Food in The Media

Film and Book Reviews by Xan Nelson

 

(Photo from http://www.brunbabybrun.com/img/faceoff.jpg)

 

Film Review:
Super Size Me by Morgan Spurlock
        Nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar at the 2004 Academy Awards, Morgan Spurlock’s Supersize Me has been hailed as one of the most clever, engaging and informative documentary films of the year. Picture this: a healthy, virile, 32-year-old man decides to embark on a 30-day experiment in which he will consume nothing but MacDonald’s food, three full meals a day, seven days a week. When invited to “Super Size,” he super sizes. And he must finish every bite of every meal. Documenting the astounding results of this experiment in his award-winning film, Spurlock examines such urgent issues as globalization, pervasive and manipulative marketing strategies, corporate responsibility, and the obesity crisis threatening Americans today.
      

In a recent lecture at Vassar College in honor of Earth Week, Spurlock discussed his inspiration for the film. After enjoying a Thanksgiving feast at his mother’s house in West Virginia, he said, he was watching the news when he saw a feature about two girls who decided to sue MacDonald’s for selling them food that made them obese. Inspired by the implications of this lawsuit, Spurlock committed himself to his project. What would happen, he wondered, if a person were to eat exclusively MacDonald’s food for a solid month?

In his quest for the answer, Spurlock visited MacDonald’s franchises in 20 cities, including Houston, the reigning “fattest city in America.” He sampled each and every offering on the MacDonald’s menu, and limited his diet to only those foods available over the MacDonald’s counter (including beverages). In a seamlessly edited production, his hilariously funny footage of his own eating experiences are coupled with shocking, disturbing and sobering footage of interviews with representatives from the corporation, public school food service workers and gym teachers, devoted juvenile and adult MacDonald’s consumers (“heavy users” and “super heavy users,” as dubbed by the corporation itself), and the doctors and nutritionists who stood by Spurlock to measure and document his rapidly deteriorating health.

With his compelling primary research, indisputable evidence and sidesplitting commentary, Spurlock’s message about the dangers of fast food consumption and the growing obesity epidemic come through loud and clear. This film, winner of the Best Documentary Award from the International Press Academy, the Best Director Award at the Sundance Film Festival, and the Documentary Screenplay Award from the Writers Guild of America, only recently released in 2004, has taken both the film and fast food industries by storm. It is provocative and engaging, shedding light on some of the most pressing issues in American and global health, and it is sure to make you laugh, think, cringe, and maybe reconsider that next Big Mac.

 

(Photo from http://www.worldhungeryear.org/amazon/images/fast.jpg)

 

Book Review:
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

        “Americans,” writes Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, in the shocking and riveting introduction of his 2001 New York Times Bestseller, “now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music—combined.” In the investigative tradition of Upton Sinclair, armed with an astonishing breadth and depth of information, a stylistic grace and a perceptive eye for irony that make for a fast, compelling read, Schlosser launches a apt and thorough critique of America’s $110 billion fast food industry, exploitative production, consumerism and the nuances of “the American way.”
        

That the fast food business is one of the largest, most visible and most pervasive global industries in the world can hardly be denied. From New York to Paris, St. Petersburg to Prague, Santiago to Sao Paulo, Sydney to Beijing, corporations like MacDonald’s, Burger King and KFC have opened franchises catering to the specific tastes of their targeted populations. In this captivating expose revealing some of the best-kept industry secrets, Schlosser asks questions ranging from how do they make the food taste like that? to what exactly goes on behind the veil of smiling cartoons and Happy Meals to manage and market this billion dollar industry? to why do we, as a nation and as a global community, continue to support corporations that threaten our health, our safety and the stability of our food and farming systems? Schlosser digs deeply to access the truth about topics including the wild success of carefully crafted marketing campaigns, the disturbing ability of fast food companies to target children and hook them as lifelong consumers, the callous treatment of franchise employees, oppression of working-class and minority populations, the irresponsible and hazardous management of the meat-packing industry, and the disturbing and grotesque realities of a sci-fi food production system redolent of the Frankenstein of the future.

Critics agree that Schlosser’s provocative first book is a fine work of muck-raking journalism. It is exhaustively researched, compellingly argued and thoroughly convincing. For any reader with an interest in corporate responsibility, globalization, workers’ rights, or even just why the fries taste so good, Fast Food Nation is recommended as one of the most accessible, interesting and informative contemporary social criticisms available.