Super Size Me - McDonald's the Anti-Christ

[tonetripper]

So, I saw this documentary the other day and boy was it an eye opener to the idea of fast food. I found it very entertaining. A little Michael Moore-ish for my liking in ways, but well executed. Disgusting to know what McDonald's could do to you if you only ate nothing but.

I gave it a B.

[fodroy]

i thought it was much more fairly done than a michael moore flick. but i totally enjoyed this movie. and i actually haven't eaten fast food since watching it so i guess that just shows that it's well done.

[jb]

A- here. I tried to eat at McDonald's once after seeing this movie, and I found myself totally grossed out. I was even trying their new chicken strips, and I had some fries, and I couldn't finish either of them. I used to only get the chicken nuggets, but the movie grossed me out on them enough that I couldn't even order them, so I went for the strips instead.

For some reason, after all the anti-McD's propaganda I've been exposed to over the years, which I have intellectually grasped and nodded at, this one little goofy documentary just really brought it all home to me. So I can't give a movie that changed my life, weird as it seems to say that, anything less than an A.

Now we need the Wendy's and Long John Silver's documentaries to make me swear off all fast food joints forever. Mmmmm Long John Silver's.....

[tonetripper]

I'm not sure if I fucked up the poll cuz I've never done one before on this board, but I mostly wanted to get the discussion going.

Got to say the chicken mcnuggets part JB was pretty gross and I used to love those things *ooooh*. All things considered I had Burger King the other day. Avoided the closer McDonald's altogether cuz of that little film. I found it so strange about his liver. That was downright disturbing. Freaked me right out. But then there is always the Big Mac guy. That is surreal to the max. How many, like 90000 or something like that? *shivers* Scary stuff. I'll never eat McDonald's the same way, for that matter any fast food. That Whopper was out of desperation and starvation. Didn't feel too hot afterwards. Watched Lhasa at the Winter Garden Theatre to digest it. Almost put me out. Scary.

[fodroy]

i think my favorite part was when he circled his wang and it said "worthless" the guy's girlfriend is actually speaking on campus for free here soon and i might go. or maybe i already missed it. who knows? i'm not good at remembering that sort of thing.

[Hoblit]

A- here. I tried to eat at McDonald's once after seeing this movie, and I found myself totally grossed out. I was even trying their new chicken strips, and I had some fries, and I couldn't finish either of them.
I can't give a movie that changed my life, weird as it seems to say that, anything less than an A.

Now we need the Wendy's and Long John Silver's documentaries to make me swear off all fast food joints forever. Mmmmm Long John Silver's.....

This is almost enough to make me NOT see the movie. I eat at McDonalds once a week as a treat. Me and my cousin have to come to call it 'fat friday' where we order a feast and take it back to my house during our Friday lunch hour.

in other news: long john silvers are sparce here..they exist but the closest one I can think of is like 20 miles from here. I love Wendy's... thats always an option. Arbys makes me ill EVERYTIME I eat there. The last time I was there I shrugged it off and told myself it was all in my head. Ordered their cheesesteak and was promptly ill a half hour later.

I think I'm alergic to certain yellow food dyes.

/off topic post

[jute gyte]

i can't get enough of arby's. sadly, there is not one around here.

[fodroy]

i don't like the ratings sytem. i wanted to give it an "a" but the whole vegan thing. blah. veganism is bullshit. and i can say that. i have a vegan friend. i like the option that goes with a "b" grade the best but i certainly think it's better than a "b".

[jb]

I've never been so hungry I'd eat at Arby's.

[erik]

Artificial roast beef? You suck.

[Adam!]

Loved this film.

A little Michael Moore-ish

In the thin genre of one-man docu-comedies this is about as far away from Michael Moore as possible. Don't get me wrong, I love Michael Moore movies, but the guy <b>is</b> an enormous socialist weasel*. I watched F911 and Supersize Me in the same week, and considering they were both billed as documentaries I was surprised at the contrast. Moore's movies are editorial pieces: He has his opinion and he charges at you with it full speed. He infrequently evaluates his views onscreen and he seldom presents any counterarguments.

Supersize Me, thankfully, does not insult the audience by force-feeding you its prefabricated opinion. The protagonist willingly subjects himself to the experiment and lets a fair panel of experts and MD's draw conclusions. I was impressed how he wasn't a vigilante out to corroborate his conviction that McDonalds is an evil corporation. This man was more interested in eating than preaching. The only time I felt the movie started to become an opinion piece was when they were critically examining school luncheon programs. [GOOD]


<i>* Stolen from Team America</i>

[jb]

Yeah, and I loved the doctors. The French guy was the kind of guy you'd want for *your* doctor, 'cause you know he'd be like "Drink more wine". Plus he had that creepy art on his wall.

The nutritionist lady was so cute, because she was genuinely appalled at what this guy was doing, and really worried about him. It was endearing.

[starfinger]

This is almost enough to make me NOT see the movie.

yeah, i just took it off my netflix queue.

ignorance is bliss!

-craig

[Hoblit]

no one has mentioned this yet... but McDonalds no longer offers their meals 'supersized'

I'm sure it's partly brought on by public concern, those class action lawsuits, and perhaps the foreknowledge of this movie's release.

I'm only guessing though...I'm sure McDonalds has ANOTHER completely different explanation.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/03/02/mcdona ... index.html

well, maybe not completely different explanation...just a purtied' up one.

[tonetripper]

no one has mentioned this yet... but McDonalds no longer offers their meals 'supersized'

Actually, post-lude to the movie they stopped super-sizing shortly after the movie was shown at Sundance. He states it at the end of the film, but couldn't conclude decisively that his doc was what prompted the change. Burger King did it as well. Cool shit to see that the guy may have stopped all you Americans from dying from your own (better watch myself - big smiley) McDonald's gluttony.

Love,
Maurice

[Hoblit]

well, despite it being against my better judgement...I may go see this tonight..it's probably playing in my neighborhood (sort of an arthouse theater)... and it sounds compelling.

BUT if I can't eat McDonalds after watching it... I'm blaming ya'll...even though you have thoroughly warned me...I'm still blaming you.

[c hack]

The only time I felt the movie started to become an opinion piece was when they were critically examining school luncheon programs.

Agreed. But school lunch programs really are sickening when you think about it. It was well-deserved.

I think this is a must-see movie. In fact, didn't I extol its virtues on the last board? It changed my life too (a little). Let me tell you the story:

doodloodloo... doodloodloo...

The day I saw it, I had eaten some chicken strips for lunch (frozen ones you buy at the grocery store). They were pretty gross, but I was hungry. Then my friends Ian and Mike asked me if I wanted to go see the movie with them. I said sure, lit up a Cuban Cohiba my parents gave me that they got on their recent trip to the dominican for my cousin's wedding, and started the 25 minute walk from Porter to Harvard Square. Well, neither the chicken strips nor the cigar were treating my stomach civilly, and I started to feel a little queasy.

When we sat down to watch the movie, I was thinking "all this processed food is no good. I should prolly start eating better." Then the movie (which is great -- no tree-hugging hippie crap, even from his vegan girlfriend; I love how he's actually excited about going on this McDonald's diet) started. I'm feeling worse and worse. Breaking out in a cold sweat, wondering if I got some kinda food poisoning in those chicken strips. Then they do all these fast food close-ups. They don't do anything to make the food look gross, just close-ups. But it is gross. I'm feeling like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, and it gets to be too much. I jump over the back of my chair (I was in the last row), run to the restroom, and blow chunks. I then have to spend the last third or so of the movie outside in the fresh air.

On the walk home, we're talking about the movie. They tell me how it ends, and they they start talking about these things called cleanses. The idea is that bad parts of the bad food you eat your whole life build up in your intestine as "mucoid plaque." If you do this cleanse (take these herbal supplements, drink these bentonite (clay) shakes, and eat fruits and vegetables for a month), you can get rid of this and be healthier, have more energy, etc. I'm like, let's do it. We got to get ourselves back to the garden. Mike and I decide to do it -- no meat, no dairy, no breads, nothing but fruits and veggies for a month.

It turns out that all the stuff you need (herbal supplements, etc.) costs about $200. I immediately think "scam," but I give it the benefit of the doubt, and plop down my 2 benjamins, reasoning that if my health improves like they say, it'll be well worth it. I'm also thinking about Chuang Tzu's story of the bell-stand carver, and also wondering if I have the willpower to not eat meat (I like my meals with meat in them) -- it might be good to test that.

We both do it for two weeks. The whole time, I'm thinking "this can't be for real, this mucoid plaque thing just doesn't make sense," but I'd already committed at that point, so i keep going. Mike loses a lot of weight -- too much (12 lbs, I think), and he had to quit it. I lost some, but it was all extra to begin with (paunch and the like). Neither of us deviated while we were on it, although a little more than a week into it, I was just too hungry and I had a couple baked potatoes with some chick peas (heavy foods like potatoes, while not disallowed, were frowned upon b/c they "slowed the cleansing process"). Food never tasted so good.

2 weeks into it, just after Mike quit, I was talking to an old friend of mine who was getting a degree in homeopathic medicine from the best school in the country. "Mucoid plaque is a myth," she informed me. I figured if I continued it after that, I'd be crossing the line from determination to stupidity, so I quit it too. It wasn't a big deal, I'd gotten used to it by then, but it was nice.

All in all, it was probably a bad idea. But I did develop more of a taste for veggies, which is good, cause I usually skipped them before. And I mostly lost my taste for fast food, but that was on its way out anyway. So I did benefit a lot from it.

I forget what the point of this post was. I guess to say that the movie changed my life. Although really, I changed it, prompted by the movie. But it was definitely a change for the better, and I think food -- which is directly related to general health -- should be a huge issue on everyone's minds. There should be massive school cafeteria reform. There should be lots of class-action lawsuits. It should be something politicians sit on fences about.

I'm all up in this movie's hizzhouse.

[tonetripper]

Loved this film.

A little Michael Moore-ish

In the thin genre of one-man docu-comedies this is about as far away from Michael Moore as possible.

I agree with you in the argument that you present and apologize for being so vague. Just wanted to get the ball rolling in many ways. What I was speaking of in terms of the Michael Moore thing was not so much in content as in style. The animation bits and the narrative that accompany it is very Michael Moore-ish. But the content and juxtaposition in arguements are very different from the two documentary makers. I am very much in agreement with you, especially after presenting your side, that Michael Moore can be a little one-sided. Although in other documentaries of his he seems to have been, from my opinion, not to be quite so biased in his presentation compared to F911. I did find F911 very one-sided and almost a little over the top in terms of political lobbying whereas the dude from Super Size Me subjects himself to the experimentation. In that we are definitely in agreement. And let's face it, he has a vegan chef for a girlfriend, seems to like to eat alright (as far as we see in the doc anyway - although does like meat), and does, especially in presentation to the artist who paints McDonald's as the spawn of satan in a clown uniform, seems to be minorly biased in his argument when he presents the artist as a genius. May not be the icing on the cake, but certainly has a bit of lean to it. But all doc makers are usually on about one thing or another when presenting the summation. The good ones, as this guy is, do it with a penchant of unassumed bias and let the story unfold, leaving the audience to make the decision. According to me ofcourse.

C. Hack I totally respect your last post. I, at one point of my life dabbled pretty hard in veganism and changed later cuz I was too busy to maintain the eating life-style finding myself without energy and losing weight. Everyone can gain from fasting or altering their diet now and again. To change is to be human. Nothing wrong, in my mind, with an occasional big mac and fries, just don't do it every day. That'll kill you, but then will smoking, drinking, philandering and sucking on a tailpipe of a car. Life's too short to worry too much. If George Burns can live to the century mark smoking cigars all his life, there must be exceptions to the rules. Live life happy I say and if it's a big mac that makes the difference then so be it.

- Pablo

[Hoblit]

Saw it...paused it in the middle to run to McDonalds and get a double QP with Cheese (no onion) and a Medium Fries. Ate up while watching the rest of the movie.

I swear he sold me that double QP w/cheese

ANYWAYS...I will still eat McDonalds on Fridays (I exercise a lot) and enjoy it. However, that is a very informative piece and I highly recomend it.

ESPECiALly the shool lunches stuff.

That made me feel old. When I was in school... they didn't offer us carbonated beverages or chips or any of that. We had a hamburger line but it wasn't real hamburger...It was that soy + hamburger cross. We had a dinner line...probably somewhat pre-packaged stuff..it wasn't over complicated. We also had a salad line. I'm not making this up. For drinks we were offered water, milkshakes (not with real icecream), or milk. (both low fat chocolate and regular white) With all meals you had to pick sides and it was all priced the same. Carbonated beverages could be purchased between classes at two locations and were NOT available at any other time. (Both machines were INSIDE facilities closed to kids durring class and lunchtimes) They were mostly used for afterschool activities.

I was floored at what those schools were allowed to have and get away with. I didnt' even REALIZE that was going on. Chips? not at my school.

[Jim of Seattle]

Great story, C Hack, even if you claim to have lost your point at the end!

I used to work for a software company that built nutrition-monitoring/weight-loss software (http://www.balancelog.com) and as there were a team of highly trained nutritionists and fitness people on staff (one was a member of the Int'l Olympic Committee) I learned a ton about this stuff. You know what I woulda told you up front, had you laid the plaque idea on me: Where are your carbs, dude? You can't live without 'em. You're gonna get real tired and hungry.

Oh yeah, and Atkins is a TOTAL SCAM, for anyone who cares.

Pablo, you're dead-on. I eat by the mantra: "You can have anything you want. Just don't eat it every day."

Oh, and exercise.

[erik]

So people on Atkins all get... fatter?

[HeuristicsInc]

You'll lose weight, but not really in a very healthy way.
Especially if you go by the "eat lots of fat instead of carbs" plan that a lot of Atkins people use.
However, a lot of people start off eating so terribly that cutting the carbs competely is actually an improvement over that; anything would be. However, I think there are plenty of better/healthier weight loss plans out there.
Also, many people on Atkins tend to gain back the weight they lost and more after. Happened to people I know.
-bill