November 30, 2011 Supersize Me People are often drawn by curiosity to experiment with various activities in their lives. In the movie Supersize Me Morgan Spurlock decides to experiment with his own health. He got the idea for the documentary after watching the news about two teenage girls who were suing McDonald’s for making them obese. To discover the true harms of the fast food industry, Spurlock goes on a 30 day long McDonald’s binge. He allows himself to eat nothing but the unhealthy food from this restaurant for a whole month abiding by certain regulations.
This scene metaphorically conveys the idea of cleansing the bourgeois narrative. Bill Nichols explains in his book Introduction to Documentary that metaphors enrich and enliven our grasp of the world (Kindle eBook loc. 1287). The metaphor seen in the film’s first ten minutes alludes to the upbringing of a new state of consciousness, a fresh perspective on filmmaking that could be perceived only through the critical camera’s eye. To strengthen the idea that there is more than meets the eye, Vertov resorts to special effects as a way of transcending the limitation of time and space, focusing not on the story that is
Traditionally, the role of a documentary is to present facts and information to the audience. However, documentary makers strive to deliver a particular point of view by producing a seemingly objective film and appealing to the audience. This is evident through the film techniques of footage editing, presence of narrativity and the dramatized order of events. Documentaries Seven Up!, Spellbound and Faces in the Mob skillfully manipulate their audiences to believe a certain point of view. Documentaries reflect the maker’s attitude towards a particular issue subtly under a neutrality disguise.
I will analyse the signifying factors a body has and the changing definition of the term ‘hard body’. I will discuss how the hard body can influence a films narrative whilst using relevant research to support my work. I chose to look at Fight Club (David Fincher - 1999) as well as Rebel without a Cause. (Nicholas Ray - 1995). A characters body plays a vital role in film, an audience are easily able to recognise certain stereotypes, partially through the differences in a characters body.
McDonalds Menu Not So Easy to Swallow By Campbell Miller-Waugh SUPERSIZE ME (2004), the entertaining, compelling and engrossing documentary which follows the director Morgan Spurlock’s stomach-turning investigation of the habits of somewhat now ‘normal’ American people. In this film, Spurlock undertakes a 30 day McDonald’s binge which arose when he heard of two overweight schoolgirls who brought a lawsuit against the fast food firm. The suit failed to prove that eating McDonald’s was injurious to their health, and therefore, Morgan Spurlock sets out to prove just that. In his travels, he meets a wide range of interesting people: merrily deceitful lawyers, sycophantic food industry supplicants, and a handful of authoritative academics, all in which are assisting Spurlock’s case to demonise Micky D’s. To document the progress of this extreme challenge, he acquires the assistance of not one, but three doctors who give him thorough examinations before the beginning of this life-threatening quest.
In a heated debate on the “O’Reilly Factor,” between talk show host Bill O’Reilly and journalist Geraldo Rivera, the issue was being pulled in a game of Tug-O-War. O’Reilly advocates a stronger immigration policy, pushing the view that open boarders turn innocent Americans into road kill. He believes that the Virginia Beach officials should have deported Ramos after his first offense and claims the illegal aliens “have no right to be here” (Youtube.com). On the other hand, Rivera states that “this is not an illegal immigration case, it is a drunk driving case,” and feels that O’Reilly is belittling the death of those killed by drunk drivers who were legal (Youtube.com).
“National unity proved to be short-lived,” is right. Frank Rich, an essayist writing for a popular magazine, is aware that his tone should help portray his argument; that America has wasted an opportunity to come together as a nation. His tone throughout the essay portrays a sarcastic voice alongside a sometimes more serious and formal approach. As demonstrated when Rich writes, “So devilishly clever was the selling of the Saddam-for-Osama bait-and-switch that almost half the country would come to believe that Iraqis were among the 9/11 hijackers.” The sarcastic part, “devilishly clever,” of Bush’s plan to “sell” Saddam for Osama illustrates that Frank Rich believes it was not the right thing to do, hence it didn’t help bring America together. A more serious use of diction and tone is displayed when he brings up, “The righteous anger of the right had moved on to the cause of taking down a president with the middle name Hussein.” Democrats, instead of supporting President Obama in his plan to destroy Al-Qaeda and kill their leader, went
Environmental concern in the song takes the form of repeated references to paradise, within the context of places eventually ruined by people. In 1973 OPEC members imposed an oil embargo on the United States in retaliation for resupplying the Israeli military during the Yom Kippur War. This led to a shortage of gasoline that highlighted the dependence on fossil fuels, and elevated awareness about environmental issues. One line in the song makes reference to the “Red Man’s Way, and how they loved the land,” a clear reference to the more sustainable lifestyle of American Indians, a lifestyle replaced by the “white man’s reign.” If one listens to the song without reading the lyrics, the line about “white man’s reign” might be interpreted as white man’s rain, or acid rain, an environmental condition first addressed by the U.S. government in the 70s. California land developers are scorned in the line “[s]ome rich men came and raped the land … put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and Jesus, people bought them.” Don Henley stated in a 1987 interview with Rolling Stone that he cared more about the environment than he did about songwriting, and that the environment was the reason for his involvement in politics.
About a month an a half after the tragic attacks the United States government passed a new law called the USA Patriot Act, signed by President at the time George W. Bush. The USA PATRIOT ACT is an acronym that stands for Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism Act (gpo.gov). The PATRIOT ACT posses a greater threat to American liberty than terrorism itself. This is true because the PATRIOT ACT gives the government undemocratic power that is immoral to society, it directly violates amendments and there have been actual cases where the PATRIOT ACT harmed innocent people and was used unsuccessfully. Firstly, if the government of the United States tried to pass the PATRIOT ACT of 2001 today, they would have a much tougher time.
The film, “Wag the Dog” shows an extreme example of power of the media to influence or distract the public; In this case, it is to distract the public from a Presidential sex scandal. Unfortunately, this scandal could not have come at a worse time for the President; approximately two weeks before the Presidential election starts. So to try to mitigate the damage to the President’s ratings, an aide (Winifred Ames) recruits a ‘spin doctor’ to help; a character by the name of Conrad Bream. It is determined that the best distraction would be to start a war; but he really doesn’t want a real war. It is interesting to note that this film almost paralleled to a point, the real life scandal of President Clinton and his threats of military action against Iraq; the film started production before the Lewinsky scandal, but opened up after it happened.