Garrett Kleinpeter

Per Svensson

Kin 2530

14 July 2017

Film Critique: Bigger, Stronger, Faster

The sports documentary, Bigger, Stronger, Faster, deals with the illegal use of steroids in

our society today. The main character and narrator, Chris Bell, explains how he and his brothers

were driven into the world of bodybuilding by the culture they lived in. Bell goes around the

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country interviewing different doctors, lawyers, and politicians about the illegal use of anabolic

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steroids. The name of the film refers to the need that our culture projects to American men that

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their body should look like Hulk Hogan’s body, or the body of anyone that is paid to advertise
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their body. Bigger, Stronger, Faster was filmed in a few locations, but the main location at the

beginning of the film was Poughkeepsie, New York, which was Chris Bell’s hometown. There
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were a couple of sports that were talked about in this documentary, but some sports that Bell
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included were football, baseball, and bodybuilding.

The main focus of the documentary was about the illegal use of steroids in our society
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and in sports. I think this documentary did a great job of highlighting steroid use in some of the

most popular American sports. More importantly, it went even further to portray the sociological
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concepts of the sport ethic, norms of the sport ethic and deviance in sports. Bigger, Stronger,
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Faster talked about the American culture and showed specific examples of deviant

overconformity and deviant underconformity in our sports world. As time has progressed, the
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American man’s body imagine has drastically changed from basically looking similar to a man

that does not work out much but is not overweight, though to a man that looks like Hulk Hogan.

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It then went on to say that the body imagine alone has affected a lot of men in America into

wanting to be the “biggest man in the world.” The only thing you had to do was follow the

people on television like Arnold Schwarzenegger. On commercials, he would send the message

to just eat your vitamins and work hard at your goals, so you could be just like the heroes you

saw on television. The problem was that almost all of “the heroes” had their dirty little secrets -

they used steroids to achieve the bodies they had. At the time, none of them said that they were

doing anything to help achieve their bodies besides what they said in advertisements to the

public. Much of what the media presents is not only very misleading, but sometimes it is very

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immoral. Once people found out that the heroes they had been following were using steroids,

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which heavily persuaded many athletes, as well as average people, to use steroids. For example,

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in Bigger, Stronger, Faster, when it became known that Arnold Schwarzenegger used steroids,
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the posters of him were ripped down in the Gold’s Gym in Los Angeles, and many members

cancelled their membership.

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The increase in the use of performance-enhancing substances, or anabolic steroids, in

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society and in sports, has become so prevalent among athletes partly because they allow them to

train more intensely and for longer periods. Because of this, I think people with low self-esteem
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have a definite need to be accepted by their friends and fellow athletes. Therefore, they view the

use of steroids as acceptable, not only because famous athletes use steroids, but also because
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steroids will allow them to achieve their goals and to be successful. This is actually the complete
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opposite of what sports ethics is all about because deviating from the rules and ignoring the harm

that anabolic steroids can do to your body is equivalent to having no ethics whatsoever. In my
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opinion, even though the norms of the sports ethic include dedication to the game, accepting

risks, striving for distinction, and accepting no obstacles while pursuing success, no one should

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“cheat” at sports or abuse their body with steroids just to win or “be the best”. For example, the

baseball player, Barry Bonds, mysteriously started hitting a lot more homeruns and was

performing significantly better in his games because he was taking anabolic steroids. Many

baseball players have been charged with using anabolic steroids, and that will eventually shed a

negative view on the sport and affect all the other athletes because the players using steroids will

have a huge advantage over their fellow athletes. While the American dream may be to achieve

success, it is wrong to ignore your morals and values just to succeed at your goal.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster had a few weaknesses, but it had many more strengths in my

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opinion. One of the weaknesses was that the main character never really admitted that he was

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probably not going to be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger and he did not admit that he should

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stop worrying about trying to be a “big man”. So, it left me with the question of what was the
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point of Bell trying to document the overuse of anabolic steroids, especially after he found out

that his hero was a “fake”. On the other hand, one of the biggest strengths of the documentary
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was that it accurately described exactly what anabolic steroids are and how they really work. I
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learned that, basically, anabolic steroids make your testosterone production increase significantly.

Since testosterone is the hormone responsible for making new muscle, anabolic steroids make a
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person gain muscle at alarmingly high rates. I also learned that only a few people each year in

the United States actually die from steroid usage. This was relatively surprising to me,
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considering that a lot more people die from alcohol and tobacco usage each year. Another
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strength was that the film exposed many athletes and famous people that used steroids in the

past. I think it is very important to inform people about the truth of how certain celebrities got
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their great bodies. The film enlightened me to the fact that more people used steroids than I ever

realized. I did not even suspect that Sylvester Stallone ever used steroids at all. The film

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confirms that most of the people that you see bodybuilding on television probably took steroids

and they are just using their body to advertise a product or make money any possible way.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster left me with a few unanswered questions about Chris Bell and

his brothers, and how their life really turned out in the long run. For instance, I don’t really

know what happened with Chris’ brother, Mike, a.k.a. “Mad Dog” or if he ever made it to WWE.

Also, the film did not explain if Mike stopped his drug use completely when he talked about

wanting to have another child with his wife. I think the documentary should have included an

interview of Mike discussing whether he stopped using steroids.

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In conclusion, the film greatly enhanced my understanding of sports in society by

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showing me just how many people in sports use anabolic steroids. But, I learned that anabolic

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steroids are not always as bad for you as I previously thought. Surprisingly, anabolic steroids
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actually are chemicals that increase the production of testosterone in your body. Also, I learned

that you should not “cheat” to get ahead or to reach your goal in life. It is not worth it to go
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against your morals and ethical behavior just so you can be the best. In my opinion, it is still
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more acceptable for a person, athlete or not, to have ethics than to be a cheater, and I think many

other people would probably agree with me. I would definitely recommend this film to everyone
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because it teaches you a great deal about anabolic steroids, and points out the “dirty little secrets”

of some of the famous people that used steroids. The use of anabolic steroids will usually not
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change your life in a positive way or help you achieve great success, even if you are a regular
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guy from a small town in New York.

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