Rhetorical Analysis of Super Size Me Fast foods are one of the leading causes of major problems like obesity for many Americans today. An average man, Morgan Spurlock, decides to conduct an experiment dealing with the effects of consuming too much fast food. The film Super Size Me, a persuasive documentary following Spurlock’s experiments, aims to show the danger of fast food, particularly focusing on McDonald’s food, on consumers’ health. Its purpose is to bring awareness to the public about corporate responsibility concerning the food consumers eat, such as McDonald’s, which makes them overweight. In his documentary, Spurlock eats only food from McDonald’s for a month (thirty days) to see how his health can be affected and he is examined by three doctors before, during, after the experiment.
Going to fast food restaurants to prove his theory about how horrible fast food restaurants are for the human body. After going to a few restaurants David found that many employees at the establishments asked him "Would you like to super size that?". The super size option available is excessive amounts of food and drinks that people do not need in a single sitting for their breakfast, lunch, or dinner regardless of the circumstances. Zinczenko had a diet consisting a lot of the time fast food as a young child growing up and claimed that "by age 15, I had packed 212 pounds of torpid teenage tallow onto my once lanky 5-foot-10 frame." Sadly many Americans these days depend on fast food throughout their daily lives whether it is between not knowing how to cook, its fast easy
David starts by teasing these overweight individuals that are bring a lawsuit against McDonalds, but then later admits that he used to be overweight as a child and was able to change his life around. He made a point to show health concerns with being obese and eating fast food regularly, such as type two diabetes which has risen about twenty-five percent since 1994. This raise in diabetes also requires much funding for the United States to spend to try to find a cure. David explains how there is very few alternatives for the youth of America because those health alternatives are more expensive and harder to find. False advertising is also another unpleasant practice that fast food companies use to lure in costumers.
As we all know, the most popular fast-food restaurant in the world also has the reputation for being the unhealthiest place around. McDonald's is a favorite of many households in America and it seems that today people can't get enough of it. In the documentary called Supersize Me, Morgan Spurlock attempts to prove that the effects of eating Big Macs, supersized fries, and half-gallons of coke can be extremely dangerous to one's health. Spurlock goes through a thirty day adventure of eating only McDonald's food. He effectively shows to doctors, himself, and his audience that, fast-food eating Americans are in danger of destroying their health.
"Hundreds of millions of people buy fast food every day without giving it much thought, unaware of the subtle and not so subtle ramifications of their purchase" (Pg. 10). The widespread phenomenon of fast food consumption has transformed even the simplest aspects of everyday life. An era when eating out was rare and saved for special occasions is coming to an end, and is quickly being replaced with a sky-rocketing demand for fast food. Over time, the fast food industry has increasingly manipulated consumers and corrupted the stability of the nation, and although the convenience and affordability of fast food has made it widely popular, the disadvantages noticeably exceed the benefits.
Lisa Miller states in her article ”Divided We Eat”, “As the distance between rich and poor continues to grow, the freshest, most nutritious foods have become luxury goods that only some can afford.” (Miller 190). As a consequence, rich people only would have access to healthy food. In America, millions of people are in poverty; suffering from food shortage because prices of food have twice more than in other places making families struggle in order to get healthy
Spurlock presents a strong argument by outlining the detrimental effect the diet has on our own health and refusing the arguments against regulation presented by McDonalds and their lobbyists. Spurlock documents the effects of the 30 day, high in fat McDonalds only diet to shock the audience and prompt them to reconsider their intake of fast food. The footage shown in scene ‘Mac Stomach Ache’ shows a number of things. Spurlock goes through the drive in and orders a Big Mac Supersize Meal. While filming it shows the amount of time it takes to eat the meal.
Nevertheless the documentary is extremely biased, it makes the fast food companies looks like enemies and it doesn’t even give a point of view which could go against his ideas. Furthermore the article very direct and visual approach is very effective, the viewer certainly captures Spurlock’s message that fast food is very harmful for everyone’s health. Summary According to the documentary the number of “fat” people in the United States is increasing at a nonstop rate, and the fast food companies wash their hands on the problem. The documentary focus on Spurlock’s diet, which only consists of Mc Donald’s menu items. Spurlock during this month experiences not only an increase in
The restrictions on sugary drinks contributed towards a branch out of many educational campaigns. The most influential campaign that caused the greatest decrease in obesity rates was ‘Rethink Your Drink’ proposed by the Hawaii Department of Health. Furthermore, limiting the size people can purchase sugary drinks will help stop the growth of beverage portions in the restaurant industry. Chain-restaurants have increased their beverage portion sizes monumentally over the past few decades, and bigger portion sizes have been proven to lead to greater consumption. Surely people will learn from the restrictions put on detrimental drinks, understand the dangers that come from drinking such large quantities of sugary beverages, and how harmful they can be towards the
Local business were losing their customers to the corporate businesses and being put out of business. Fast food is affecting our culture, education, and our health. Eric Schlosser talks about how fast food restaurants play a more important role in the American obesity epidemic than people realize. In the year 2000 Americans spent over $110 billion on fast food alone. Americans are spending more on fast food than higher education, computers, and new cars.