Week 2, Wednesday - Lesson 3

Supersize Me

We continued watching the documentary Supersize Me during the lesson. It consisted of the director eating only McDonalds for three meals a day for a month. We watched up until day 14 where he began to feel sick, depressed and put on an unhealthy amount of weight. The aim of this documentary is to see if the fast food industry is to blame for the increasing amount of weight people are putting on and level of obesity.

How did the director portray the fast food companies?

The director made the food companies out to be the main cause of the obesity epidemic that was and is still occurring in our world today. Many elements of McDonalds was exposed throughout the documentary so far including; lack of health information available in store, hair in foods and the amount of sugars and salts that are in their food items. Clearly, he is coming from a bias opinion as he is trying to prove that the fast food industry has detrimental affects to the body so they would be portrayed in a negative light.

How did the director portray the people in the documentary?

The director portrays people either as worried for his well being whilst he embarks on this three month McDonalds diet or as ignorant to what they're consuming on a weekly basis. He shows his girlfriend, mother and doctors concerned for how he is going to feel during this experiment. This continues throughout majority of the documentary. On the other hand, when he is speaking to strangers passing by he positions them to look ignorant. This is done as they are unaware of the affects of the food when asked "What calories are?" or their defensive responses when asked how frequently they consume fast food.

Did the director exaggerate? 

For a film to be successful, some elements are obviously exaggerated for the viewers. I'm sure he was feeling depressed and ill after eating many McDonald's meal but I'm unsure if some of what occurred was 'put on' e.g. vomiting etc. I'm sure there are elements that were exaggerated but it is done well, making it difficult to pin point exactly what is.

We will continue watching the documentary next lesson.