The Side Effect of Being American

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The side effect of being American In the documentary film Bigger, Stronger, Faster: The side effects of being American, the creator and narrator goes in depth into the psyche of Americans. What makes our collective thoughts lean towards a certain position on an issue, and is that issue even valid? In the film he explores steroids. What they are, how they affect the human body, the research that has gone into them and the stigma attached to them. After watching the documentary, I felt like I wasn’t sure of the position the narrator took. He wouldn’t take them, but it seemed like he wanted to build his body naturally and not use something to boost his gym performance that wasn’t natural. That being said, he did use protein powder and whey. After thinking on it for a few days though I came to the conclusion that he viewed them as medication. Just as a student would take a substance to focus his or her mind to help them achieve greater things in the education world, so do athletes take a medication to help them achieve greater things in the gym or on the field. I feel that his message was that our culture has made steroids out to be bad, and that something is morally wrong with taking them, yet we have no stigma attached to taking, for instance, Adderall. I feel his message was that as Americans, our idols and stars are taking steroids to get these bodies that look like Greek gods, and in the pursuit of those stars the general population has turned to steroids to chase those idols, and if possible surpass them. In this documentary he showed both sides of the argument pretty well. He showed the “gym rat” who works out every day, goes to competitions and takes steroids. He also shows himself, who doesn’t take steroids and who tries to go “naturally”. He gets experts from both sides, interviews them and gives what they have to say equal screen time. For the people

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