Super Size Me

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Morgan Spurlock
Starring:	Morgan Spurlock, Dr. Daryl Isaacs
Release date:	15 February, 2005
List price:	~~$24.99~~
Our price:	$20.61 that is 18% off!

Super Size Me

Average rating: Stars

Five for sheer courage

This is a very entertaining documentary, which examines some interesting aspects of food, nutrition and human behavior.

Clearly, anybody with even a smattering of intelligence already knew that the consumption of fast food in anything but moderation would have a cumulative effect on a person's health over time, but that is only the vehicle for Morgan's look at a greater human issue.

One of the few things that disappointed me was the failure to address parental responsibility to any degree. The truly pathetic attempts to sue McDonalds with the aid of greasy trial lawyers (the lower lifeforms who have all but destroyed the Justice System and pushed insurance premiums through the roof by their shameful, obsessive claims) were the ultimate attempt to blame others for an individual's own failure.

You don't get to be twice your optimum body weight by eating sensibly and exercizing.

The part in which a young woman suggested that she couldn't follow Jared Fogle's superb example because she couldn't afford to buy multiple Subway subs per day, was scary. She didn't seem to be able to work out that she herself could prepare some kind of equivalent sandwich or zero fat snack/meal for infinitely less money.

Therein lies the problem, and here's where people will start clicking their 'No' buttons, but I don't care... Humans don't like to think. They don't like to take responsibility for their lives and decisions. The very reason the fast food industry grew so much is directly related to that basic weakness, which in many people, is rooted in laziness. Too lazy to read about basic nutrition, too lazy to shop for sensible food, too lazy to prepare and cook sensible food, too lazy to exercize... etc.

This is the 'park the kids in front of the TV generation', Stage 2. The group of kids who couldn't recognize Jesus but who knew all about Ronald McDonald summed it all up. Where are their parents' heads at?

The fast food industry has its place, for times when you can't get anything else or didn't have time to pack something, it will suffice in an emergency. It was never, ever intended to become a lifestyle or a religion.

This is a very important piece and Morgan has raised a lot of key issues, including the total failure of the School System to prevent the bombardment of children with junk trash.

If the Government weren't too busy being paid off by big business, they'd introduce legislation to eradicate the sale of sugary, zero-nutrition garbage in the schools at the very least. If parents are still dumb enough to pump their kids full of alien pseudo-foods then they will take the consequences.

Sadly, as Morgan showed so brilliantly, Society itself is also taking the consequences as a result of the destructive, anti-social behavior of criminals, who when placed on a nutritious diet alone, are transformed to a remarkable degree.

We're being irradiated by EM fields everywhere we turn, most milk is full of hormones and antibiotics, kids are being brainwashed by mindless TV and First Person Shooter computer games (see Columbine High) and there are people out there who would rather blame McDonalds for their self-inflicted obesity than switch their brains on and either eat sensibly and completely avoid fast food, or apply a principle that clearly seems totally alien to them...

Moderation. Even if McDonalds never changed their menus, any normal person could safely eat there a couple of times a week. i.e. if only 2 out of the 21 meals a person might normally consume in a week were fast food, there is no way that would create a weight/health problem. That's all fast food was ever intended to be - a quick stop-gap.

Blaming McDonalds is a fools way out. As Jared said, the system isn't going to change, so you have to. In the words of an old saying, "Better to light a candle than curse the darkness..."

Super Size Me - Morgan Spurlock, Dr. Daryl Isaacs

I don't really agree with the way he went about it!

Morgan Spurlock is trying to show us that eating too much fast food can be harmful to our health and causes obesity, but I don't think he went about it in the right way. He ate nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days (all 3 meals). Who does that? It's not the same if you eat a fast food meal once in awhile (say once or twice a month). I also don't see his point in his rule that he had to supersize everytime he was asked, and especially his rule that he had to eat everything he bought. The way I see it, you eat until you're full, and then stop. No one should force themselves to keep eating after they're full. That's ridiculous! No wonder he threw up out his car window! Fast food is like everything else. It's not the same in moderation as it is when you go to extremes with it. I agree that there's a real problem with obesity in this nation, but we can't blame it all on fast food. People eat too much period. This film is an eye-opener to the problem with obesity, but it's not a very realistic way to go about proving the causes of it.

Morgan Spurlock, Dr. Daryl Isaacs - Super Size Me

Intriguing premise a study in self fullfilling prophesy

I had heard so much hype about this documentary that I just had to rent it. Unfortunately, Mr. Spurlock's bias is evident very early in the film. His goal is not to see if eating a diet composed entire of McDonalds food is harmful to a person's health. His goal is to stain McDonalds and he pieces together any information he has to make this point.

Mr. Spurlock comes across as the type of flakey, borderline personality, attention seeking filmmaker that gives Hollywood and wannabees a bad name. After eating a supersized double quarter pounder meal he throws up out his car window. (I would ask him if he does that dog and pony trick on command). Like that's scientific!! He talks about how he's been feeling depressed since he's begun the diet. For one, depression is not really measurable like that and, for two, had he never had a bad day before McDonalds?

The only real evidence he has comes from his group of doctors. I'm not sold on it though. Accepting that premise though, who, except for a complete moron, doesn't know that fast food should not be eaten at every meal? Mr. Spurlock apparently advocates that a person should be able to sue a fast food company for making him/her fat. Apparently, in his mind, people are too stupid to take personal responsibility for themselves.

Yes, some people will buy into this film, but it only made me hungry for McDonalds.