...The Film Super Size Me Ethical Paper Zhen J. Huang California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Introduction Take a look around when you go out, what do you see? Loads of fast food restaurants? Maybe McDonalds is the exact name. In the documentary film Super Size Me, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (2004) shows that fast food has become a fixture in the American culture, as well as other countries’ cultures. As Spurlock (2004) said in the film “what would happen if I ate nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days straight? Would I suddenly be on the fast track to becoming an obese American? Would it be unreasonably dangerous?” For this paper, I am going to discuss about the concerns of fast food, namely McDonalds by using three ethical theories: Hedonism, the Desire Theory, and Ethical Egoism. Hedonism: The Pleasure of the Super Size As Rabinowicz and Ronnow-Rasmussen (2005) explains, “an object is thought to be intrinsically valuable … depends on … final value if it is valuable ‘as an end’, ‘for its own sake’, rather than for the sake of something else” (p. 115). The kind of pleasure hedonists claim is always intrinsically valuable is health. If people know that they are healthy and are free of sickness or pain, they are living a good life, and a good life is a happy life. Basically, health contributes to happiness and the happier the person is, the better his/her life is going to be. According to Veenhoven (2003), “There is a longstanding discussion about the merits of this...
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...In Spurlock’s documentary film Super Size Me, experimentation and interviews confirm Spurlock’s claim because of the interdependent relationship of the two methods. The two social science methods separately do not give sufficient support to validate Spurlock’s claim. If only one of the methods were used, the information gathered would be unsupportive or too broad for the audience to understand. The interviews alone would have only portrayed assumptions and not proof to back up his thesis. If Spurlock solely relied on the experiment, individuals could question the probability of the results happening again or to other people. Interviews are conducted with average Americans and experts to medically explain and prove how fast food meals contribute to the U.S. obesity epidemic. The experiment is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the fast food industry’s influence to encourage poor nutrition, and to physically show the correlation between fast food and an unhealthy lifestyle. Both methods serve to validate one another because the responses from individuals supply the audience with data and information to better understand Spurlock’s experiment, while his personal experience provides data to support the information the interviewers give. Throughout the length of his experiment, experts are interviewed multiple times, which is crucial to reveal and explain the negative effects of fast food to the human body. As Spurlock prepares himself mentally, he sets appointments and interviews...
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...In 2004 an impactful documentary, Super Size Me revolutionized the way American’s view on fast food. In the documentary, Morgan Spurlock uses himself as a credible source in convincing the viewers to believe The United States is the most obese country in the world due to bad diets and lack of exercise. From the onset, the film weighs on the audience’s pathos appeals. The opening sequence of the film is a group of kids singing multiple food chains’ theme songs. Many of the children singing appear to be overweight. The intended emotional response of the audience is to think it’s cute and funny. This is especially effective in Spurlock’s argument. It proves that fast food chains have begun marketing towards children. This shoots down his counterargument that the fast food companies are not at fault for weight gain. The audience inquires that the counterargument is wrong because they visually see these children being marketed towards and seeing the addictive qualities of the fast foods they are consuming. Spurlock suggests to the audience that the children don’t know any better so it is the fast food companies fault for the children’s weight....
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...The director, producer, screenplay, and star of the film, Morgan Spurlock, effectively uses logos to increase the validity and accuracy of the documentary Super Size Me. At the beginning of the film the narrator works to establish why the film is necessary, naming statistics one after another to establish a strong foundation in which to build the documentary. It is pointed out by Spurlock that America had just become the fattest nation in the world, and that 100 million American are overweight or obese; 60% of all U.S. adults. It is then reinforced that one in four Americans eat fast food each day- approximately 80 million every single day. These facts form a basis that not only intrigues the reader but firmly establishes the film’s statistical...
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...Extra Credit – Super Size Me In the documentary Super Size Me, there are many messages they are trying to get across. Though most of it is political, there are nutritional messages as well. When Morgan was visiting various doctors in the beginning of the film, many of them were saying the only effect they believed they would see is a rise in triglycerides and blood pressure. None of them seemed too worried about the outcome of this experiment. They all believed that when the whole ordeal was over Morgan would be able to bounce back to his normal physical health. During the experiment, Morgan consumed an average of 5,000 kcal a day. On his second day, he was asked to super size his meal and promptly vomited after consuming his lunch. Even though he couldn’t manage that amount of processed food on that day, only a few days later he found himself craving more only hours after eating. He was becoming addicted to the food. After only five days of the experiment, he had already gained a little over nine pounds. Morgan was finding himself feeling depressed on days that nothing had gone wrong. He was claiming that his depression, lethargy, and headaches were all being relieved when he would eat a meal from McDonalds. On the 21st day he began having heart palpitations. Doctors were advising him to stop the experiment right away and begin detoxing his body from all the harmful substances he has ingested. He refused and continued the rest of the month. As a result from the experiment...
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...Super Size Me Assignment To begin with, I have seen this movie Super Size Me before in high school. This is my second time watching it and I am still shocked by what is said in this movie. With that being said, I do eat fast food quite often. I eat it about 2-3 times a week. I do not live at home so I no longer get home cooked meals from my mom. I try to cook by myself sometimes but there are only so many things I know how to make and is sometimes more convenient for me just to drive down the street and get Del Taco or Weiner Schnitzel’s. Also with work and school I try my best to bring my own lunch or eat at a restaurant rather than going to a fast food joint. This film relates to the NF15 course in many ways, one of them being that when the narrator interviewed random people on the streets, nobody knew what a calorie was. This shows that people hear the word calories and see it on every food label and everywhere they look that there’s food, but still do not know what it is. This goes to show that people do not generally care about calories and how much they take in. Most people who eat fast food also do not know how many calories they are taking in from the food that they ordered. The foods ordered from fast food restaurants do not have food labels and only some will give you a nutrition facts sheet if asked for one. The film also showed that an order of small fries had 200 calories while the large order had 600 calories. That is 3 times the amount of calories...
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...Documentary Review Super-Size Me I. Summarize the documentary “Super Size Me”. Give a detailed description of the coverage of the documentary, and state briefly the “take away” message it gives. “Super-Size Me” is a an experiment created by Morgan Spurlock where he sets out an investigation to understand and prove how quickly and harmful fast food could be on a person’s body, health, and wellbeing. The primary concept revolves around eating nothing but McDonald’s food for a period of 30 days for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This meant that any food not on the McDonald’s menu was not allowed to be consumed during this process. As Morgan Spurlock was lying around at home watching the news, he came across a report on two teenage girls whose parents had sued McDonalds, blaming MacDonald’s for their girl’s obesity problem. This news impulses him to pursue an investigation and experience hands on the cause and effect that resulted from eating McDonald’s food. In the documentary, Spurlock begins as a very healthy person. In fact, his health was above average. He weighed about 185lbs and his body fat was less than below average at an (11%). His cholesterol was under 200 which for his height, (6 feet and 2 inches) he was considered a healthy individual. In preparation to begin, Spurlock informs three doctors from three different specialties to embark with him in his journey of 30 days. It consisted of a cardiologist, gastroenterologists, and a general practitioner...
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...Watching the moving “Super-Size Me” never fails to both intrigue and completely disgust me all at the same time. “Fast food” to me is exactly what it says it is: food that is processed, cooked, served, and eaten fast. I have never really been one to go “anti-fast-food” but after seeing “Super-Size Me” for the first time, it took me a few weeks to be able to pick up a McDonalds chicken nugget. However, a few big questions have arrived from the movie (after seeing it a few times I still get grossed out at the thought). A big question that really was brought up for me was the tendencies that people are holding fast food companies responsible for their obesity problems. I think that is just absolutely ridiculous. They chose to eat there, and I’m sure they know the risks of eating this food. It’s pretty much common knowledge that fast food is VERY unhealthy. The people who sued McDonalds probably were not exercising at all or eating anything healthy at home. If they were really worried about their health, they would ask about the nutrition facts and try to watch their weight and what they eat. If somebody gets fat, it’s nothing but their own fault. This idea presents a very important aspect of American society as a whole: that a lack of education, selfishness, and greed seem to drive American society in a whole lot of ways. This includes why obesity is so dominant in American culture. We want things fast, already prepared, and without any effort on our part, so of course fast food...
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...In the documentary super-size me Morgan Spurlock states "We live in toxic environment where we are almost guaranteed to get sick." One of possible cause of our sickness is in part due to what we consume on a daily basis. Since American society has become accustomed to a lifestyle that effected was the way we eat. Which eventually led to Americans becoming accustomed to eating unhealthy fast food. Corporations saw this growing culture and took advantage of this in order to make a profit. Eventually they began to disregard the consumer's health in order to keep making their money. Since fast food corporations weren't educating people about their products, Spurlock's documentary decided to do so. His documentary "Super-size me" was made to show...
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...MAKING A CHANGE IN THE WAY WE EAT Through the years, America has grown to be one of the most obese places in the world. As people continue to eat unhealthy, the average Americans life span is being cut shorter and shorter. Thus, it is crucial we stop these bad habits and begin watching what we put into our body. It is our obligation to take better care of ourselves and others around us. By constantly eating out, we are consuming more fatty, highly processed foods. It not only affects our physical appearance, but also highers the risk of us getting diabetes, cancer, depression, heart disease, digestive issues, obesity, etc. For instance, in the documentary “Super Size Me,” It speaks of the short term effects that can happen when you eat out frequently. Although the film was taken years ago, not much has changed. In fact, many believe things have gotten worse, almost at every corner of every street, there appears to be more than one fast food restaurant. Which, makes it more convenient to lose yourself after seeing how easy it is to eat unhealthy....
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...Running Head: Super Size Me Elizabeth Cady Grand Canyon University BIO-319 Super Size Me 3-20-11 As I watched Super Size Me I was appalled by all the facts that Morgan Spurlock showed about McDonalds. It has always been common sense, at least for me, that there is no possible way that fast food can be healthy for you. I personally know people that eat fast food almost everyday and they aren’t overweight. The fact that there are more McDonalds then any other fast food chain is not surprising. The part that I really enjoyed about the movie is when he talked about nutrition in schools. Something needs to be done. The first school he went to was in Naperville, IL at Madison Junior High School. The one thing he really emphasized on was that the kids there weren’t making the right food choices. Most of them got chips, fries, or pizza. Some of them just are fries. The cafeteria staff backed it up by saying that they probably brought a lunch from home, or they are sharing that food with other kids, when really they weren’t. In my opinion if they are trying to make the kids make the right choices then they need to have a better selection of healthier food for them. They don’t even cook food in schools anymore; it is all pre-packaged and frozen. They take it out of a box, warm it up, and serve it. In the movie they Morgan said that on average there are over 1,000 calories in one meal. That’s outrageous. Nobody should be eating that many calories in one meal. Morgan visited...
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...Fast Food Nation and Supersize Me: a Comparison Do you like fast food? Do you know how many people have faced the obesity in American? Actually, fast food brings a new condition, which it has designed to taste good. And it’s also inexpensive and convenient. But it reflects American’s culture of obesity and the history behind. Eric Schlosser, in his book Fast Food Nation, takes a hard look at what’s behind the look-like chain eateries that dot the American landscape. A McDonald’s is not just a restaurant serving hamburgers to hungry patrons; it’s the end of along ripple of event that produces the food that millions eats every day. Meanwhile, with the first documentary, Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock used his own body to examine American culture of obesity. This film documents that lifestyle’s drastic effects on Spurlock’s physical and psychological well-being, and explores the fast food industry’s corporate influence. Comparing between Fast Food Nation and Supersize Me, I found the different emphasis in the contents, but they both show the fast food has influenced people deeply and we must find the right way to build the right opinion about the fast food and health. In the Fast Food Nation, we find the Eric Schlosser’s book promises to tell the dark side of all-American meal. It’s covers much of fast food culture and he also discusses how it developed, how taste of food can now be manipulate, federal regulations , health issues, and the spread of fast food abroad. In...
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...Jocelyn Cortese Rob Hadaway M/W class Super Size Me Super Size Me Coming into class, I didn’t want to watch this film again. I had just watched it a few weeks prior in coach Stew’s class. All the troubles and problems that come along with eating fast food I already knew about but like the champ I am I watched it again. My intake of fast food is about 3 times per week usually consisting of in-n-out or waba grill. However, waba grill does not seem like fast food to me. I used to eat McDonalds on a weekly basis but for a while I stopped eating fast food altogether for soccer. When I went back to eating McDonald’s the food got me feeling sick right away, nauseous, and shaky. Then I remembered the guy in supersize me and he had felt the same way. Since then I don’t eat McDonalds. In class we’re being taught to examine major risk factors of cardiovascular disease, this is a disease that affects your arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients from your heart to the rest of your body. Healthy arteries are flexible and strong. Over time, however, too much pressure in your arteries can make the walls thick and stiff — sometimes restricting blood flow to your organs and tissues. This process is called hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis). Atherosclerosis is the most common form of this disorder. Atherosclerosis is also the most common cause of cardiovascular disease, and it's often caused by an unhealthy diet, lack of...
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...Supersize We: How portion sizes are correlated with our gluttony "Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us." - Peter De Vries As I wander through the labyrinth of my local grocery store, I cannot help but notice how things have changed. Metal carts overflowing with food and the once prevalent "market" section is now gleaming with the reflection of glass doors and the glow of brightly colored boxes, frozen meals ready for consumption. It was not always this way. I can still remember when I would travel to the store with my mother, help pick ripe fruit and vegetables for the family. This memory now clouded with the current sight of a child sitting in a cart grazing on fried potato crisps as his mother decides whether to buy the regular or the value sized bag. When did this change occur? When did we all of a sudden choose the premade package of "gourmet" frozen dinners rather than making a simple pasta dish for the family? With this abrupt change in our diets also came the inevitable change in portions provided by the grotesquely large food companies. And now with my home town of Chicago being ranked in the top ten most obese cities in America, it is time we discover where we went wrong. It is not new to us as Americans to see how our beloved country has gone from glorious to gluttonous. The amount of food that we consume has dramatically increased in the past thirty years and it is continuously on the rise. In reports by the U.S. Census Bureau, the...
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...Semester Paper: Food, Inc. “The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years, than in the previous 10,000.” - Michael Pollan, Food inc. This single statement paints a vivid picture in ones mind. Not only is the way we grow our food changing, but we are also changing our bodies. According to the documentary “Food, Inc” , in the 1950’s, it would take farmers about 68 days to fully grow a chicken. Now? It takes about 47 days to fully grow a chicken, and it is twice as big due to the fact that these chickens are injected with hormones. While this literally brings more food to the table, it might not be worth it in the long run. There are many advantages as well as disadvantages that come with the industrialization of food. Using the chicken as an example. In the documentary, they explained that everyone loves white meat, therefor they make the chicken breast incredibly large to produce more meat from one animal. This is good in a sense that more food is being produced, but the truth is, it is changing, physiologically. According to an article written on mericola.com, girls as early of the age of seven are beginning go through puberty changes, something that was not happening until the ages of 12-13. Another disadvantage about the industrialization of food is the stuff we use to grow our food. Example? Most of our fruits and vegetables are grown using pesticides, which are to keep insects off of them. You may say “yeah keeping bugs off is good, i don't want a worm in my apple”...
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