Revealed within documentaries is the truth… or one version of it, anyway: cultural reality. Today’s society ignorantly points the finger at the media for misrepresenting the undertakings of the modern world instead of claiming responsibility for their own faults. Society shuns the media, ignoring the truth being presented before them. Director/producer Morgan Spurlock proves in his 2004 Academy-Award nominated documentary, Super Size Me, that moving-image media reflects representations created by cultures, as opposed to the singular views of the producer himself. However, these cultural representations exhibited in Super Size Me allowed Spurlock to expose the American fast food industry for the consumerist, avaricious enterprise that it is, delving deeper into the roots of the obesity epidemic. Through employing the conventions of documentary films, Spurlock set out to deliver one of the greatest documentaries of the modern era and his take on reality.
Super Size Me was produced in a performative mode of documentary with a linear narrative structure. Performative documentaries tend to be “strongly personal, unconventional… and/or experimental” (Burton, 2007), with the filmmaker acting as the participant. “This mode of documentary emphasizes the subjective nature of the documentarian as well as acknowledging the subjective reading of the audience” (N.A., 2006). By eating nothing but McDonald’s three times a day for 30 days, Spurlock puts his own body on the line in order to convey his message through this dangerous yet voluntary experiment. The premise of Super Size Me surrounds the question: “Where does personal responsibility stop and corporate responsibility begin?” (4:42). Through his investigation of the medical effects of eating McDonalds, and more importantly, the commercial power of fast food chains, Spurlock represents the reality of the American fast food industry as merely a business. Spurlock concludes that the loyalty of such companies “isn’t to you – it’s to the stockholders! The bottom line: they’re a business, no matter what they say. And by selling you unhealthy food, they make millions! And no company wants to stop doing that” (1:33:40). The opening text of the documentary is a quote from Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s, which reads: “Look after the customer and the business will take care of itself.” Therefore, Spurlock constructs his portrayal of McDonald’s by appropriating the representations already created by modern, westernised culture to emphasise the danger facing society, as they remain unknowingly susceptible to the devious marketing tactics employed by the money-hungry company.
The representations of McDonald’s and the fast food industry produced by occidental culture are conveyed in Super Size Me through the conventions of performative documentary. By “challenging the idea of documentary truth, emphasising instead the process of film language itself [and]… the way that audiences interpret the documentary” (N.A., 2006), Spurlock aims to expose audiences to the true intentions of McDonald’s and companies alike. Realism is a convention of documentary that Spurlock achieves through the use of techniques such as archival footage, which gives the film authenticity, and using a hand-held camera, particularly for vox pop street interviews. This visual technique, alongside the use of a deep focus throughout the film, gives a feeling of genuineness as it challenges the structured and neat set-up of using a tripod, thus connoting an opposition to the power structures of corporatism. Further to this, Spurlock maintains realism by employing aural techniques to shape culture’s representations of McDonald’s. These techniques include using “childish music to undermine and degrade McDonald’s as a business” and “unintended sound” (Valley, 2013) such as the children heard loudly playing in the McDonald’s playground during one of Spurlock’s interviews. More importantly though, Spurlock utilises striking statistics and goes out of his way to interview authoritative figures to prove his point. Super Size Me is also comprised of eye-catching graphics like animated cartoons and satirical artworks by artistic genius Ron English to twist the representations of McDonald’s in society. Therefore, the conventions of documentary filmmaking are effectively manipulated in Super Size Me to convey Spurlock’s take on reality and support his investigation into social representations.
Super Size Me was produced in a performative mode of documentary with a linear narrative structure. Performative documentaries tend to be “strongly personal, unconventional… and/or experimental” (Burton, 2007), with the filmmaker acting as the participant. “This mode of documentary emphasizes the subjective nature of the documentarian as well as acknowledging the subjective reading of the audience” (N.A., 2006). By eating nothing but McDonald’s three times a day for 30 days, Spurlock puts his own body on the line in order to convey his message through this dangerous yet voluntary experiment. The premise of Super Size Me surrounds the question: “Where does personal responsibility stop and corporate responsibility begin?” (4:42). Through his investigation of the medical effects of eating McDonalds, and more importantly, the commercial power of fast food chains, Spurlock represents the reality of the American fast food industry as merely a business. Spurlock concludes that the loyalty of such companies “isn’t to you – it’s to the stockholders! The bottom line: they’re a business, no matter what they say. And by selling you unhealthy food, they make millions! And no company wants to stop doing that” (1:33:40). The opening text of the documentary is a quote from Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s, which reads: “Look after the customer and the business will take care of itself.” Therefore, Spurlock constructs his portrayal of McDonald’s by appropriating the representations already created by modern, westernised culture to emphasise the danger facing society, as they remain unknowingly susceptible to the devious marketing tactics employed by the money-hungry company.
The representations of McDonald’s and the fast food industry produced by occidental culture are conveyed in Super Size Me through the conventions of performative documentary. By “challenging the idea of documentary truth, emphasising instead the process of film language itself [and]… the way that audiences interpret the documentary” (N.A., 2006), Spurlock aims to expose audiences to the true intentions of McDonald’s and companies alike. Realism is a convention of documentary that Spurlock achieves through the use of techniques such as archival footage, which gives the film authenticity, and using a hand-held camera, particularly for vox pop street interviews. This visual technique, alongside the use of a deep focus throughout the film, gives a feeling of genuineness as it challenges the structured and neat set-up of using a tripod, thus connoting an opposition to the power structures of corporatism. Further to this, Spurlock maintains realism by employing aural techniques to shape culture’s representations of McDonald’s. These techniques include using “childish music to undermine and degrade McDonald’s as a business” and “unintended sound” (Valley, 2013) such as the children heard loudly playing in the McDonald’s playground during one of Spurlock’s interviews. More importantly though, Spurlock utilises striking statistics and goes out of his way to interview authoritative figures to prove his point. Super Size Me is also comprised of eye-catching graphics like animated cartoons and satirical artworks by artistic genius Ron English to twist the representations of McDonald’s in society. Therefore, the conventions of documentary filmmaking are effectively manipulated in Super Size Me to convey Spurlock’s take on reality and support his investigation into social representations.
By nature, the ideas and opinions of producers and filmmakers alike are embedded deep within all cinematic feats. Henrik Juel, lecturer of film theory as well as documentary and short film production, supports this in saying that “to believe that reality is made up first by objective facts and secondly by subjective or personal sentiment is to make you yourself blind and deaf to the prevailing power structures and ideologies of this world” (2006). However, Spurlock’s ideas and concepts surrounding reality are inspired by how this reality is represented by contemporary culture. For example, Spurlock identifies the stark difference between how McDonald’s food is represented in advertising as opposed to the real thing, claiming that when eating a burger in Day 1 of his experiment, it was “probably the first time in a long time that [he’d] seen a Big Mac look like the picture” (17:18). He presented the reality of the food, representing it as gritty and not aesthetically pleasing, relying on audiences’ own understanding of how McDonald’s has been represented in their own lives via commercials.
Spurlock highlights how the commercialisation of food has a severe effect on children as companies like McDonald’s indoctrinate them from their earliest days to buy their products. He suggests that children are lured in by fast food chains through marketing tactics such as happy meals, characters like Ronald McDonald with their own television cartoon, toys, a playground and co-ordinated events like birthday parties. Kelly Close, American writer and founder of Close Concerns, reinforces this idea, saying that “Spurlock attributes America’s obesity epidemic to food companies’ crafty marketing and lobbying strategies... [and] particularly rails at what he sees as manipulative targeting of children” (n.d.). Additionally, the cultural representations of reality are further reflected in Super Size Me through mise-en-scene. Certain elements of interviews, like the scrubs, white coats and stethoscopes worn by doctors, the medical equipment used for Spurlock’s physical examinations, and the food itself that Spurlock eats are examples of how culturally constructed stereotypes are reflected in the film (Beardmore, 2014). Thus, Spurlock uses McDonald’s’ own methods of guile against them, exposing audiences to the company’s true intentions.
Documentary films hold a mirror up to society, urging people to examine their own way of life. Super Size Me fulfils this purpose as it reflects culturally-produced representations. However, the producer puts his own spin on these representations, creating a reality that can be seen through the lenses of humour and self-sacrifice to prove a point. This reality shocked audiences, opening their eyes to the corporate, consumer-driven intentions of the American fast food industry. By drawing parallels between obesity and the obscenity of living entirely off McDonald’s for a month, Spurlock invites audiences to make better lifestyle choices and to question their own understanding of reality and how culture represents fast food. The reality is unglamorous – spewing out of car windows, picking hair out of served yoghurt – but it challenges that in which society has been conditioned by the representations within their own culture.
Documentary films hold a mirror up to society, urging people to examine their own way of life. Super Size Me fulfils this purpose as it reflects culturally-produced representations. However, the producer puts his own spin on these representations, creating a reality that can be seen through the lenses of humour and self-sacrifice to prove a point. This reality shocked audiences, opening their eyes to the corporate, consumer-driven intentions of the American fast food industry. By drawing parallels between obesity and the obscenity of living entirely off McDonald’s for a month, Spurlock invites audiences to make better lifestyle choices and to question their own understanding of reality and how culture represents fast food. The reality is unglamorous – spewing out of car windows, picking hair out of served yoghurt – but it challenges that in which society has been conditioned by the representations within their own culture.