Super Size Me
What would make a grown,
intelligent New Yorker with a vegan girlfriend
eat McDonalds 3 meals a day, every day, for a month?
A great movie concept, that's what.
Morgan Spurlock, the producer, director, and star of the new independent film, Super Size Me went through that exact ordeal to make a point, and boy, And by the end of the movie, with three doctors and a nutritionist who were originally optimistic about the project telling him to cut it the hell out, does he ever make one.What seems at first to be nothing more than a documentary based on ideas like those at TheSpark.com turns out to be a poignant, funny epic that makes some very good points.
The director was in the audience at our showing, and we clapped at the end, and cheered when we found out the slimy GMA lobbyist had been fired. It was funny, gripping, smart, and provocative, and probably one of the better movies I've seen in a while.
The main criticism of the movie was the fact that we did cheer. We, as heath obsessed, indie film watching New Yorkers, were not the ones who needed to be seeing this film. We all know that you shouldn't be eating this stuff, the same way that we know you shouldn't smoke or drink. Sure, we do those things from time to time, but we manage the risk.
Most of America doesn't yet fully understand that there's an acute risk to manage. You grow up eating this stuff. It's tasty, and they work real hard to make it fun and comfortable. It's also easy for mom and/or dad, who're already exhausted by the time they need to think about making dinner.
But all of this is preaching to the choir, This movie needs to be shown on PBS, over and over again. It needs to be run as an after school special - most importantly, it needs to be run AT school.
Where the movie really wins isn't its discussion of personal responsibility vs corporate responsibility, although it does manage to handle that well. Where it wins is in its completely dead -on criticism of the school lunch program.
Fueled by soft-drink companies promising revenue to cash strapped schools and administrators too stressed and burnt out to care, the cafeteria is a mine-field of nutritional disasters. Coming up with a healthy lunch amid grease soaked curly fries, Pepsi, Snapple, Frutopia, and hockey-puck greaseburgers is like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack.
I could go on forever, but I'll let the movie tell you the rest . Go see this film, post about it online, spread the meme and spread the word. America should be watching this flick.
Check out SuperSizeMe.com
