McDonald’s food for three meals a day for thirty days. He used factual medical evidence to support his claim that McDonalds is dangerous to health. Before, during, and after the experiment, Spurlock provides medical evidence from his team of doctors that supports the idea that his health has declined since beginning the experiment. He shows that before the experiment he was a generally healthy person, but during the experiment his health began to fail, so much so that his doctors urged him to stop the McDonald’s diet because they were afraid of how poor his health would become. He also interviews many health professionals regarding McDonalds. Therefore, he used facts, interviews, and personal experience to prove the point that McDonalds had negative effects on his health.
5. How did this film compare to your expectations? What, if anything, did you learn from it, intellectually or emotionally? How did it impact you? That is, did it inspire you or change your perspective in any way?
This film was different from what I expected it to be in many ways. I feel that many Americans, including myself, do not realize how much eating fast food can affect your health. Before watching this film, I felt that there was nothing wrong with eating fast food, and there was no reason for me to stop. Therefore, I felt that after watching this video my opinion on this subject would not have changed. Instead, after watching the film, I felt that I should consider changing my diet because of the dangers of fast food. Therefore, my experience was different from my expectations because I was affected by the film more than I thought I would be. This film definitely impacted me and changed my perspective on the fast food industry. In the past, I had never considered the motive behind the fast food industry’s ways, but now I realize that you can’t believe everything that the company tells you, because they are simply trying to sell their product and make money. I will definitely consider changing my diet to eat significantly less fast food.
6. Describe at least five examples in the film in which the filmmaker effectively used some of the techniques listed below by making the scene easier to follow or understand, drive home a point, enhance the drama/emotion/impact, keep your attention.
Used cutaway shots to exemplify the speaker's or narrator's point – Spurlock uses cutaway shots during the interviews with health professionals and also with school administrators. Used text or graphics – One effective graphic film technique that Spurlock used was showing a lot of pictures of obese and unhealthy people. By visually connecting obesity and McDonald’s food, Spurlock is actually demonstrating how people will look if they eat fast food. A second graphic film technique that was used was how Spurlock inserted pictures or charts every time he talked about a statistic. This helps viewers get a better understanding of the statistic.Used lighting, camera angles, camera movement (such as pan, tilt, zoom, dolly) or editing techniques (such as cut, fade, dissolve, crosscutting, flashback, eye-line match, slow motion, fast motion, double exposure, black and white, grainy) – Spurlock uses titles to break the movie apart like chapters in a book. This makes the film seems more understandable and also introduces each subject well. A second technique of this type is how Spurlock uses still pictures in the beginning to catch the attention of the viewer.
