Supersize Me

Identify the ways in which American society is represented both positively and negatively. In doing so analyse the ways in which the producer utilises stylistic devices in order to create meaning for the audience. Supersize Me is a documentary looking at the subject of obesity. Morgan Spurlock does this in the United States looking at the nations fast food. He attempts to become one of his own subjects by documenting a one-month binge during which he sur i ed only on items from the Mc!onald"s menu# forcing himself to eat three meals a day and try e ery offering at least once. $he documentary takes us through his journey and the difficulties he e%periences in doing this e%periment. Howe er the documentary isnt just about fast food and Mc!onalds# Spurlock also shows us how &merican society are also to blame and how significant it is to change the way &merica is for the better considering that &merica 's one of the fattest country. (hen ' watched the documentary ' encountered )uite a lot of negati e elements in &merican society. *b iously one of the biggest negati e outcomes was the high rates of obesity. $his in general causes negati e elements from the publics high diet of fast foods+ it composes them to feel more tired# unhappy and makes them lazier. $his was shown through Morgan Spurlocks e%periment# when he had to eat nothing but fast food e ery day# there was a big difference to how he was before the e%periment and when it started making him feel more unhappy and tired during the e%periment. 'n the documentary e%amples of obesity were definitely portrayed to show a better stronger point and understanding to the iewers# for e%ample there were wide shots of the general public walking# going past# in which case the camera pointed at more obese people to implicate how fat &merica is# but this could also be bias as parts of &merica are )uite conscious about their weight from the media pressuring teenagers and girls to be like size zero models. $he way the documentary was presented certainly showed &merica to be an all round obese country but that isnt entirely true. $here were also camera shots of obese people going into Mc!onalds this connotes to the audience that Mc!onalds is ery popular for the general public drawing in a lot of customers. $here are also multiple close-up shots of the Mc!onalds logo its self# this is because Mc!onalds is ery well known and the audience will instantly recognise it# this engages the audience to be more into the documentary subconsciously# as it is a topic that is ery relatable to the wider audience. $here are also other encounters such as# no physical education in high schools+ this undoubtedly gi es another negati e element to the &merican society as it is not gi ing children and students a chance to become more healthy and fit. 'n the documentary Morgan Spurlock goes and isits a school and informs us iewers how they ha e no physical education by talking and )uestioning the teachers and on top of that the canteen food contains a lot of fat# salt# sugar and calories which was being gi en to children. Mid- close up shots of children eating are shown# and close

up shots of their food# this is to indicate how bad &merican society is when it comes to health as they are letting little children draw into obesity from a young age. Health clubs are also shut down# this is portrayed by the wide shot of the abandoned room where there is no one and nothing implying that &merican society dont really care enough to keep health clubs open. ,ot only does &merica ha e health and obesity problems but they are also being portrayed as the stupidest. $his is con eyed through the o% pops asking simple )uestions such as what is a calorie and in their response they were tongue tied and speechless. ,ot one person from the public could answer this )uestion right e%cept from an e%pert# which was a professional doctor. !uring the o% pops ambient sound was used# this ga e a more of a realistic feel and iew from the public. &lthough there are se eral negati e elements in &merican society# there are also positi e elements which were seen in supersize me. -or instance ' did notice that the general public in &merica are )uite friendly and approachable# some were rather funny and helpful and some such as the doctors and clinic e%perts were ery informati e and kept a good eye on Morgan Spurlocks health by telling him when he should stop and what nutrients to ha e to help with his problems that occurred during the e%periment. Medium close-up and close-ups were used on the doctors when inter iewing them# tripods were definitely used in the inter iews and a lot throughout the documentary# and this ga e a more professional appeal. &nother positi e outcome was Morgans girlfriend+ she was ery supporti e and de oted to her partner. She comforted him and was there for him through the whole e%periment. Howe er this was more depicted when we saw a diary log of Morgans girlfriend# updating the iewers of how Morgan has been lately and what her thoughts and iews were in her pyjamas telling the audience it was late at night in their house . $his e%posed a bit more intimacy especially as she mentioned more pri ate stuff to the iewers and the way she was talking directly to the camera gi ing that illusion of talking straight to the audience making the audience feel more connected and in ol ed. $here is also one other positi e element# probably the most important one for businesses# this is on all the profit and sales fast food places are making in &merica. $hey are making tons of money as the &merican society relies on fast food so much. . in / people go into Mc!onalds and most the people they had )uestioned using o% pops said they ha e take outs 0 to 1 times a week2 3raphical e%amples were displayed on the documentary when statistics were shown+ slow motion and stills were used to show the e%ample of . in / people going into Mc!onalds. $hey also used animated maps and logo and pop up sounds of all the Mc!onald locations displaying on the map con eying how world wide it has become. 'n conclusion ' think supersize me is an all round good debatable documentary as Morgan Spurlock e aluates both positi e and negati e outcomes of &merican society# not only looking at Mc!onalds and obesity but also looking at other smaller

topics too and informing the iewers about this. He does this by use of graphics and camera shots# sounds# o% pops# e%pert iews mise- en-scene etcetera. He doesnt fail to keep the audience interested# he keeps them entertained and informed# as well as getting his message across. 4ike most documentaries# he looks at both sides of things and e en e%periments and pro es his point by putting himself at risk. -rom watching the documentary # you can tell a lot of time# effort and research had gone into this# it was a documentary where you go through the journey with him and the use of camera# sound# editing definitely helped towards the documentary to keep the audience interested. Howe er ' dont think all off the topic was e%plored# this is because Morgan Spurlock only talked and researched about a few of the cities in &merica where as there are other cities in &merica which were probably not really affected by obesity# in which case the documentary was slightly bias because it talked about &merica being fat as whole which was probably not ery true if he continued to e%plore this in all the cities in &merica# instead he only chose to e%plore the cities which he researched and had high rates of obesity. 'n September we had to write an essay about a documentary we had looked at in class called Supersize me. ' looked back at this essay and thought there a lot of good points which ' ha e highlighted# which can be used for our documentary# for e%ample the way Supersize me had used friendly and helpful o% pops# wide shots of the general public walking past# good Mcu shots in e%pert inter iews# animated graphics and maps. Supersize me also use stock footages to apply good factual information across to the audience# the presenter was ery formal and informati e throughout and they had successfully entertained as well as informed the iewers about their documentary topic. Supersize Me had helped me to use these good ideas in order to make our documentary successful and proficient like theirs.